An estimated 300 people, including pupils from 10 schools, poured into the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum earlier this week to celebrate World Rhino Day and the power of “the missing piece”.
The event, organised by nonprofit group One Land Love It (Olli), showcased artworks by the children, as well as half-a-dozen professional artists on Tuesday evening.
Prizes were handed out to excited winners, and a team of beaming field rangers were honoured for their work.
It was also used to spotlight Olli’s multiple collaborative projects to bolster rhino research and protection, and uplift the rural communities most dependent on ecotourism and healthy rhino populations.
Olli co-founder Nikki Bolton told the children they only had one land, in the form of SA and planet Earth.
“The question is, how well will we love it? What footprints will we leave?
“Conservation is like a puzzle and each piece represents one of us. The parts that extend are our strengths, our extra.
“The parts that are indented are where we connect with others, and draw on their extra.
“When we fit those pieces together, we build a complete picture, and we become stronger together.
“But when a piece is missing, the picture is fragmented.
“If rhinos disappear, the conservation puzzle is broken.
“If we fail to invest in ourselves, each of us becomes the missing piece.”
She said that was why Olli believed in “joint custody”.
“We know that collaboration is key, but it begins with me. Only I can take the first step.”
Bolton asked the children to take their minds back to how it was 120 years ago, before the plague of over-hunting and poaching began.
“Back then, Africa’s plains echoed with the footsteps of hundreds of thousands of rhinos — half-a-million worldwide.
“Today, only 27,000 remain.
“SA carries the weight of responsibility with 15,000 rhinos, and among them around 2,300 black rhinos, which are critically endangered and fighting for survival.”
She also paid homage to early rhino conservation campaigners, including the late Dr Ian Player and Bay-based Adrian Gardiner, who was a guest of honour at Tuesday’s event.
“Ordinary people, using what they have in their hands, can become extraordinary.
“Moving from caring to doing — the OlliMove — is what makes the difference.
“That is Olli’s heartbeat, and that is what will save our rhino.”
As part of the big thank you to the rangers, Collegiate Girls’ High School pupils wrote letters to the female officers among them, and these were included with the certificates they received.
Clarendon Park Primary School pupils drew pictures and messages for all the rangers on a rhino spoor cut-out memento, which was included in their goodie bags.
Another focus amid all the business was the ceremonial passing of the Baton of Hope, the carved wooden rhino horn, which originated with the 2015 6,000km cycle ride around SA by Olli co-founder Wayne Bolton, to raise awareness about the plight of the rhino.
The baton has since passed between different athletes undertaking extreme challenges, and schools which complete various projects to support the cause, before passing it on the following World Rhino Day.
Gardiner said on Thursday the presence of the children at the event, and their enthusiasm, was key.
“Kids have got to understand the importance of wildlife, and as I looked around me the other night, I could see that was happening.”
Former Eastern Cape Green Scorpions environmental compliance director Dr Div de Villiers, who spoke at the event, said the rhino was a flagship species that needed to be held high by the SA conservation team.
“Like at the Olympic Games, we need new blood to come through to carry the rhino conservation flag and take forward the great work done by the pioneer conservationists.
“Kids can do that by learning about rhino and other wildlife, and then becoming involved in any way they can.”
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