Green Leaf Café serves breakfast to Algoa FM and world’s most travelled dog!

Green Leaf Cafe chef, Soso Tobi serves a delicious breakfast muesli to Algoa FM presenter, Daron Mann

Named after the world’s most travelled dog, the Oscar Maximus hot air balloon landed at the historical Donkin Reserve on Monday, 07 May, 2012. Algoa FM presenters were there for a live broadcast, and the team from the Green Leaf Café made sure to keep them well stocked with coffee and tasty breakfast treats for the early morning broadcast.

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Forever Wild launches anti-poaching tip-off line

The Wilderness Foundation launched the Forever Wild – Rhino Protection Initiative in May, 2011. The Campaign aims to gather support from the public and various stakeholders to help fight against rhino poaching in South Africa and save the rhino from extinction. "It is only through a GLOBAL campaign and POLITICAL will that we can save this remnant of the dinosaur age – the rhino," environmentalist and conservationist, Dr Ian Player.
In May 2011, the Wilderness Foundation set up a petition to voice the public's outcry over the cruelty of rhino poaching. The petition, which was taken to the highest governmental powers in March 2012, is a vital part of the Wilderness Foundation's lobbying campaign. It received over 18,000 signatures from around the world, and together with an integrated YouTube and social media campaign, generated worldwide awareness of the rhino poaching crisis.
The Wilderness Foundation’s CEO, Andrew Muir, took the petition to South African parliament on Thursday, 26 January 2012 where he addressed the portfolio committee on the topic of rhino poaching. He also delivered the devastating facts of the South African rhino poaching crisis to over 70 senior staff of US Senators and Congressmen who are members of the International Conservation Caucus (ICC) at an ICC Foundation hosted event in Washington, DC on Monday, March 05, 2012.
The Foundation continues to lobby various governmental and private agencies to raise awareness for the cause. The Wilderness Foundation believes that without the intervention of government and the public, the rhino may be extinct in the next ten years.
In May 2012, the Foundation printed and distributed thousands of flyers and posters encouraging whistle blowers to come forward with information related to rhino poaching through a tip-off line (0786969494). "Someone knows someone who knows something!"
For more information, go to: www.wildernessfoundation.co.za/foreverwild 

Phakamisa Mgqabuzana - Umzi Wethu Success Story

Phakamisa Mgqabuzana is a young man of few words and a quiet, unassuming nature, but he comes alive when describing his passion for baking. The young aspiring pastry chef has already registered the name for his future bakery, and is hoping to have it up and running in a few years’ time.

Before being selected for the Umzi Wethu programme, Phakamisa was earning a living by baking biscuits and selling them at the local taxi rank in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. “I learned how to bake from a friend of mine. I used to bake chocolate, custard and coffee flavoured biscuits, and also plain sponge cake,” says Phakamisa. He used the money to support his family including his sisters and his son.

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Nobesuthu “Suthu” Ndlovu - Umzi Wethu Success Story

Nobesuthu “Suthu” Ndlovu is using the wages she earns as a chef and waitress at Green Leaf Café and the Umzi Wethu Catering Unit to save up for further studies. Suthu would like to increase her skills in guest house management, or B&B management, but also has a dream that her business will have a positive social impact in the future. “I have a passion to help people. When I was younger I wanted to be a social worker. Now I’m going to use the skills that I learned at Umzi Wethu to build a business through which I can help people.”

After matric, Suthu, from Walmer Township in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, approached the Olive Leaf Foundation for assistance in getting a job, or further career training. The foundation referred her to an upcoming presentation by the Umzi Wethu hospitality academy, which she attended with interest. “Although I didn’t really see myself in the hospitality industry, I thought that it might be a good opportunity or stepping stone for my future,” says Suthu.

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Rhino Rip-off

The following article by Tiara Walters was printed in the Sunday Times at the beginning of April 2012. It raises awareness about bogus fundraisers trying to cash in on the poaching crisis. Please note that the list of responsible fundraisers is not 100% complete, but offers a good general overview of organisations that can be trusted:

ARTICLE: The public needs to be aware of bogus fundraisers cashing in on South Africa's poaching crisis.

South Africa's rhino-poaching crisis is horrifying, not only for its scale, but for the brutal and seemingly uncontrollable slaughter of one of our most iconic species. And now, SA's major conservation agencies warn, fraudsters are out to exploit this situation for their own profit.

"We recently counted 240 new organisations raising money for rhinos. Nobody has ever heard of them, so who knows what they're doing?" says Kirsty Brebner, Rhino Project manager at the Endangered Wildlife Trust, whose website notes that 135 rhinos have already been poached this year.

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