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Celebrating and exchanging ideas with friends from Southern Africa - new blog post from NaDEET
22 April 2019
A new post has just been published on the ESD Prize Blog by Viktoria Keding, Director of the Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust (NaDEET), which won the UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in 2018.
She talks about the regional event organized by UNESCO and the Namibian National Commission for UNESCO in Windhoek, Namibia end of March 2019 to celebrate the awarding ot the ESD Prize to NaDEET, and how excited NaDEET staff were to host the delegates from the Southern African region at NaDEET's environmental education centre deep in the Namib desert:
"For those who work at NaDEET on a daily basis, the red sand and desert dust have become part and parcel of our everyday uniform. That's why it was wonderful to get an opportunity for us to put on our best clothes to celebrate the UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development with members of a UNESCO delegation visiting the centre. An added pleasure was to see how the occasion showcased our cultural diversity (and the “gender balance”) of our team:
From left: Priscilla Kuzeeko (Finance and Administrative Officer), Elizabeth Lammert (Homestead Manager), Pandu Haindongo (Environmental Educator and Communications Officer), Vicki Endjala (Centre Manger) and Viktoria Keding (Director)
The imminent arrival of the UNESCO delegation at the centre sparked a flurry of cleaning and making sure that everything looked its best by all the staff! No one was really sure who was coming and what the event would bring.
It soon became apparent that it was a pleasure for everyone in different ways. One of our interns, Theofilia Ndahalele, thought that the visitors, as a high-level delegation that works with ESD, would know everything. However, she reflected later, 'I was humbled by their interest in learning more about how ESD is practised at NaDEET'.
Long-term NaDEET team member, Elizabeth Lammert (lovingly called ‘Ousie’ meaning sister/mother) was left feeling positive that she had spread her message even further than just the Namibian people.
Kitchen Educator, Lea Shikomba, was impressed as to how much interest the group had shown in solar cooking and how it had made her feel proud to have been one of the people that taught them about this type of cooking.
For me personally it was rewarding and enriching to be able to host such a workshop at NaDEET Centre and to witness how our approach to ESD inspired the group."