Live theatre inspiring water conservation through a school competition
Recognizing the dire water situation in our country, and wishing to share the joys and lessons of educational live theatre with the youth, Lunchbox Theatre from Plettenberg Bay has launched a water saving competition between local schools.
One of their live theatre shows called “Last Drop” is already familiar to many school children along the Garden Route and beyond, however, this is the first time that the theatre group employs the show in a competition format. The idea of the water competition is to inspire school children, their teachers and parents to consider their water consumption patterns and thus help in safeguarding these precious resources for the generations that come after us.
This campaign started at the end of last year, when Lunchbox Theatre used Thundafund crowdfunding platform to raise funds for the water competition. Donors from South Africa and overseas contributed towards the campaign. These funds, topped up with support from the Department of Arts and Culture as well as Knysna Municipality’s Grants in Aid program, were gratefully received and were enough to bring the water competition to three schools: two from Plettenberg Bay and one from Knysna.
Having had a busy spring finalizing two new educational shows about HIV and waste management, Lunchbox Theatre now launched the water competition at the beginning of May. The show “Last Drop” was performed at the participating schools, Plettenberg Bay Primary, Formosa Primary and Hornlee Primary school. Around 2000 children and teachers saw the show and were encouraged to consider, monitor and reduce their water consumption over a period of one month. To assist in this, Lunchbox Theatre prepared a Teacher’s Workbook that was distributed to the teachers. The workbook includes further ideas for exercises and activities that the learners could undertake during their classes to address the issue of water conservation. Lunchbox Theatre actors also distributed Water Champion badges to the children, so that the few assigned learners would monitor their peers’ water consumption and behaviour during the duration of the competition.
At the end of this month, Lunchbox Theatre will compare water meter reading results from the schools, and estimate which school has managed to save the greatest percentage of water during the competition. This school will then be declared the Water Wise Winner, and all the schools will receive prizes to acknowledge their participation in the program.
As one of our most vital resources it is important for us all to understand why it is important to save water, and to practise this in our daily lives. The water competition intends to encourage this, and thus adds its bit to the many efforts taking place to save water in our region and all across South Africa. Lunchbox Theatre wishes to thank all the donors again, as well as the participating schools, and wishes to share more news on the competition at the end of the month.
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