Here's a reprint from TeachAManToFish.org about Eden Campus. I depart in less than 24 hours to help out and learn from these amazing people.


Karatara, South Africa

Situated in the small rural village of Karatara 12 kilometres inland from Sedgefield on the beautiful Garden Route of the Southern Cape lies Eden Campus. We are busily involved in a unique project to create the first green business school in South Africa. The project started in 2005, has spent the intervening time gaining a foothold in the communities that it serves and is now ready to become a force on the South African education scene.

We are desperately in need of volunteers who would like to spend some time in this idyllic surrounding and who would like to have a never to be forgotten experience. You will also have the great satisfaction of helping the impoverished youth of the southern Cape to become employable.

Students of Eden Campus spend two years learning entrepreneurial business skills first through the excellent programme offered by the international Junior Achievement organization and then by applying the skills learned in practical businesses.

Typical businesses include:

Karatara Nature Cycles – This already successful business will be expanded in 2008. KNC hires bicycles to tourists and takes them on guided tours into the indigenous forests of the Karatara area

Gardens – In 2008 we are developing our gardens to provide herbs, vegetable and indigenous growth. The herb garden will produce herbs for resale, the vegetable garden for feeding the Campus and the indigenous garden as a tourist attraction and nursery.

Worm Farm – In 2008 we intend growing the size of our worm farm and from this we will produce compost for the gardens and become a reseller of worm farms on the Garden Route

The Karatara Shop – last year we were successful with our second hand clothing shop. In 2008 ar we intend to expand this to include general goods and even produce from our gardens and later the nursery.

Project Areas

* Education
* Agriculture
* Environment
* Running business ventures

Activities

* Teaching - English, Maths, IT, the environment and facilitating the Junior Achievement Programme
* Environmental conservation – indigenous gardening, water storage and electricity generating
* Livelihoods – Mentoring students so that they are able to run their own businesses

Getting There & Costs
Getting to Karatara from outside of South Africa involves flying into either Johannesburg or Cape Town and then taking a flight to George. The airport at George is 45 minutes from Eden Campus by car. You can either hire a car at George Airport or we will pick you up but remember this could leave you in a rural community with no way of seeing other gems of the famous Garden Route. Airfares can be found on the Internet. No financial contribution towards project costs is expected however you will be required to cover your own living costs. The average daily cost of a B&B or Self-Catering unit that sleeps two (and we really welcome couples) is R300 and car hire for a small car is about R160 per day.

To download our plans for 2008, click here

For fuller information on any aspect of Eden Campus please contact Graham Lashbrooke in Karatara on graham@edencampus.co.za or directly on +27-44-356-2789.

Labels: Eden Campus, Entrepreneurship

This entry was posted by Mike Nolan, on Monday, March 10, 2008. You can leave your response.