Raptor Conservation Group Social Responsibility, Education and Rehabilitation Program Program

Overview: The Raptor Conservation Group provides humanitarian aid in the form of food, medicine, clothing and shelter for those in need. Promoting clean lifestyles including sports, providing medical assistance, clinics and centers for disaster relief where needed, including a flying doctor service in sparsely populated areas. Another aspect of our social responsibility program is that of animal clinics throughout Africa. This dove-tales with our humanitarian relief clinics and Anti-Human Trafficking work.

Humanitarian Aid: A humanitarian Raptor Rescue Team to extract those that have been caught up and trafficked by unscrupulous human trafficking rings; the creation of safe houses for rescued women; we offer education and skills in a structured learning program; to assist individuals in restarting their lives to become valuable members of the communities in which they live; we combat gender based violence; we train women in martial arts so they may defend themselves and potentially gain employment in the security and wildlife industries. Other areas in which RAPTOR can help is through counseling and creating feeding schemes in remote areas and educating the less privileged in South Africa, as well as providing basic health care and education and health products to better enable girls to excel at school. Our counseling program covers a diversity of social ills including abuse, molestation & rape victims, victims of human trafficking, addiction to substances, those that find themselves with no home, the disabled and elderly persons who need help. One of the ways in which we can fund these programs is by creating a chain of charity stores, which will provide extra employment for underprivileged individuals.

The Facility: The facility is set within a small game reserve with wildlife, and comprises a main lodge, with a large water feature, which also caters for tourists, a lounge, bar, pool area; a shop, reception area, dining area and kitchen; a business lounge and twenty well-appointed rooms and staff offices. The training and rehabilitation facility includes five self-contained units housing twenty trainees each and a dorm attendant. Two people share one room and each dorm has a study area and recreation room with shower and toilet facilities.

Five classrooms cater for 20 students/trainees, with tutorial offices, a common room, staff consultation rooms and sick bay/infirmary. A five tent camp on raised wooden platforms, staff quarters; ancillary buildings will include a barn for horses and bicycles, garage and parking area and tool, workshop sheds incorporated into a barn for farm equipment with animal husbandry outbuildings also. The facility has horses with a training ring, farm livestock including chickens, cows and goats, so that the wildlife training facility is as self-sufficient as possible. The horses can also be used for therapy, work and recreational purposes. Twenty bicycles are used for  exercise and work; two game viewing vehicles and two anti-poaching vehicles; one 4×4 pickup for farm and game duties; a tour bus and tractor plus trailer; two quad bikes; four rifles; four handguns; one gun safe; four horses; an indoor multi gym with weights a treadmill and indoor bicycles. An outdoor field for softball, football, hockey and a running track included into one; a tennis court with basketball, volleyball, badminton and stands next to the tennis courts. There is also a small farming area for growing vegetables, an obstacle course and shooting range.

Staff: 1x bushman tracker, 1x senior field guide, 1x field guide, 1x lodge/restaurant manager, 1x nurse, 1x physical education and nature guide teacher, 1x assistant manager/nature instructor, 1x caretaker, 3x teachers, 2x cleaners, 1x cook, 2x restaurant assistants, 2x security guards, 1x hairdresser/grooming specialist.

Benefits: How do the nature courses benefit the trainees? Our aim is to motivate, teach, educate and give the tools (mental, physical and intellectual), needed for the trainees to make something of themselves, ‘Giving them a second chance in life’. Making a difference to their futures and giving them something to strive for. Changing their mental attitude and turning out individuals oriented and committed to nature. . .

How do the courses benefit the Eco-Scouts? The Eco-Scouts are drawn from under-privileged communities that lie in areas prone to poaching. They are individuals that are interested in preserving wildlife and nature. The courses we provide give them the skills to go back into their communities to teach others about nature, and also, to act as protectors of the environment, giving them salaries and bicycles and a purpose in life. . .

We instill skills that are marketable and we strive to give each individual work experience at other lodges, game parks and reserves; using an internship placement process.

Sports and activities: The incorporation of exercise and sport into training and therapy is very important, as not only does it cleanse the body of impurities and promotes better functioning of the body and a clearer mind, but it also promotes a better team spirit and important social interaction and friendships. Horse riding not only teaches a skill but also empathy and understanding of other creatures. An important part of this interaction is also the care and grooming of the animals. Bike riding improves stamina and muscle tone. The obstacle course creates self-motivation and teamwork; running promotes fitness and detoxes the body and mind, promoting cardio-vascular fitness. Team sports such as football, softball and volleyball build team spirit and an, ‘All for one and one for all’, attitude.  

Each Scout/Trainee, is provided with gym shorts, shirt, sweatpants, socks, sneakers etc, and is trained by experienced and enthusiastic instructors.

Eco-Scouts: They are primarily chosen from under-privileged communities, and particularly those areas prone to poaching. Potential Eco-Scouts have to pass a selection process so that only those committed to nature, or have an interest in it, will go on to the next phase and nature camp. Eco-Scouts have a structured grading system as they progress, so they may go on to being full nature guides, receiving training and qualifications through RAPTOR. Eco-Scouts then return to their communities with an environmental purpose – to teach environmental principles and morality, to preserve South Africa’s wildlife, flora and fauna and to report any potential threat to wildlife, and, to act as a monitor in their respective communities. After passing they receive a salary and have the opportunity of further training to improve their pay grade.

Trainee Guides – Second Chance Candidates: As a necessary social responsibility we provide nature therapy and training for those individuals who, due to circumstances and social background, have led less than exemplary life-styles, leading to anti-social and destructive life patterns and habits. These candidates are given a second chance, utilizing nature, wildlife and domestic livestock, plus work experience and ethics, a structured training program that stimulates both body and mind, and one that builds character and gives meaning to their lives. The trainee guide candidates have opportunities to better themselves through the study of nature, giving them a course credit and valuable work experience, or, a qualification in nature work.

Nature Therapy: Taking people out of harmful environments or environs that have induced certain anti-social habits and responses, we use nature to heal, for example: the production of vegetables in a farm garden; the care of livestock and collection of produce, milk, eggs etc; by understanding wildlife and the care of animals, including tracking, veterinary care, the provision of water and grasses; the rehabilitation of farmland into natural bush land; nature camps; bush safaris, pony trekking and mountain bike trails; learning about nature and its needs, and, how we, humankind, are destroying it; our responsibility to nature, to restore and protect and preserve it; a campfire at night, the night sky above and Bushman chants, the strumming of a guitar and soft chatter. All these points provide pieces to the puzzle of life. We endeavor to change mind-sets, imbuing a different set of responses to external stimuli. Eco-Scouts and others also benefit psychologically from such exposure and experience, as nature therapy is open to all. . .

Employment and internship: RAPTOR actively seeks internship for the trainees at lodges, parks and game reserves, and, where possible finds positions for the trainees that are tapered to their skill, interests and qualifications.

Orientation Week: Orientation week gives the trainees operational guidelines, imbued health and basic knowledge on grooming, as follows: Each trainee will have to adhere to a grooming policy, i.e. brushed teeth and hair, shave, tidy appearance. (a) Trainees will receive haircuts and styling. (b) Trainees will be shown how to groom themselves, brush their teeth, showering, nail care, how to use deodorant etc. (c) Trainees will have to take care of their own living area, make their own beds in the correct manner, clean their clothes, iron and repair them, clean boots and running shoes, i.e. washing, cleaning and polishing, keeping their clothes and equipment ready for inspection. (d) They are shown how to clean and maintain the equipment they use, i.e. vehicles, grooming of horses, feeding of animals etc. (e) There will be a run each morning before breakfast and exercise during the day. (f) Each trainee is required to muck in with duties, i.e. food preparation, laying of tables, cleaning up etc. (g) Each trainee is outfitted with basic kit of shorts, shirts, boots , socks, epaulets, training guide, sports kit, jacket, thermal cap and ball cap. (h) Males and females are billeted in separate dormitories, with a resident dorm master or mistress.

Basic Duties: All Trainees and Eco-Scouts have basic roistered duties, i.e. vehicle maintenance and cleaning; horse grooming and feeding; cleaning of stables, ground and sports area maintenance; rehabilitation of land where needed; assisting with the smooth running of the facility; cookhouse duties – cooking, cleaning, laying of tables and washing up; assisting with new inductees; assisting coaches, teachers et al.

Each trainee receives a broad spectrum of experience, from basic cleaning to upper management, as all are an integral part of the organization.

Second Chance program: By teaching how to care and look after themselves and others, through work, exercise and hands on experience and training, we, and they, strive to turn out useful members of society. Individuals that are now motivated to accomplish something with their lives and themselves. . .

Educational programs: The main areas of focus are those aligned to tourism, encompassing: Transport, restaurant food preparation and serving, accommodation, nature guiding and anti-poaching, tour guiding, bush tracking and field craft, bush and wildlife knowledge, arts and crafts, music and traditional dance.

RAPTOR provides training for the second chance trainees and Eco-Scouts, having on hand relevant qualified instructors. Exams and certificates will be handled by the relevant existing structures. The duration of the courses varies from weekend courses to yearlong courses, all tapered to meet the needs of the Scouts and Trainees.Motivation and diet: these two aspects of life are of great importance to an individual’s functioning. The body is a living machine and needs the right mental and physical oil to sustain it for a better life. Diet, exercise, education, self-reliance and nature oriented therapeutic programs instills self-motivation and a re-examining of life and lifestyle, with the end product of nature educated and oriented self-reliant individuals who are not self-centered, but are team players. Thinking about how their actions affect others and the nature around them. . . They also have the opportunity to interact with international tourists, giving them insight and an outlook to a brighter future.