What the children said about Flight of Dreams

The Flight of Dreams campaign involved scores of school learners in various activities to inspire creativity and to learn more about the birds of Princess Vlei. This has included bird spotting at the Vlei, as well as cultural activities to honour birds. It culminated in a parade through Grassy Park with giant bird puppets made by the children, and a concert at the vlei with a play by Hyde Park Primary depicting the Bird’s Great Race and other performances.

Below are the reflections of some of the learners from John Graham Primary Scence Club who participated in the events:

The best thing for me was that we could help our society and the Earth in some way. And we also got a chance to meet new people and make friends. It changed the way I thought about birds because now I know more and what are their names. I think now we shouldn’t take littering and polluting lightly so that we can save Princess Vlei because it’s an ecosystem to all types of animals -  Samir Patandin

What I liked is that we learnt a lot about birds and how creative birds are and that they are very beautiful creatures. I liked the parade because we caught people’s attention by walking around Grassy Park so everyone followed us back to Princess Vlei. I love it when we were walking with the birds and we showed people what Princess Vlei is all about.  - Cara Lipari

What I liked best is that we got to be creative and to express ourselves through our artwork. I never knew there was such a big variety of different birds, or that they were such beautiful creatures - Jordyn Lisa Kelly

 The workshops changed the way I thought about birds – before they were just creatures flying around but after the workshop I realised that their life is as important as ours - Temia May

The whole experience showed me that there is a wide variety of beautiful birds from Princess Vlei, and that we the people have to protect them - Tamsin Dick

The best thing was getting to create puppets of the most majestic birds, native to South Africa. I learnt about birds and about the heritage of Princess Vlei as well - Chandler Folding