World Rhino Day is celebrated on 22 September. At Renaissance, the Rhino Ambassadors are holding a Rhino Week, from Monday 23 – Friday 27 September, packed full with activities for students from Early Years up to Secondary. Early Years will be playing rhino related games with rhino masks. Primary students will be having morning talks with the Rhino Ambassadors, plus other activities during the week. Secondary students will have the opportunity to participate in lunchtime activities. However, the biggest school activity happening in Secondary is the ‘Nail Campaign’ – a protest against the use of rhino horns as traditional medicine.

Rhino horn belongs nowhere else but on a Rhino.

#VIETNAMBEMYHERO

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How did our Rhino Ambassadors get involved?

Juliet and An (our Rhino Ambassadors) entered a writing competition held by the Wild Rhino Organisation last year and they were both selected as winners!  As a result, they went on a once in a lifetime trip to Africa.

Hear more from our Rhino Ambassadors as they share their stories from their inspirational and memorable trip, where they got to see wild Rhinos up close.

Trip reflection paragraph from Juliet:

Under the glimmer of the moon and stars, a rustling sound emerged. As I crawled to the edge of the cliff overlooking the open river and savannah, I turned on my torch in wonder to see a huge bull elephant staring at me with a large pile of leaves from the tree beneath me crunching in its mouth.

My trip to Africa was something I can truly describe as being magical. Being able to experience the wild, after living in a bustling city for the past 10 years is something you really can’t describe. I can definitely say that it has changed me as a person, as it has changed my way of looking at the world and my relationship with the Earth. Learning to live off the land and respect the beauty of nature, and the animals and organisms around me, taught me something that I believe many people lack in their modern lives. It taught me to be grateful for everything that the Earth offers, it taught me of raw human bonding and its importance and meaning in our lives, and the grace and tranquility which nature offers, and our modern society is somewhat lacking.

The trip showed me something truly special, which also gave me a purpose in life to stand up for the environment and its beauty. To take action to not only protect rhinos, but also the natural world all around us.

 

Trip reflection paragraph from An:

The rhino trip has certainly impacted me in the most powerful way it could. I got to sleep under the safari sky, from which I learned the names of those glamourous stars, that on this side of the globe I couldn’t even see. I got to, every single night, immerse myself in the silence of nature, trying to detect the smallest sound I could, to protect the people who were sleeping. I got to see animals in the wild, with my own eyes, just to question how is it humanly possible for us to take away their rights to live and survive.

The trip empowered me to step up, to take action, and to protect not just the rhinos, but also Mother Nature. It’s now time for all of us to change.

CONGRATULATIONS to our students for their achievement and for their effort into organising the Rhino week at Renaissance! Thank you for sharing their photos with us.

To find out more about the work of the Wild Rhino Organisation, visit their website: https://www.wildrhino.org/