We’re delighted to be working with Ardmore Educational Travel who are not only helping to enhance student’s education but also giving back to people who need it the most.
Ardmore are specialists in language and educational travel programmes to students from all over the world.
We have worked with Ardmore and are pleased to introduce the ‘Ardmore, Water-to-Go bottle’. Ardmore now offer these to the students they work with to help keep them safe when travelling; and for every bottle sold they donate one to a child in need.
Ardmore offer schools a unique opportunity to send their students on a conservation experience in South Africa. The Shamwari game reserve, located in the Eastern Cape near Port Elizabeth is a fully operational 25,000 hectare big 5 game reserve and the students get involved with a range of short and long term conservation projects and the need for assistance by the award winning Wildlife and Conservation Department.
While on the reserve Ardmore groups also get the opportunity to support a service learning project at the Henrik Kanise School in the Alicedale township – only a few miles outside the gates of the reserve. As in most of South Africa the contrast is stark and overwhelming. Alicedale used to be a thriving town as a railway junction between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth but, first the steam train was phased out in the eighties and then in the mid 1990’s the railway was stopped altogether making nearly 100% of people unemployed in Alicedale.
Today, the figure is much the same – with an estimated 96% unemployment rate. With little opportunity in Alicedale this is a tough statistic to change. However, the Shamwari game reserve supports Henrik Kanise with infrastructure and support for the understaffed teachers in an attempt to try and improve prospects and change the future for the children in the township.
The partnership with Water-to-Go means that Ardmore can support the school even better. Every Water-to-Go bottle bought by students on this or any other Ardmore tour is matched by Ardmore and are sent to the students at Henrik Kanise to enable them to access clean drinking water – a vital and life changing opportunity for these students.
