Kiwi Funding Rhino Support And Given Official Zulu Name

Kiwi Funding Rhino Support And Given Official Zulu Name

Managing Director of Imake Ltd (based in Albany), Peter Eastwood (Waimauku), has just returned from South Africa with a group of supporters who are endeavouring to save the rhino from extinction. For his ongoing support and dedication, he has been named Thandaizilwane, meaning Lover of Wildlife.

Peter makes many trips to Africa to spread the word and help in any way he can. In 2013 he started Imake a Difference, the charitable trust extension of Imake Ltd. Through this he leads many projects with different aims which all help to save the rhino from the horrific slaughter they face when unjustifiably poached for their horn.

This most recent trip, Peter and his group visited the key projects that the trust supports. These projects are chosen to fight the poaching on multiple fronts. Peter feels that education is one of the key drivers to long term change. To this end Imake a Difference supports the Rhino Art Competition and World Rhino Youth Summit. They also managed to visit many game parks, beautiful sights and influential people but they were also privileged to see and judge the Rhino Art competition at the Mtwazi Combined School in Mkhuze KZN. This simple colouring in competition is very effective in getting the anti poaching message out. It has reached over 120,000 kids in “at risk” areas around the game reserves in Africa and has now been introduced to Vietnam thanks in no small part to funding from Imake a Difference.

The Rhino Art competition is run in two parts, the first part is a talk from the team to all of the students in the school about the poaching war and how it will result in no rhino for their children if we don’t stop it. It explains how the rhino bring the tourists and they spend their money which helps their community. It’s a simple message and the children are then asked to colour in an A3 outline of a rhino and add their message against poaching. The second part is the judging two weeks later where the top 12 winners are taken into a game park to see the rhino and then the overall winner receives a secondhand bicycle donated by Rotary and collected from USA and Canada.

These messages are being collected and will be presented to the Government. Taking this concept through to Vietnam we are able to work on the children of the users of rhino horn and explain that this species is being hunted to extinction for their horn which has none of the believed health benefits. It is in fact made of Keratin which is the same as our hair and finger nails.

Imake a Difference will also be supporting the first World Youth Rhino Summit by sending three NZ students and funding eight Vietnamese students to attend the conference in September (media release to come when more detail is available).

Peter fell in love with the rhino and the African land some years ago when he made a trip there as part of his OE. Since then, he has made over 30 trips to Africa and will continue to make more to help as much as he can. Needless to say, when he was given his Zulu name, Thandaizilwane, just a few days ago while visiting Shakaland (a place containing a large number of traditional Zulu homes), he felt very honoured.

“I was given my name by the Zulu team at Shakaland. Zulus always have their own name for people and Kingsley asked them what it was. He agreed that it was a very fitting name and a great tribute to our work. I was aware that this happened and that we don’t always get to know what the name is, so I was delighted to get one that I could tell my mother about.” – Peter Eastwood

Kingsley Holgate (aka The Most Travelled Man in Africa), is a South African Humanitarian and author and Peter has an ongoing relationship with him where together they support the rhino.

Read about Peter in The Observer, Zululand here: http://zululandobserver.co.za/43851/kiwi-funds-rhino-support/
You can make a difference yourself at www.imakeadifference.co.nz by simply donating or buying the great pieces of merchandise up for sale.
- Ends -

© Scoop Media