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The blue school goes green

Jana Hein

A few months ago I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend leadership training as a selected candidate of the AFROX Leadership Academy. Part of my training required me to start a community project and the community that I chose was my school community.

The project aims at finding different ways in which our school can reduce our water and electricity usage while finding means to sort and dispose of our waste responsibly and correctly. As the project owner I had to identify other learners that could help me steer this eco-friendly ship and had to make them project managers of the three main departments: solid waste management, electricity and water.

We plan to implement different systems on our school grounds to ensure that we save both water and electricity and that there is enough waste disposal bins to prevent littering. Each department is responsible for sorting out their own little projects and promotion methods and ensuring that everyone is doing their part. A huge part of our project is raising awareness among students and teachers on how they can be environmentally friendly and conscious.

Our goal at the Windhoek High School Go Green Project is to show others how to care for the environment and to make Windhoek High School as eco-friendly as possible.

A word from the project managers

Zani and Nina van der Merwe (Water department)

Our plans for the future include finding different ways to reduce Windhoek High School’s water consumption and educating people about it. As many know, water is a scarce necessity in Namibia and we at WHS wish to help in any way we can. We plan to start off by repairing all leaks and broken toilets on the school premises and promoting and raising awareness among students through posters.

Intan Plaatjies (Solid waste department)

When I handed in my application form for the Go Green Project, I knew that my life would change for the better. Today I can say that the Go Green Project was an eye-opener and that I have learned an insurmountable number of things I would not have learned elsewhere. It is far from being a walk in the park, but it is no less enjoyable. Our first big project as the solid waste department took place at our school’s Entrepreneurship Day where we placed bins at central points and afterwards sorted the waste into recyclable and non-recyclable waste. It was a sight because many people actually have no Idea what the difference between general and recyclable waste. It truly is a unique experience.

Caleb Zola (Electricity department)

As a project a manager at the Windhoek High School Go Green Project we like to raise awareness of the electricity consumption in the school. Let us all unite and work together in saving electricity and make Windhoek High School a school that saves!