Nature Mauritanie started their “Blue Classes” for school children from 10 to 15 years old. Previously offered “Green Classes” by the NGO together with Birdlife have shown that the children are old enough to understand the complex issues and eager to learn at the same time, which made the classes very successful. The Blue Classes are set up all along the coast, from Nouadhibou in the north to Ziré in the south of Mauritania and will teach and discuss the importance of the sea for the Mauritanian society and the urgency to take better care of this valuable ecosystem.
During the introduction sessions Nature Mauritanie screened the movie “Immersion en terre inconnue”, which was produced as part of the GIZ sponsored program “Biodiversité Gaz et Pétrole”. Also part of the sessions was the whiteboard presentation on Mauritanias upwelling ecosystem, which was already produced as part of the Meerwissen Initiative’s partnership project WASP. A class in Nouakchott and the Diawling Park participated in a drawing competition for the World Oceans Day.
In total four sessions with the “Blue classes” in Nouadhibou, Nouakchott and the Diawling Park are planned. The main objective is to write a narrative for a new whiteboard video and to draw the illustrations for it. The school children are looking forward to working with Nature Mauritanie on making a whiteboard video presentation all by themselves. Additionally, to learning about the Mauritania’s ocean ecosystem in a creative way, artwork created by the Mauritanian children will make the whiteboard presentations very appealing to a broader audience in Mauritania and the parents of the children involved will be looking forward to watching the video, too.
