Wednesday, May 25, 2016
May 18th First Day Here!
After several flights and a few car trips, we have all officially made it safe and sound to Port Elizabeth South Africa! Whooo! First destination, check. We arrived earlier today on a flight from Johannesburg and have spent most of the day getting groceries, searching for wifi, and settling into our new home, The Beacon Lodge. Which happens to be directly across from the Indian Ocean. Lucky us, huh? Lots of settling in today and getting used to the territory. Wifi is a little spotty so updates to the blog may come in surges, but there is much more excitement to come!
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Aquarium Day
Hello friends of EMB South Africa! While we are not off quite yet, we have an adorable addition to your Sunday evening. What you ask?
BOOM! PENGUINS! THAT'S WHAT?
Because come on, who doesn't wanna start their week of with a penguin? PenguinS even?
This post is to showcase another fabulous part of this trip and that is our partnership with the Newport Aquarium. During our time in South Africa we'll be focusing on the native penguin population and how our actions at home can aid in their conservation. These flightless guys are an important section of that conservation doc that sounded so cool in my last post.
In order to get a better idea of penguin behavior as well as contact organizations in South Africa that directly aid the native penguin population we got in contact with Rick and Alle at the Newport aquarium who have served as our penguin spirit guides. They themselves partner with SAMREC (South Africa Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre) as well as SANCCOB (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) to study South African penguins as well as things that directly disturb their habitat or food sources. These are some of the organizations we'll be interacting with while we make the conservation doc.
And as a perk, Alle and Rick let us hang out with the penguins at the aquarium for free. How great is that? Alle is pictured below lookin' cute. Rick will be in a group shot later making a funny face in the background.
We learned a lot about these birds today and also got some great footage of them waddling around in their habitat at the aquarium. Rick and Alle have been amazing, telling us all we need to know about these adorable birds. They themselves went to South Africa a few years back through SANCCOB to study the guano of the birds as well as the effects of over-fishing on their habitats. They introduced us to the penguins: Randi, Paula, Simon, Blueberry, Speckles, and Green Bean to name a few and they told us all about how the penguins are incredible ambassadors for the aquarium. They visit schools, go on television, and they even do some painting. You can buy their creations at in the gift shop and the proceeds go right back into their conservation and raising awareness of the help these penguins need. It's impossible not to want to help them, the way they playfully scuttled around, hopping over our gear and trying to make friends with us. Even the ones that were a little angry because it's molting season. Green Bean pecked me in the leg for instance and I STILL love these birds (Pretty hard too. I better wear thick pants on penguin day).
We can't wait to get to South Africa and see some of these birds in the wild. But until now, selfies with penguins is a pretty good compromise.
So close to departure on the 16th!
Annnnnd...we found Rick!
Next stop the airport!
BOOM! PENGUINS! THAT'S WHAT?
Because come on, who doesn't wanna start their week of with a penguin? PenguinS even?
This post is to showcase another fabulous part of this trip and that is our partnership with the Newport Aquarium. During our time in South Africa we'll be focusing on the native penguin population and how our actions at home can aid in their conservation. These flightless guys are an important section of that conservation doc that sounded so cool in my last post.
In order to get a better idea of penguin behavior as well as contact organizations in South Africa that directly aid the native penguin population we got in contact with Rick and Alle at the Newport aquarium who have served as our penguin spirit guides. They themselves partner with SAMREC (South Africa Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre) as well as SANCCOB (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) to study South African penguins as well as things that directly disturb their habitat or food sources. These are some of the organizations we'll be interacting with while we make the conservation doc.
And as a perk, Alle and Rick let us hang out with the penguins at the aquarium for free. How great is that? Alle is pictured below lookin' cute. Rick will be in a group shot later making a funny face in the background.
We learned a lot about these birds today and also got some great footage of them waddling around in their habitat at the aquarium. Rick and Alle have been amazing, telling us all we need to know about these adorable birds. They themselves went to South Africa a few years back through SANCCOB to study the guano of the birds as well as the effects of over-fishing on their habitats. They introduced us to the penguins: Randi, Paula, Simon, Blueberry, Speckles, and Green Bean to name a few and they told us all about how the penguins are incredible ambassadors for the aquarium. They visit schools, go on television, and they even do some painting. You can buy their creations at in the gift shop and the proceeds go right back into their conservation and raising awareness of the help these penguins need. It's impossible not to want to help them, the way they playfully scuttled around, hopping over our gear and trying to make friends with us. Even the ones that were a little angry because it's molting season. Green Bean pecked me in the leg for instance and I STILL love these birds (Pretty hard too. I better wear thick pants on penguin day).
We can't wait to get to South Africa and see some of these birds in the wild. But until now, selfies with penguins is a pretty good compromise.
So close to departure on the 16th!
Annnnnd...we found Rick!
Next stop the airport!
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Welcome To The Blog Everyone!
Welcome to EMB South Africa Summer 2016! I will be your host for this humble blog and we're glad to have you reading!
A brief note about who we are and what exactly is going on here. We're a group of electronic media and broadcast majors from the College of Informatics (And one lone BFA Playwright! What is up!) from Northern Kentucky University who will soon be departing for a three week tour of South Africa through our university's incredible Office of Education Abroad. This is the second time that the course EMB 495 has taken people to South Africa, taking students to Port Elizabeth and Cape Town through a partnership with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University who will help us explore all that South Africa has to offer. While we're very excited for this great adventure, we're even more excited that our adventure has an important purpose.
Over the course of our three weeks, we'll all be working together under the all mighty guidance of our professors Chris Strobel and Sara Drabik to produce documentaries, the biggest of which will be our conversation doc. This documentary will be all about animal conservation and how it affects four main South African species: Sharks, African penguins, African elephants, and rhinos. Each animal will have it's own "episode" and the four episodes will come together to make an entire doc. Kerry Skiff (co-director/producer of this documentary and senior at NKU) was nice enough to let me know all about this and how our group is hoping to create a link between our consumer habits in the states and the well-being of the amazing animals we'll be observing. She also let me know that everyone from children to experts will be interviewed about how important the animals are to us. So strap in because hopefully there will be some kids doing impressions of animals.
Kerry also provided the list below of everyone's jobs on the documentary, so that's available below for your perusal. She seems to me like a lady on top of her game. Go Kerry.
But the conservation doc is not all. There will be two other documentaries in the making, one of which will shed light on the Gugulethu 7 Memorial, an anti-apartheid memorial honoring seven men who were gunned down in 1986 by South African Police. Hannah and Alec will be the main ones conducting interviews and gathering whatever information they can find to bring this dark part of South Africa's history into the light as well as exploring the role of public art and how it plays into the remembrance of this event. Nycea Patterson will be heading her own doc where she explores the challenges of paying for education. She'll be working very closely with our partners at NMMU to compare and contrast the way high college tuition affects students at NMMU and those at our home college NKU. So there will be a boatload of useful and relevant information coming your way through these captivating and relevant documentaries made by the super cool people in this class.
But the conservation doc is not all. There will be two other documentaries in the making, one of which will shed light on the Gugulethu 7 Memorial, an anti-apartheid memorial honoring seven men who were gunned down in 1986 by South African Police. Hannah and Alec will be the main ones conducting interviews and gathering whatever information they can find to bring this dark part of South Africa's history into the light as well as exploring the role of public art and how it plays into the remembrance of this event. Nycea Patterson will be heading her own doc where she explores the challenges of paying for education. She'll be working very closely with our partners at NMMU to compare and contrast the way high college tuition affects students at NMMU and those at our home college NKU. So there will be a boatload of useful and relevant information coming your way through these captivating and relevant documentaries made by the super cool people in this class.
Along the way I, Alexx Rouse, the lone playwright among a bunch of cool people who can work cameras, will be updating you as to our adventures, our progress on our documentaries, and any ridiculous stories that we have to share. I personally am really excited to get going.
As for right now, we're gearing up to visit the Newport Aquarium this Wednesday to gain a little more understanding of some of these species before we jet off for Port Elizabeth on May 16th! Stay tuned for more updates and tons of pictures!
22 Days! But who's counting?
Group Members:
Nathaniel Weyman (freshman, shark enthusiast and co-director/producer)
Kerry Skiff (senior, elephant/rhino enthusiast and co-director/producer)
Kelly Klein (senior, interested in marine animals)
Kairi Freudenberg (sophomore, working on marine animals and finding children for our shots)
Vanessa Hollon (Animal lover and editor.)
Bethany Ellen (senior, elephant lover and camera operator)
Hannah Brewer (Gugulethu 7 memorial Co-Director and Producer)
Alyssa Saylor – Gugulethu 7 memorial, Production Crew
Alyssa Saylor – Gugulethu 7 memorial, Production Crew
Alec Reynolds - Gugulethu 7 memorial, Co-Dirctor and Producer
Nycea Patterson – The challenges of paying for a University Education, Director and Producer
Alexx Rouse (hello friends! Senior, elephant/shark enthusiast, production assistant/proud coffee and snack fetcher)
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