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- Five South African teens will be travelling to Antarctica this month.
- They will form part of a programme to educate young people about the impact of climate change.
- Participants have been selected from around the country.
Ice, penguins, and 24 hours of sunlight are just some of the natural wonders that await five South African teens who will soon be embarking on the adventure of a lifetime to Antarctica.
The teens from around the country will be participating in the Matrics in Antarctica programme, which aims to teach teens about sustainability while offering them a chance to experience life in one of Earth’s most remote places.
An initiative by South African explorer Riaan Manser and Professor Jonathan Jansens, the project aims to inspire young people who will finish high school at the end of 2024 to think about how they can make a difference within their communities to offset the effects of climate change and global warming.
Among the selected participants is #NotOnOurWatch African penguin survival campaign’s youth ambassador, Keira King.
17-year-old King has already shown her deep commitment to helping protect our oceans and endangered species.
In 2022, she completed the Robben Island swim in Cape Town to support the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation’s Turtle Conservation Centre, and earlier this year, to raise awareness about the fact that endangered African penguins may be extinct by 2035, King completed a prone board paddle from Salmon Bay in Ballito to uShaka pier in Durban.
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Living in Durban, King anticipates the cold will be a shock to the system.
She said she couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit the home of so many penguin species, with the programme representing everything she loves.
She added:
King has been in love with the ocean ever since she can remember, having been influenced by her grandfather, who has a passion for underwater photography and fish identification, and her father, who was a South African surfer in his youth as well as being involved in lifesaving.
Joining King will be James Pringle from the Western Cape.
Pringle has always loved nature and said he learnt to value sustainability while visiting his grandmother on her farm.
"I hope most to gain knowledge with regards to research directly from those working there, to further develop an understanding of what I could do in my future to aid the cause," he said.
Pringle is most looking forward to exploring ice tunnels while visiting Antarctica. The network of tunnels under the research base, which houses pipes and other infrastructure, is also home to numerous shrines.
Sibahle Fetile from the Eastern Cape describes himself as a science and environmental enthusiast.
Fetile has lobbied for numerous community projects to conserve the environment, including convincing his school principal to change his decision to remove small trees on the school premises, and cleaning local river systems.
He hopes to learn more about the unique ecosystem of Antarctica during the programme.
"I'm looking forward to experiencing the weather there, because I have never in my life been in a place that is completely covered in ice. I'm also looking forward to experiencing how human activities negatively impact that continent," he said.
Dimakatso Serite from Gauteng believes the programme offers the "opportunity of a lifetime".
She said her love for nature came from her parents and the family’s favourite pastime of watching the National Geographic.
"Seeing how we negatively impact the environment has made me want to do anything to help, and sometimes it’s the smallest things that make me feel capable of creating big change, like when I see bees pollinate flowers that I planted," said Serite.
"I already know how I can contribute to taking care of the environment, but I hope that this trip will give me more insight, especially insight that will incorporate my future career in chemical engineering or physics with environmentalism."
Serite said what she was most looking forward to was experiencing 24 hours of sunlight.
The fifth participant, Chloe Diedericks Boudouris, was not available for comment.
Among the experiences the matrics can look forward to is learning to install solar panels at the research base.
Antarctica is a vital ecosystem because it deflects some of the sun's rays from Earth and is also home to a number of species of sealife.
Directly affected by global warming, the melting of some of Antarctica's ice sheets is causing sea levels to rise.
