Growing up in a single parent family in Sekororo village, life was not always easy for Donald Rakgwale, but his life was to change drastically after his mother died in 2008. Donald was in grade 12 at the time, and did not pass as a result of this tragic event.
To help provide for him and his two siblings, he decided to move to Johannesburg to find work. After working in mechanical assembling for a few years, Donald decided to move back home and applied for a two year Protrack course for which he was accepted in 2015. He was finally able to start pursuing his dreams!
In November 2017 on his way home to his village, Donald came across a live pangolin in the river. Knowing how extremely endangered they are as a result of poaching, he took the animal home and immediately emailed Siyabonga Africa to inform them of his discovery.
Word had got around that Donald had this rare animal and says “I was approached and asked to sell the animal, others said it was theirs and I was even threatened with my life”.
After a couple of days with no response, Donald took to social media where Hoedspruit Rehabilitation Centre responded and came to collect the pangolin along with Rhino Force the next day.
As a result of the pangolin event, Donald came in contact with Wild Shots – an outreach program that engages disadvantaged young people in nature and conservation through photography.
Mike Kendrick, the founder of this worthwhile organisation had seen his post and reached out to Donald, asking to meet up with him in Hoedspruit. Following this meeting, a free photography course was offered to him along with 8 youth in Donald’s community, after which they were taken to a local game reserve to put their photography skills to the the test. Donald’s passion for conservation became obvious to Mike after the few short days he spent with him. He knew that Donald had huge potential but needed some assistance to direct him towards the right path.
Read: TZANEEN: Suspects nabbed for being in possession of Pangolin
A short time later, Donald was accepted under the National Scholarship Programme with Global Vision International (GVI) to participate in a Wildlife Conservation Internship for three months.
He says that, “Working with GVI has been one of the best experiences of my lifetime. I say thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity to learn. I have learned so much about trees, tracks, animals and their behaviour and much more. Now I will leave here with more experience of nature and how I can do research in the future.”
Going on drives every day and learning something new from the staff was a highlight for Donald.
From here, Donald will start looking for a job as he needs to earn a salary to support his family, but his goal is to have a registered group chat, a security company and hopes to help educate people about endangered species as he says, “it is a long walk to win this problem of poaching.”
