Manager: Environmental Education, North West Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Tourism
Lebo’s dream is that all the young people in North West province will grow into ardent conservationists. She develops environmental education programmes for the schools in her province and she also teaches communities to improve their lives by using their local resources in sustainable ways. ‘I want to make a difference,” she says. ‘We need to embrace development, but we must become aware of how we use our resources. They will not last forever.”
Lebo believes children are the key to preserving resources. ‘The informed will rise to the occasion. Many black communities still have a warped idea that conservation is the domain of white males. I want to make sure that in future generations this changes.”
Her choice of career is often the butt of jokes at parties. ‘People I’ve met wonder whether I ran out of career choices. They say, this poor woman — what is she doing in that field?” Because conservation is a new arena for women, Lebo works hard to dispel the myth that women stand in men’s shadows. ‘But I am a perfectionist. I don’t work to impress men, only to please myself,” she adds.