All aboard the Culture Train. This week, Kristen and Asher travel to sunny South Africa to meet some very special coastal residents, African penguins.

On this adventure, Culture Kids learn that not all penguins live in icy places. African penguins live along warm, sandy beaches and rocky coastlines in southern Africa. We visit SANCCOB, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, where we meet Lisa Faith, an education supervisor and real life penguin protector. SANCCOB is like a hospital for seabirds, rescuing injured and orphaned African penguins, helping them heal, and preparing them to return safely to the ocean.

Along the way, Culture Kids discover why African penguins are critically endangered and what that means for their future. We learn how SANCCOB began over 50 years ago when a woman named Althea turned her own bathroom into a penguin wash station after an oil spill, and how today the organization has helped more than 100,000 seabirds. Asher even gets to help feed real African penguins, meeting penguins named Sammy and Batman, and learning how each penguin’s belly spots are as unique as fingerprints.

This episode is full of fun facts and meaningful learning. Culture Kids hear how African penguins eat sardines and anchovies, why they sneeze out extra salt from the ocean, how humans help replace lost nesting spaces, and how people and animals depend on one another. Most of all, this journey shows how care, teamwork, and learning can help protect animals and the planet we all share.

ABOUT SANCCOB:

Visit: www.sanccob.co.za.

You can also follow them on Instagram at @sanccob and on Facebook by searching SANCCOB.

Families can even adopt a penguin to help support their ongoing care and conservation efforts!

Please support Culture Kids!

Culture Kids is a volunteer supported nonprofit creating immersive, screen free stories that help children and families explore the world together through curiosity, respect, and imagination.

If you would like to support our mission of creating a more connected world for our children, please consider making a donation of any amount to help keep the Culture Train chugging along!

http://culturekidsproductions.org

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🎧 Credits

Host & Producer: Kristen Kim & Asher Kim

Guest & Collaborator: Lisa Faith, Education Supervisor at SANCCOB

Sound Design/Music/Edit: Culture Kids Productions

Music: Envato Elements

Audio Engineer: Robin Lai

Academic Consultant: Elisha Li