By Lysanne Snijders
While I am writing this I am very tired, bruised and my muscles hurt very badly! But do not be alarmed. This is not the results of the environmental project in which I am participating but the consequence of a first time mountain climb in the Philippines. That was great by the way!
I arrived in the Philippines one month ago to participate as a volunteer for the South Sea Exclusive Foundation environmental school program. At the moment, I am finishing my Master Biology at the Wageningen University so my relation to nature and the environment is rather clear. During my studies, I participated in a number of courses related to environmental and nature communication. As I love studying and observing nature, I also love to conserve it! But most of all, I just love telling other people about how wonderful and fascinating nature is and that therefore we should respect it!
In total, I will stay on Palawan for 3 months. Not only my feelings towards the importance of environmental education have lead me here, but also the sustainable approach of the Foundation which I greatly support and of course Palawan itself that really caught my interest. As a biologist, I could not miss out on seeing ‘the last ecological frontier’. How green and beautiful this island is I could really see from the top of the mountain this weekend. So, all the more reason to protect it.
This specific week started by taking the kids every day to Pandan Island in Honda Bay. Each day we took another class usually ranging between 30 and 40 kids. Helped by the Philippine Coast Guards, Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary, the teachers and the volunteers, we are every day with quite a number. At Pandan Island we show the children the corals, anemones and we even let them find Nemo! Also we take them for a “mangrove waste cleaning tour” in which we show them the mangroves, tell them a very nice story about the consequences of plastics and glass for animals in the mangroves and do a bit of cleaning ourselves. Practice what you preach as they say.
How fun this can be, it is also very intensive. Especially if you use the weekends to do some site seeing, snorkelling and mountain climbing. Luckily there are also places I can go to relax, like the town of Sabang where I can spend my days on the beach. Or just going into town for a nice ice coffee and reading a book. Yes, live is hard work in the tropics.
The living circumstances are a bit different than what I am used to in the Netherlands. As to be expected. Here I wash my clothes myself by hand. At least, I am still trying to. I guess for clothes to be categorized as washed they actually have to turn out cleaner than as they started. However, I think I am making progress. And, I also have a lot of roommates here, the kind that usually walk on more than 2 legs. It is all part of the total experience package. And as a biologist I am usually just sitting there observing them instead of trying to kill them or running away screaming.
One of the nicest things of joining a project without knowing the people and in a continent you have never visited is meeting new people and making many friends. I really enjoy working and spending free time with Kyra and Sander, but also with the Philippine volunteers that give the lectures for the project. It is very interesting to see what the differences are in culture and especially opportunities between students here compared to the western world. We are so lucky, especially in the Netherlands, to be able to study our Bachelor and Master when we want to and still have money to go to the other side of the world!
There are still a lot of culture differences I still have to get used to and accept. Good ones (karaoke!) and bad ones (the ‘take what you can get’ attitude and always being treated like you are a celebrity, and yes that is a bad habit!). However, I am sure that in the next 2 months I will learn even more than I did so far and maybe I will also be able to adjust my western way of thinking a bit. Although I had to spend some amount of money to get here, I will leave richer than I came.
Lysanne (on the left) with one group of kids on their way to Pandan Island
I arrived in the Philippines one month ago to participate as a volunteer for the South Sea Exclusive Foundation environmental school program. At the moment, I am finishing my Master Biology at the Wageningen University so my relation to nature and the environment is rather clear. During my studies, I participated in a number of courses related to environmental and nature communication. As I love studying and observing nature, I also love to conserve it! But most of all, I just love telling other people about how wonderful and fascinating nature is and that therefore we should respect it!
In total, I will stay on Palawan for 3 months. Not only my feelings towards the importance of environmental education have lead me here, but also the sustainable approach of the Foundation which I greatly support and of course Palawan itself that really caught my interest. As a biologist, I could not miss out on seeing ‘the last ecological frontier’. How green and beautiful this island is I could really see from the top of the mountain this weekend. So, all the more reason to protect it.
This specific week started by taking the kids every day to Pandan Island in Honda Bay. Each day we took another class usually ranging between 30 and 40 kids. Helped by the Philippine Coast Guards, Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary, the teachers and the volunteers, we are every day with quite a number. At Pandan Island we show the children the corals, anemones and we even let them find Nemo! Also we take them for a “mangrove waste cleaning tour” in which we show them the mangroves, tell them a very nice story about the consequences of plastics and glass for animals in the mangroves and do a bit of cleaning ourselves. Practice what you preach as they say.
How fun this can be, it is also very intensive. Especially if you use the weekends to do some site seeing, snorkelling and mountain climbing. Luckily there are also places I can go to relax, like the town of Sabang where I can spend my days on the beach. Or just going into town for a nice ice coffee and reading a book. Yes, live is hard work in the tropics.
The living circumstances are a bit different than what I am used to in the Netherlands. As to be expected. Here I wash my clothes myself by hand. At least, I am still trying to. I guess for clothes to be categorized as washed they actually have to turn out cleaner than as they started. However, I think I am making progress. And, I also have a lot of roommates here, the kind that usually walk on more than 2 legs. It is all part of the total experience package. And as a biologist I am usually just sitting there observing them instead of trying to kill them or running away screaming.
One of the nicest things of joining a project without knowing the people and in a continent you have never visited is meeting new people and making many friends. I really enjoy working and spending free time with Kyra and Sander, but also with the Philippine volunteers that give the lectures for the project. It is very interesting to see what the differences are in culture and especially opportunities between students here compared to the western world. We are so lucky, especially in the Netherlands, to be able to study our Bachelor and Master when we want to and still have money to go to the other side of the world!
There are still a lot of culture differences I still have to get used to and accept. Good ones (karaoke!) and bad ones (the ‘take what you can get’ attitude and always being treated like you are a celebrity, and yes that is a bad habit!). However, I am sure that in the next 2 months I will learn even more than I did so far and maybe I will also be able to adjust my western way of thinking a bit. Although I had to spend some amount of money to get here, I will leave richer than I came.
Lysanne (on the left) with one group of kids on their way to Pandan Island
Arriving on Pandan island
Garbage the children collected from the mangroves
The children just enjoyed the snorkeling
Coast guards on duty
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to leave comments, questions or suggestions.