Time for a Rest

Well, it's been an interesting 6 weeks at the Moso turtle project. The first group of 5 eco-volunteers have come and gone, and the nesting season is done for the year. And we've just finished a project follow-up meeting with the community to assess how they thought the project went this year and if they are interested in continuing on with it next season.

It was a good group for the community to start with I think. A variety of ages, backgrounds, experiences and expectations. We were all definitely on a steep learning curve as the weeks passed but I think that actually maybe made the experience that much stronger.

There were lots of challenges for the volunteers (e.g. the hike over to the beach, the mingling of different personalities, the rain, etc.) but I think the big one is adapting to 'island time'. Life moves slower in the islands, which is a bit of a hard adjustment for some people to make. It means that your ride to town, your dinner, or your guide to the turtle beach just possibly...or maybe probably...will be a bit late. But it also means that lazing in a hammock reading a book to pass the afternoon is acceptable if not expected.

The group definitely did have a positive impact though. More time was spent over on the turtle nesting beach, the kids at the school learned a few new things and the community made some new friendships.

When it was time to leave the good-bye party outdid the welcome ceremony and the line of people seeing the volunteers off to the boat home was as full of people as it was tears.

So will the project continue on next season? You bet it will!