In 2017 we supported Chloe Nunnery for her volunteering project in Fiji.
Chloe is currently a student at university in Bristol and has been lucky enough to be accepted onto the Volunteer Eco Students Abroad Program. She travelled to Fiji in summer 2017 to take part in a sustainable community development project.
She worked in conjunction with the villagers and the village chief in addressing the major issues faced by the village and the local schools such as a lack of fresh running water, dilapidated schools and generally poor infrastructure. Our sponsorship helped to facilitate the means for implementing a major community development project, which will encompass construction in addition to educating the community on matters of conservation, sustainability, health/hygiene and English proficiency.
Our sponsoring directly assisted with the costs involved in participating in the program. These costs are significant and include hiring local skilled trades people to supervise and assist in the building projects, building materials and donations to local organisations.
As a volunteer Chloe completed a minimum of 40 hours of hands on community based volunteer work. A second activity that followed on from assisting the local community was a week being part of an initiative to increase the population of the native sea turtles and to restore the reef to its native state. Working under the guidance of a marine biologist, Chloe gained a greater understanding of sea turtles and the ecosystems that they inhabit. From providing ongoing care for ‘Headstart Hatchlings’ – cleaning pools and foraging for dietary components to build new ponds and turtle sick bay.
She further had the opportunity to learn about coral conservation and reef mapping, which involved snorkelling to count the number and variety of fish, coral and other beautiful marine life then transplanting coral from healthy reefs to rebalance the fragile ecosystem.
Contact us if you are going to participate in a volunteering project related to the sea or the improvement of the environment to get sponsorship.