|
Lissenung
Island Resort would like to teach the children of New Ireland
that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of their
grandfathers, but that is also their own future! That they
need to take care of the earth, as they will be the ones
living on it.
Unfortunately,
as is typical in a developing country, the impact modern
day living has on our environment is not so easy to understand
for the local people. Here is one example: They use palm
fronts, woven in an intricate way to produce bags, baskets
(rubbish, shopping etc), floor mats, our staff even weave
flat "baskets" to use when they clean up garden
waste. Of course these are the only bags that are 100% bio-degradable
(at least in the true sense of the word), so when the basket
is old and worn, or not needed anymore, it gets thrown away
and it will degrade soon. This habit still continues on,
but instead of palm font woven baskets, we now see plastic
bags lying around everywhere.
Our
goals are
- To
educate the local school kids about marine environment
matters.
- To
increase awareness and understanding of how pollution,
over-fishing, shark finning etc. will have a negative
impact on the environment.
- To
educate the local school kids about sustainable ways of
living.
- To
educate parents and the community through the school kids.
The
aim is to establish a marine education program that can
be taught in all schools, although we will initially start
with Enuk Island schools. There will be various programs
to suit the different school levels, i.e. the elementary
school (5 - 10 year old kids) will be easier than the one
for the community school (10 - 15 year old kids).
The Youth Group of Enuk Island will be involved in assisting
the teachers with in-water activities, but first, they need
to be trained themselves.
|
|
Lissenung
Island Resort has been involved in marine environment
education for quite a few years now. We have joined
the PADI Project Aware Clean-up Day for the last 3 years,
and are very happy to report that the pile of rubbish
we collect is getting smaller and smaller each year.
Obviously, our message is getting through. |
We have also hosted the annual Enuk Island Elementary School
"Week of the Ocean" for the past 5 years, during
which the kids come to Lissenung Island, learn about what
is beneath the surface, they learn about different fish
and their quirky behaviour, they watch DVDs on marine animals,
they talk to our dive guides about diving, what they see
when diving and stories about encounter with the marine
life. They get to snorkel our house reef, with more talks
about what they have seen. It's always a fun week for everyone.
| In
May, Stella and Jürgen "Yogi" Freund
visited us as part of the 18-month WWF
Coral Triangle Photo Expedition, and Stella gave
a fantastic presentation over at Enuk Island. The kids
were listening intently to what "Auntie Stella"
had to tell them, and Mrs. Eva, the teacher at the Elementary
School, had the kids draw some of the animals Auntie
Stella showed photos off during her presentation. |
|
In PNG,
the main school holidays are over Christmas, just like in
Australia. This will give us plenty of time to talk with
the kids, work out a program and then hit the ground running
in the new school year.
Should
you have any questions in regards to our environment centre,
or should you be in the position to assist, please contact
us.
|
