Outreach (so far!)

On Saturday, the whole team ventured outside of the camp and into El Quesir to give a talk to a group of local children about what we are doing in Egypt as well as how humans are damaging the oceans, focussing on the Red Sea. We told them the affects of a number of anthropogenic activities such as overfishing, coastal development and marine debris and how they can devastate oceans, locally and worldwide.

We briefly explained single use plastic to the children and used a timeline to emphasise how long it takes for a single use plastic to decompose. Plastics are highly durable and therefore most single use plastics outlive the people mindlessly throwing them away. Plastic bags take between 10-100 years to decompose, and plastic bottles can take up to 450 years.

The PowerPoint was accompanied with a game in which the children sorted cards showing bad plastics and their better alternatives. By showing them the damage that has been caused by previous generations using single-use plastics and giving them suitable alternatives as well as simple ways in which they can help reduce their communities negative impact on the ecosystems so close to their homes.

When we finished our presentation, the children were asked to draw and cut out some of their favourite fish, they drew dolphins, turtles, octopus, as well as lesser known species; which was encouraging to see that they had this knowledge and awareness. The team also had a go at drawing out some of their favourite species, unsurprisingly Fraser drew his favourite hawkfish.

On Monday, the team returned to the NGO to attend the grand re-opening of the kindergarten where we delivered our presentation and the introduction of the new curriculum. The event was well attended, and the team provided entertainment by dressing up and busting some moves. We played with the kids and families and had a brilliant time getting to know members of the local community. Afterwards, we spoke with Ali and organised a Mangrove clean up for this Saturday, which we are very excited about after taking part in a reef clean up on the house reef.