A few weeks ago ex-student Ben Thorne dropped in to share his experiences since completing a BTEC National Diploma a few years ago. Ben is now employed as a Project Director for the Song Saa Foundation based on Koh Rong Island in Sihanouk Province, Cambodia. He spends most of the year leading volunteers in coral reef surveying and teaching diving qualifications, as well as coping with the monsoon rains and venomous spiders and snakes!
Ben picks up the story.....'I work fior an island-based NGO working with the Royal Government of Cambodian Fisheries Administration to implement the country's first Marine Protected Area (MPA). We also capacity build community development projects in our local communities'.
He adds 'The success of our operation is based on invaluable support from international volunteers - usually recent school and college leavers looking to take a gap year. Volunteers undergo PADI scuba diving training, marine research training, then undertake underwater surveys on the coral reefs around our local archipelago. Data from these surveys helps to create protection zones within the proposed MPA - a valuable and noble way to gain a life-changing experience'.
In other news, BSc Land Management graduate Lois Mayhew is heading over to work for Alderney Wildlife Trust today on the Channel Islands to head up their biological records office. Lois has worked previously on conservation projects in Central America and Asia and elsewhere, and is looking forward to this 'closer to home' challenge!
To learn more about Ben's work, visit: www.songsaafoundation.org / www.songsaa.com
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| Monsoon clouds over the Archipelago, Cambodia |
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