Winners of Save Our Seas Foundation competition rewarded |24 April 2023

The students in a souvenir photograph with guests after receiving their certificates (Photo: Joena Meme)

First group leave for D’Arros experience camp

Lucky winners of the Save Our Seas Foundation competition leave for D’Arros today, for the one-week D’Arros experience camp, which takes place during the school holidays.

The 15 students from schools around the country were chosen out of over 70 who had created a realistic media campaign either through writing, drawing, video or audio, about four critically endangered species found in Seychelles; namely hawksbill turtle (Kare), sheath-tailed bat (Sousouri Bannann), Seychelles white-eye (Zwazo Linet) and bottlenose wedgefish (Vyolon). The species are found on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Through their campaign they had to teach people why the species was important and why it was threatened as well as highlight measures to help the population recover.

Among the fifteen winners, 14-year-old Anais Belmont of Praslin secondary, 10-year-old Mikella Grandcourt of Beau Vallon primary and 12-year-old Tristan Kuipers, who is home-schooled, had chosen the bottlenose wedge fish.

Five had based their campaign on the hawksbill turtle; namely 13-year-old Estelle Brown of Independent School, 13-year-old Bruce Lafortune of Perseverance secondary, 14-year-old Louisa Pillay of Mont Fleuri secondary, 15-year-old Melchizedek Solin of Pointe Larue secondary and 14-year-old Kirt Pool of Praslin secondary.

Four highlighted the plight of the Seychelles white-eye, namely 12-year-old Rya Joubert of Mont Fleuri, 13-year-old Jasmine Marie of Independent school, 14-year-old Ellie Mondon of Independent School and 14-year-old Curtis Pool of Praslin secondary
While 14-year-old Aurelie Nibourette of Anse Royale secondary, 12-year-old Brianna Niole of La Digue secondary and 13-year-old Noah Rose of Beau Vallon secondary had based their awareness campaign on the sheath-tailed bat.

They received their certificates recently during a short ceremony at the Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education (SITE), Mont Fleuri.

Brianna Niole, who had based her essay on the sheath-tailed bat, was the first student from La Digue to win such a competition. Speaking to Seychelles NATION, she said she was fascinated by the species whose population is barely a hundred and who is rarely seen by humans.

“My essay gave all the details about where they can be found, their behaviour, habitat and what to do to protect them,” she said. The young environmentalist said she was eager to visit D’Arros, to learn about nature especially species such as sharks.

For Praslin secondary student, Curtis Pool, visiting D’Arros was his lifelong dream after seeing other students having a fabulous time during their holiday camps and getting to discover Seychelles’ unique nature. Curtis, who depicted the plight of the Seychelles white-eye through a short video, said more could have been done to protect the species and he hoped to have given a helping hand through his awareness campaign.

Bruce Lafortune’s drawing and essay on hawksbill turtle, addressed what was leading to the species’ extinction and humans’ immediate action to protect them. The young environmentalist is also eager to travel to D’Arros to learn more about the species.

The students will be travelling to D’Arros in two groups; with the first departing today while the second one in early May.

The trip is sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation, which has been sponsoring research and conservation projects in Seychelles since 2005 and education programmes since 2009. 

The foundation organises the competition through the SOSF Island School where it seeks to promote understanding and respect for the marine environment in Seychelles through children’s education. The first cohort that attended the D’Arros experience camp was in 2014. The camp had taken a pause after that, but resumed last year.

Patsy Canaya