Caribbean

Courtney Vail, WDCS Caribbean program lead recently traveled to Saint Lucia as part of our "Live Free in the Sea" Caribbean education program. This year "Live Free in the Sea" focuses on Tobago, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent. In partnership with the Eastern Caribbean Cetacean Network (ECCN), the "Live Free in the Sea" 2008 program will educate young people on these islands about how their actions on land affect beaches, reefs and marine life. The program on each island consists of environmental education and action with an artistic component. On Tobago, children took part in a beach clean up on Turtle Beach; the trash collected was then recycled to make functional art. On Saint Lucia, Courtney took children from the Laborie Boys School whale and dolphin watching with Caroline Aimable, who runs Mystic Man Tours on Saint Lucia and coordinates "Live Free in the Sea" on Saint Lucia. On their whale watch they saw Fraser's and spotted dolphins, pilot whales and pygmy and dwarf sperm whales. "It was amazing the see the excitement from the children," Courtney said. "They live so close to the sea, but so many of them had never been out on the water, or seen a whale or dolphin.


While Courtney was visiting she gave the children educational talks, and Year of the Dolphin Diplomas after beach clean ups. They also made origami whales to add to Peggy Oki's Origami Whales Project (http://www.peggy-oki.com/cu_origami.html), which is a curtain of over 30,000 origami whales ­ each signifying one of the whales taken by whaling since the 1986 international moratorium on whaling. Courtney was most excited about encouraging children that their voices are important. She said, "One of the sweetest replies that was offered by a 2nd grader when I asked 'why should we care about whales', was 'because they care about us"

Courtney Vail, WDCS Caribbean program lead recently traveled to Saint Lucia as part of our "Live Free in the Sea" Caribbean education program. This year "Live Free in the Sea" focuses on Tobago, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent. In partnership with the Eastern Caribbean Cetacean Network (ECCN), the "Live Free in the Sea" 2008 program will educate young people on these islands about how their actions on land affect beaches, reefs and marine life. The program on each island consists of environmental education and action with an artistic component. On Tobago, children took part in a beach clean up on Turtle Beach; the trash collected was then recycled to make functional art. On Saint Lucia, Courtney took children from the Laborie Boys School whale and dolphin watching with Caroline Aimable, who runs Mystic Man Tours on Saint Lucia and coordinates "Live Free in the Sea" on Saint Lucia. On their whale watch they saw Fraser's and spotted dolphins, pilot whales and pygmy and dwarf sperm whales. "It was amazing the see the excitement from the children," Courtney said. "They live so close to the sea, but so many of them had never been out on the water, or seen a whale or dolphin.


While Courtney was visiting she gave the children educational talks, and Year of the Dolphin Diplomas after beach clean ups. They also made origami whales to add to Peggy Oki's Origami Whales Project (http://www.peggy-oki.com/cu_origami.html), which is a curtain of over 30,000 origami whales ­ each signifying one of the whales taken by whaling since the 1986 international moratorium on whaling. Courtney was most excited about encouraging children that their voices are important. She said, "One of the sweetest replies that was offered by a 2nd grader when I asked 'why should we care about whales', was 'because they care about us"

For days while Hurricane Ike ravaged the Turks and Caicos, and for days after, no one was able to contact the 66 people who weathered the storm on Salt Cay. The majority of Salt Cay was evacuated, but these 66 people decided to stay and after days of uncertainty and concern for the people, property and animals of Salt Cay - communication was established, others have returned and the island is on the mend.

At first, there was no air service, the airstrip was unusable; and there was no ferry capabilities, the larger boats (the Buccaneer and Salt Cay Divers' Big Boat) were sent to Grand Turks' North Creek to hide from Ike. However, reports say those boats disappeared without a trace during the storm.

Just like on Grand Turk, there was massive damage on Salt Cay, but the residents of Salt Cay not only survived Ike's 135 mph winds and storm surges, they came through with tenacity and determination. A shelter was set up at the school. Jim and Sharon Shafer of Windmills and Porter Williams of Island Thymes donated food from their freezers.

The Green Flash Café, one of our favorite places was wiped out, fortunately the memories were not.
Teams of workers arrived to restore electricity and re-roof more than 30 Belonger homes in need roof replacement. Tents are set up in the yards so homeowners would have a place to live while their roof was repaired. Once the roofs are repaired, the focus will go to the churches and common buildings in need of repair. There is still much work to do: ceilings collapsed, walls crumbled and there is much interior damage. There are a few organizations collecting donations to help residents in need of financial support.

Immediately after the storm, rescue workers were collecting bottled water, work gloves, non-perishable food items, roofing materials, tarps, treated lumber, diesel generators for refrigerator and these things are still necessary. However, currently the biggest problem is the electric company won't reconnect homes with power until they have been inspected, which is very expensive and there are many elderly in need of help.

Friends of Salt Cay began raising money specifically for Salt Cay's rebuilding efforts. Relief efforts were targeted specifically for Salt Cay; to help the local residents, including the elderly whose homes were affected. These efforts have been taken over by Salt Cay Hurricane Relief Trust. To make a donation: visit www.saltcay.org