Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts

Saturday, April 20, 2013

南非農場日記

以為在南非旅行會有點貴,為慳點旅費我們找些義工服務。希望可以平點住又可以認識多點本地人。老婆上網找到一個有基督教背景的農場,他們期望義工留一個月以上。我們只想留兩星期,又要提供履歷,好像有點麻煩。最後還是交了,居然有回覆。他們好像很歡迎我們,況且只需每人每月付三百南非幣作日常開支,總算經濟,於是我們就從津巴布韋出發到南非北部林波波省,裏面有個叫散連的鎮,附近盛產牛油果、芒果、荔枝等生果。

四月八日 天晴酷熱
坐咗成日車,中間又碾轉換車又搵車,晩上九點先到南非波哥關尼巿。比原定時間遲了五個鐘到,又累又餓,迫於無奈才到唯一開門嘅麥記食嘢。叫個大麥餐同麥雞餐,點知食到一半大麥餐先知道無咗一層牛肉芝士。麥記員工又肯整多份賠償,等緊佢整之際,員工居然搵到去省連鎮嘅順風車。
其實係一架靈車,後面瞓嗰個係男係女都唔知,就放兩個大背囊同佢一齊,一行四個人就迫喺前車廂。
去到省連,成十一點,司機建議我哋入警署留一晚。點知啲警員對我哋好有興趣,又幫手打電話問,又用手機上網搵(其實個農場網頁無寫地址),又用警車帶我哋周圍搵,遍尋不獲,停止搜索。喺警署停車場紥營瞓一晩。

四月九日 天晴酷熱
為咗唔好比上級知,我哋一早起身收拾細軟七點走。用咗成朝提錢買電話咭,再返警署,佢地居然繼續幫忙帶我哋搵到個神秘農場喺鎭嘅辦公室。還在裝修,招牌只說是稅務公司(!?)旁邊是連鎖的中價餐廳。
總算找到聯絡人比奈先生,一番參觀和介紹,我們在辦公室上網打發時間到午飯,到那間餐廳光顧一下。二百幾南非幣食一人份魚兩隻蠔兩杯飲品,有啲貴。我哋見到餐廳負責人莊拿芬,佢對中餐興趣很大,我們便自薦第二晚幫單身人士煮廣東菜。
莊拿芬帶我們到超級市場,原來這地方出產生果,反而蔬菜欠奉。買完就乘農場專巴,要乘一小時才到自成一角的阿朗農莊。
我們被安排和一對丹麥裔夫婦住同一宿舍,有自己的雙人房,裝修很沈實舒適。
第一晩的晩餐除了簡單的意粉外,就已經有新鮮的牛油果,很新鮮好吃。
前一夜睡得少,很早就想睡。但當晚有工作時間,我哋坐喺餐廳幫手為棘椒去造棘椒醬,十點已經好眼訓,做完即訓。

四月十日 天𤲟酷熱
早餐也有牛油果,仍是新鮮嫩甜。第一天早上工作就是當約拿伯伯的跟車。他在這裏已經二十年,好似係呢度負責決定嘅長者。我幫手淋幼苖、搬蟲水(作肥料)、到牛油果工場搬箱等。
下午在烈日下油木地板,之後煮二十個人的晚餐(有家室嘅會自己煮食,單身就到餐廳食)。
第二朝要六點半食早餐,很累,十一點就睏了。


四月十一日 天陰涼
今日我整曰分咖啡豆,要企喺度搖又要搬,用壓縮氣把穀吹走。認識咖啡專家比得,這農莊有出產高檔咖啡,要用人手揀(我都有份揀)。食午飯時比得同我分享主點樣將佢從精神病救出來。而家成家立室,仲將佢父母帶來農莊。感謝主嘅作為同拯救。
經過一日工作,晚餐前有聚會唱歌讚美主、禱告分享、讀聖經。晚餐後有電影播放,一套賣視覺效果但故事沈悶嘅日式打鬥片。看完很睏,很旱就瞓。

四月十二日 天涼微雨
落咗成晩雨,好早發現啲人出咗去,原來佢哋五點幾去祈禱。食完早餐,我可以同老婆一齊㨂咖啡豆。佢好鐘意做,因為令佢更了解咖啡,包括揀選過程同質素。其間我哋聞到好香嘅焗咖啡味,知道比得喺山下焗咖啡豆。好想去參觀一下。
上午咖啡時間後我哋到山下咖啡小屋找比得,見到他把朝早焗起嘅豆入袋。佢介紹每次焗嘅時間同溫度都有記錄,所得出的味道也不完全一樣,一半技巧一半藝術。
午飯後比得帶我哋到咖啡園參觀。第一次看到紅色的咖啡果實,甜甜的再把白色的咖啡豆吐出來。比得說這裏是南非唯一喺海拔一千米以上的咖啡園。這些咖啡樹是從野生樹苗移植過來,而這些野生樹來自猴子吃咖啡果把種子從肯亞帶來這裏。比得把果實除殼再把種子和一些果皮泡再清水約三十六小時發一些醇,使咖啡有一點果酒香。他還給我們看紅色的毛蟲,牠們能把除掉的果肉化成肥沃的泥作有機肥料。咖啡豆是太陽曬乾而除掉剩餘的葉綠素,這是有異於那些大量生產的咖啡豆要快焗乾,未取掉葉綠素而在長時間運輸時變綠。咖啡的生產像釀酒,沒一部都棈打細算。
參觀後我們回工場繼續揀豆。晩飯後有每星期一次的感恩聚會,感謝主一星工作日的作為和供應。他們唱歌跳舞,不澀於開口讚美祈禱。


四月十三日 天晴
原來星期六是休息日。早上有聚會分餅和酒,他們覺得這是清潔他們的靈。之後我們被邀請到莉地亞家裏吃早餐,但要成十點半先有得食。之前就到附近的樹林很山,呢度住啲人夾錢起條行山徑圍住農莊行,其實都無乜特別。之後我哋到外邊樹林行搵動物,點知俾我地見到四隻斑馬。我哋可以很近見到佢地,聽講佢地較其他動物唔怕人,捭個蘋果佢地會走近。
下午我哋去咗史提芬妮和丹尼家食下午茶。佢地整咗班㦸,喺大露台望住森林傾暍。史提芬妮講述一個華人朋友跳樓自殺,她從大陸來南非,生活富足,點知識咗個男朋友,跟住分手,情海觸礁。跟著又講述佢信主得救的事,十八廿二被父母送嚟呢度。起初好反叛好想走,但酗酒嘅爸爸嚟探佢,父女恩怨得以解開。廿年後的佢後呢到成家,主的作為真奇妙。
今晚有燒烤,我哋買咗兩塊牛扒,終於一嘗南非產品,肉味充足,真不錯。

四月十四日 天陰下雨
今天有半天工作日,我哋同學校啲學生一齊清潔農莊。要清理樹枝樹葉,跟著要搬凳搬枱來回山上山下,最後到樹林收集廢木頭。下午同老婆再去山頂搵動物,除了見番嗰四隻班馬外,仲見到三隻大鹿(我哋叫佢哋福祿壽),同一大班羚羊。
番來落大雨,我哋去咗樂得屋企避雨,傾下暍,睇下佢嗰本丹麥語翻譯占美奧利化食譜。晩飯後有戲睇,做Hobbit , 睇完就訓覺。

四月十五日 天晴炎熱
今日終於有得出城!要幫正裝修嘅辦公室髹油。有得可以免費上網,一於帶埋電腦出去。點知要死做爛做無停手:磨牆、上灰、髹油,由農夫變三行佬。無時間上網搵租車同巴士車票。
帶住疲倦身軀番屋企。晩上有查經時間,去比特屋企,有得飲佢啲靚咖啡同茶。査糸經讀羅馬書第五章同創世紀第三章,心想終於有使徒章節。㸃知用好多時間講前者,其實我認為它是後者的背景,重要嘅係有關阿當的一人犯罪使我們的原罪,和耶穌的一人救贖。查完十點幾好眼瞓。上床即瞓。

四月十六日 天晴炎熱
為咗要用食晏嗰半個鐘上網訂車買飛,雖然又要去做三行,我哋仍然想出城。我就咁樣髹咗成日天花板,中間蛇咗一個鐘訂咗架車,一個禮拜只係為千一港幣, 以為好抵,但後來知道由約翰內斯堡揸車去開普敦,單程油錢連過路費已經要二千港幣。況且咁揸法,去到䦕普敦已經無時間玩,所以㡬日取消訂車。
工頭史提芬很好人,請我哋飲農場咖啡豆造嘅貴咖啡,工程中亦教我哋髹油方法。當晚番農場好靜,因為之前好多人走咗放假,出面餐廳開工又用咗一批人。原本夜晚要做嘢,我哋只係搾啲檸檬汁就被放假。番到屋企同比爾和羅拉兩夫婦一齊飲紅酒,分享我們的旅程。

四月十七日 天陰
以為訂咗車(仲未取消),放心繼續喺農場開工,朝早在BB房(意指植物苗圃)淋水。約拿喜歡試種植物,包括泰國水菜、人參。見到各植物在水和陽光下開心的笑。下午到農場唯一的金工場幫手,迪西是金工藝術家,我只係略幫小忙切切鑽鑽。佢之前喺波斯灣拿經營私人動物公園,在裏面幫襯都係大款,住一晚要成幾千蚊。因為今晚為單身人士煮飯,可以早放工。今晚煮川椒雞、蒸水蛋、炒雜菜和我新創的荔枝雞。啲棘椒真係好棘,但係買番嚟嘅花椒係次貨,味道不能同棘椒混和,這是我不滿意嘅地方;荔枝雞係將攪起膠的雞肉包荔枝肉炸,但係老婆加咗蛋,質地似琵琶豆腐;自己砌蒸籠蒸水蛋,質地麻麻。但係佢地都很喜歡吃。

四月十八日 天陰
今日成日分咖啡豆,要企成日,有啲悶。當晚要早啲訓,第二日晨早到告路價國家公園參觀。

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Interesting facts about sea turtles and ASTOP, Costa Rica

ASTOP office
We had a good summer week in Parismina, Costa Rica, working as volunteers at ASTOP (Asociacion Salvemos las Tortugas de Parismina, or Save the Turtles of Parismina) to help sea turtles in the natural reserve.

Here are some interesting facts about sea turtles and ASTOP (with reference to the ASTOP website and volunteer briefing/notes).


1) Every year, Leatherback, Green and Hawksbill turtles come to Barra de Parismina, Costa Rica, to lay their eggs on the Parismina beach from March to October. Poachers steal the turtles and their eggs to sell on the black market for profit. For instance, green turtle with their meat sold at the price of US$10/kg in the black market, used to be captured, tied up and carried around the village.  This is illegal but local were used to that until a group of young people from the local community decided to do something.

2) In 2001, a group of local teenagers who could not bear the fact that sea turtles and their eggs caught and collected illegally by poachers, started something to make their village a difference.  These youngsters started to parol at night while the leatherback, green and hawksbill turtles come to Barre de Parismina Costa Rica to lay eggs on the Parismina beach in the hatching season. They started the Association to protect sea turtles, developed volunteer plus homestay program and also arrange educational visit program of tertiary students from the US (charging three times more than volunteers) which not only finance the project, but also improve economy of the village as a whole, plus providing activities for village children.   Volunteers from all over the world came to help with the night watch, guard the hatching ground and learn about sea turtles preservation, while stimulate commercial activities of local, for instance buying food in the stores and paying for homestay or camping in the village.  ASTOP effort gradually gained support from their fellow villagers.
The night guard reporting cabin

3) Leatherback is the largest of all species of marine turtles. They can exceed 540kg and their eggs are most desirable, with the general belief that they have aphrodisiac power.

4) Green turtles are hunted for the meat and their eggs. The beaches between Parismina and Tortuguero in Costa Rica are believed to be the most important Atlantic nesting ground of these turtles.

5) Hawksbill are often hunted for their shells, which are the source of 'tortoiseshell' once prized for making accessories and eyeglass frames.  Luckily, it is now forbidden.

6) Turtles are reptiles, cold blooded and need to breath out of water for oxygen.  During hatching season, they will stay in the water surrounding the hatching beach and wait till dark before heading the beach to lay eggs.  Hence, some poachers will tie the turtles' legs when their appear on the beach with a long rope and floating ball and wait till the next day in looking for sea turtles in the ocean.

7) Sea turtles always have tears in their eyes. In fact their eyes are always secreting mucus to regulate salt water level. If baby turtles unable to develop such function, they will die in sea water.

8) Female turtles do not nest in consecutive years. They typically skip one or seven years before returning.  So, it's not easy for them!
Sea turtle footprints on the beach

9) It is believed that green turtles return to the very same beach where they were born.

10) If female sea turtles come ashore but cannot find a satisfactory spot to lay her eggs, she will crawl back into the ocean and try to come ashore at a later time.

11) Sea turtles will leave their eggs on the beach and only return for another nesting. Some might nest up to ten time per season.

12) The sex of hatching depends on the temperature around their nests. The proportion of male hatching exceed that of females when the temperature is between 23.C to 29.C and reverse when the temperature is between 29.C and 37.C

The relocated hatching area with volunteers on duty
13) Only one in every 1,000 to one in every 10,000 baby sea turtles will reach reproduction age. Reproduction age is between 15 and 50 years depending on the species.

14) Sea turtle babies will wait for their batch of eggs of the same nesting to climb out of the sand. Staying together gives the stronger ones better chance to survive.
Baby sea tutles nest are arm-length deep, it's not easy for the sea turtles to climb out.  They need to encounter this first challenge in life before they have a better chance to survive in the even more challenging ocean.

15) These babies will be dehydrate and they need to drink a lot of water when they successfully crawl towards the ocean. Some might dry up along their way.

16) These babies have all kinds of natural enemies on the beach, including birds, crabs and ants. Not only poachers, dogs would be digging their eggs and human on the beach might be stepping over their nest, making the sand compact and hence, they suffocate before even climbing out. Or even people might be stepping on them, when they crawl out, without knowing - they are really tiny when newborn.

17) Despite all the threats, in fact, poachers are not the main threat for turtles, but global warming and commercial fishing. Beach with temperature too high might kill the eggs, whereas fishing nets might accidentally caught sea turtle.  Unable to breath above the sea level, without fresh air, they will die.

18) To slow down global warming, we might help by consuming more local products to keep carbon emission lower.

It's definitely a good lesson to learn about these beautiful giant creatures.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

National Geographic Live: Witnessing Birth of Sea Turtles

Never in my life have I seen a living sea turtle, needless to say witnessing a mother sea turtle giving birth, except in Animal Planet or National Geographic Channel, but then, we saw it! And for 96 times on our first night as volunteer of Asociación Salvemos Las Tortugas de Parismina (ASTOP), 
http://www.parisminaturtles.org/  with the task to protect the endangered sea turtles by patrolling with local turtle guide at midnight until 4am!


Set in Northern Carribean, a small town with only around 500 inhabitants and surrounded by jungle rivers on one side and Carribean sea on the other side, Parismina is only accessible by boat and is the nesting ground of three kinds of sea turtles, including green turtle, leatherback and hawksbill sea turtle. Well, July is one of the peak month for nesting of green turtles and we are on time.


No wonder it's said to be the wettest place in Costa Rica, the village roads are covered with dark sand and water. And it rains everyday.




We took a bus in San Jose at the Caribe terminal to Siquirres, which took us almost 2.5 hours, had a short walk for 5 minutes before getting on another bus to Cano Blanca . A good 2.5 hours along banana plantations, we finally reached the pier. Then we waited for a small boat for 18. In 15 minutes, we arrived Parismina, finally.


Being a volunteer cost us US$75 each (US$35 for registration and US$10 daily for participation with a minimum of 5 days, but we asked for 4). Then we have a choice of home staying (which cost US$27 per person per night) with villagers or camping. The camp site managed by Alex, was quite nice, costing around US$5 per night, per person, and there are cabins too. Since no one staying in the campsite and it was raining all the time, we finally settled down in the cabin. Alex got us bed linen, fan, stove, gas, cutlery, dishes, plates, cup, unchained the fridge and we got the long abandoned kitchen and our room nicely setup.


At the ASTOP office, we got a short briefing, a set of notes and was told to patrol at 1200-0400 that night. Two local girls walked us around the small village and we had our own time thereafter.


The village got a lot of coconut but looks like everything were brought from outside. Food are extremely expensive! A pack of half kilo frozen chicken cost almost HK$80! We finally settled for some eggs. one onion, some tomatoes, some really artificial sausage and some rice.


After having dinner, we took a nap and headed for our first night of patrol.


It was raining heavily. We arrived at the patrol station almost 15 minutes ahead. There were already 2 people there, Miguel and Jennifer. Then 2 more guys came along.


We followed Miguel along the way. We had a really long walk along the dark soft beach, they prefer walking without light or turned on their red light torch once in a while.


I was holding Adley's hand tight as I was not used to the darkness, walking in haste and occasionally kicked on some woods along the beach.


It was almost 1.5 hour south before we met Jennifer and her partner again. They found a sea turtle! The trace was like tires on the sand, clear parallel lines of flaps moving upwards towards the shore. They was discussing in Spanish and we didn't get anything. We stood there waiting under the rain while dozing off standing and getting chilled.


Then Miguel asked us to move forward, and there she started! We all stand behind the mother turtle and Jennifer was kneeling on the sand, crawling down to catch her eggs in the arm length deep hole, with gloves and plastic bag ready.


This green sea turtle made a nest in the sand by her flips and when she thinks its deep enough, she started to lay eggs. 

Because we cannot use flashlight, we cannot take photos, but the following youtube was quite the same as what we saw.




Mother turtles might crawl up the beach and return to the ocean right away if she thinks the environment is not most appropriate, like having dogs around, human with strong perfume or mosquito repellents. Her hearing is excellent but shortsighted, hence, we are advised to wear dark clothes, refrain from using perfume nor mosquito repellents and no photographs nor video. But green turtles have an instinct to return to their own birth place to nest their eggs. Amazing!


The eggs comes one by one in varies pace. We were standing right next to her, at her back, seeing the eggs coming out. And there were 96 of them!


Jennifer and her partner took the eggs to the ASTOP guarded nesting ground, to have the eggs on watch, so as to avoid dogs and poachers. While we stayed with Miguel waiting and overseeing the mother turtle returning to the ocean before we go. Since green turtles are considered local delicacy but illegal for hunting. to make sure she is safe, we stayed to make sure she went back to the ocean.


Then our guide grasped me to somewhere nearby, while Adley watching over the mother turtle. There was another bigger one! But she walked up and returned to the water again.


We returned to the patrol base and on our way, discovered another turtle trace.


Mother turtle was already gone but our guide managed to find another pile of eggs. There were 85 of them.


Our guide carefully put them in a plastic bag with gloves and we took them to the guarded hatching ground, by burning deep into the sand.


That was a fruitful night and we returned all wet for another cold water shower and good sleep.