Project AWARE - Beach clean up. 25/1/16

  On a uni trip to the island of Kolombangara in Western Provence of Solomon Islands I have been immersed in a small costal community which is predominantly self sustained and self reliant. They grow many vegetables and thrive from coconuts and other fruits in their lushious forests.  Unfortunately, western culture has left its footprints on this beautiful island and left a litter trail behind.  Although they keep their fresh water rivers pristine - as this is their scource of drinking water, the beaches have become the local dumping ground.  A misunderstanding of what happenes to this rubbish after its swept away by the tide means that the beaches will continue to be rainbow with trash.    A class mate and I decided to do a Project AWARE style beach sweep. When the locals went pink with embarrassment we assured them that it was not just a problem here but in many countries. And.. we were going to do something really cool with it.  After collecting a bag each we proceed to clean the rubbish with fresh water. We made pois by stuffing rubbish into halved plastic bottles and wrapping them in material that we had also found at the beach. I explained to the kids why rubbish was bad for the ocean and taught them some poi spinning games.    I am not sure if this did any good for the community, wether embarrassing the parents was worse than trying to do some good.  But what I do know is that the kids had fun, and they carried on playing with the pois.  There is surely a lack of education when it comes to leaving things on the ground and throwing rubbish in the ocean. I hope that I left a small footprint in the spirit of Project AWARE that maybe will be passed on by the kids.