Starting in July I’ll be joining Projects Abroad to spend 2 weeks participating in marine conservation and helping out with the local community in Belize. During this time I will be taking part in salvage dives to clean-up the reefs and surrounding seabed, I will also take part in marine wildlife surveys and beach clean-ups. The project also has a land-based community aspect, where I will be doing physical work to improve a local public area such as painting a classroom or refurbishing a playground. Since 2004, large-scale tourism has been on the rise in Belize, with some 800,000 tourists visiting annually, Belize does not have adequate infrastructure to handle the amount of waste that this many people can leave behind. This creates a problem for the popular beach areas, which lack a solid waste management system, I will be helping to clear these areas and help maintain Belize’s natural beauty and wildlife during the course of my trip.
I look at my time abroad not only as a way to give back but also as a way to gain a better insight into the world around me. While I am volunteering I will be living in a shared dormitory with other volunteers, I will also be spending time with host families so I can learn more about the cultures in Belize. I believe that the long-term relationships that I hope to make with my project colleagues and host-family will be of great value to me as well as them. At the end of my project I hope to return with a better understanding of the country I’m volunteering in and the people that I have interacted with there.
I’m choosing to volunteer through an organisation called Projects Abroad. Projects Abroad was established in 1992 as a volunteer English-teaching programme in Eastern Europe and has since grown to offer a wide range of opportunities in volunteering, internships, and language courses around the globe. Any donations at all will be greatly appreciated! :)