The Learning Centre & the Year of the Sea Turtle
Engaging Young Minds and Hearts
With donated drums and paints, a dash of ingenuity and loads of youthful enthusiasm, WWF Fiji and the Learning Centre created colorful trash cans with motifs to depict the theme of the 2006 Pacific Year of the Sea Turtle (YOST).
© WWF Fiji / Joeli L.
Completed works of art by the students of the Learning Centre
As part of its efforts to raise awareness on the plight of the sea turtles, WWF Fiji saw the Learning Centre’s Bazaar on the 20th May 2006, as an opportunity to engage young minds and hearts.
With the drums and paints donated by Pacific Manufacturers Limited and Pacific Coatings Limited and Kylie Anderson respectively, the intention was to encourage young ones to explore their perceptions of turtles and marine life. A particular scene painted told the story of a young woman fishing at the shore and eventually leaving with an empty net.
The Learning Centre is a school composed of Classes 1 – 8 and was established in 1995, during the first Pacific YOST, hence the turtle being their school logo. Having learned that 2006 was another YOST, WWF Fiji was invited to participate in the Bazaar – so while helping the school raise funds, WWF Fiji saw this a primarily an opportunity to create more awareness about sea turtles.
The booth generated a lot of interest not only due to the trash can painting, but more so because of the presence of 3 juvenile turtles. These were provided courtesy of the Department of Fisheries through their Makogai hatchery.
Fiji’s four species of turtles are all subject to threats such as their being over-harvested for consumption, loss of their nesting beaches and feeding grounds, pollution and climate change.
WWF Fiji and partners like the Department of Fisheries are working throughout this YOST to engage support from various sectors of Fiji’s society – from village communities, school children, the private sector to our Government leaders.
Efforts of this campaign are not limited to just raising awareness on the threatened status of marine turtles, but to use this as a tool to change peoples perceptions of these cultural icons and eventually effect positive changes in attitudes towards both the use of these animals as well as their associated habitats.
For further information, please contact:
Penina Solomona, Regional Marine Officer, WWF South Pacific, 4 Ma’afu Street, Ph: +679 3315333; Fax: +679 3315410