Turtle Hatchery Visit

Turtle Hatchery with the kids from the FED School for Talented and gifted students.

Wicked Diving was founded on the belief that we need to do more than simply take guests diving. WE need to take care of ecosystems and our local community. We set aside 2% of all revenue towards these projects. This manifests itself in many ways - ranging from our work with the Baan San Fan Orphanage to our Manta Research projects.

One of our longest running programs has been working with the gifted Students at the FED school for children of Burmese migrant workers. While formerly known as the GHRE school, they have changed their name to FED now. More on them can be found here: http://wickeddiving.com/ghre-school.

Our activities with the school range from lectures given about marine topics (conservation, plastics, salt vs. freshwater) to special outings. This week we were able to organize a great day out! We took the kids to our local Turtle Hatchery and showed them around. We then followed that up with a beach clean-up after pointing out that ingesting plastics are the leading cause of Turtle deaths.

Here's a quick report from Choc:

As part of our community projects, today we took 14 of the Burmese students and Max, their teacher to the Turtle Hatchery in Tablamu Navy Base. The goal was to give them a fun opportunity to interact with these lovely marine animals, learn a bit from them and realize the threats they face.

Walking around the tanks we had the chance to observe 3 of the 5 different species of turtle that inhabit Thai waters: hawksbill, green and olive ridley; some very little ones just few days old, some very big individuals that weight 50-60 kg!

After that, we had a well deserved lunch and a beach clean-up.

The day finished with some pictures and a delicious ice cream that helped everyone to cool down a bit. ;-)

Choc and Diego.

Thanks guys - Photos below!!!!


-Wicked Diving Thailand

Changing the way Burmese are taught and cared for in Khao Lak

Today I was taken for an informal visit to the brand new FED unified learning center.

 

Located just five minutes drive from the main road in Khuk Khak, the facility features two main buildings with classrooms, nursery, canteen, computer room and a huge playground area.

The new learning center is hosting 470 Burmese students from the age of 2 to 17.

 

As part of our Ethical Operations, Wicked Diving was paying the rent of one of the previous learning centers. Not that all centers have been unified in the new facility, and there is no need to pay a rent for it, Wicked Diving has conveyed the same budget into teachers’ salaries. This is the Wicked way to guarantee a level of education to the students to help them to be integrated in Thai high schools or prepare them to fins a job.

During the visit I’ve asked about the 3 students we’ve trained to become divers. They all have find their way in into the work life. One is working in a resort in Phuket, one is assisting acc and one is running his own business inside the learning center, selling snacks to the students and teachers!!!

I had the chance to see and congratulate him. He’s very happy and proud of his new business but assured me that he still likes diving so we’ll definitely have him in the water again next season. He said with a smile that he’s ready to do the advanced course!!!

All in all, I must say it was touching to see all these kids having proper education that otherwise would be difficult to get anywhere else.

Did you know FED (Foundation for Education and Development) has a Facebook page? Follow their activities just by searching GHRE-FED and “like” them. They deserve our attention!!!

-Wicked Diving Similan

Lecture at the FED school

Last week Nina and Our recent Divemaster Graduate, Koen visited the FED School - here is the story of what they did!






"On a sunny Monday morning me and our divemaster Koen headed to Burmese school to give a presentation to the kids about Manta Rays. Our expectations were high. We already heard so many good things about these kids and their ambition to learn more about their surrounding environment. My ambition is the ocean and the incredible creatures that inhabit it. Being given this opportunity to share it with school kids was like a Christmas present. But at the same time I was nervous: these kids really listen. They have spend most of their lifes surrounded by the ocean and fishing industry. Their knowledge and experience on the local ocean is greater than mine but they've never been told how fragile or sensitive it is and how badly it's suffering. So raising awareness in behalf of the Manta Rays and our local reefs was a challenge that I was happy to face.



When we entered the classroom we were greeted by a happy crowd of 22 kids between ages 13 to 18. The welcome was warm and full of anticipation. I opened my presentation by asking the kids how many knew what Manta rays were and how many had seen one. Surprisingly many had seen rays but only a few had seen a Manta and unfortunately a dead one. So when I showed them my first video of Manta Ray playing with the divers on the local dive site they were just blown away. During the presentation the kids were making notes frequently and following my lecture intensively. At the end we did a Manta Ray quiz with and the winner (who got 14 out of 15 points!!!) got a Wicked Diving T-shirt with a Manta Ray on the back.



I went to the school to raise awareness and to show the kids another side of the ocean life. I ended up being educated. The questions and the wonderments the kids had made me think of things in another way and see them from another angle.


Our goal in the community work we do is to try to get the local community involved with the diving industry. We are the foreigner coming to their towns and their culture and using their natural resources. We should give something back to them and also get them participate. And it's not only about giving and taking and us and them, it's working together for the same purpose: to keep our oceans healthy and alive."

Thanks Nina, Koen and all the kids for participating.

A special thanks to each of our guests as well! Without you, none of this is possible. 2% of all our revenue goes to projects like these.


Wicked Diving Thailand

A new generation of divers - part 2

Last week, Wicked Diving started the Open Water course with 3 students from the Foundation for Education and Development (FED) as part of a unique program to train up some of their students to become Dive Guides, which will allow them to find work in the diving industry in Thailand.

The theory and pool training were done over last weekend and this weekend it was time for the Open Water part of our course with ChaiChai, Japu and Myintzu. Marcel, together with Divemaster Trainees Lucy and Lukas, took them to a local reef called Khao Nayak. A short boat ride away from the harbour of Tublamu, this is an ideal place to start the first dives of your open water course. Shallow water, big sandy areas to practice your buoyancy and there is quite some interesting marine life to be found as well.
Two dives were planned and after a thorough dive briefing it was finally time to gear up, do the buddy checks and get in the water!
After a small descend on the line, we all landed in the sand and it was time to adjust, acclimatize and go for the dive!

Conditions were perfect: no current, 15+ meters visibility and a comfortable depth of 7 meters. All three did a great job! We could see the big smile on ChaiChai’s face behind his mask and regulator when he saw the first fish! After a bit of swimming around over the sand, we went to the rocks and corals and found some lionfish, a honeycomb moray eel, Moorish idols, angelfish and much more. After 45 minutes it was time to go up, have lunch and do a short snorkel session over the rocks..

On the second dive, there were a lot of exercises planned. Regulator retrieval, mask flooding, air sharing, buoyancy exercises etc. Again, all three did great and showed us that they are absolutely comfortable in the water. After the exercises there was some more time left over for a small dive to find some more interesting marine life.

Having finished dive 1 & 2, sadly it was time to head back to land. The good thing is that 2 more dives were planned on Sunday. This time it was instructor Collin, together with Lucy and Lukas, to take them back to Khao Nayak for the final training dives of the course. More underwater adventures and again they did great on the skills and on the dives.

Now only the final exam is left and once they pass that, we are proud to certify them as our first Burmese Open Water divers in the history of Wicked Diving!


None of this would be possible without you - our guests and friends. As part of our Ethical Dive Center program - 2% of all our proceeds got to support projects that improve our local community and environment. This course comes at no cost to the kids. When you dive with Wicked - you make a difference.

There is still more to come from these amazing kids. Keep an eye on this space :)

-Wicked Diving, Thailand

Help needed for local schools in Thailand

As you may know, The Foundation for Education and Development (FED) has been running 2 nurseries, 7 learning centers and a high school project for several years now, supporting over 600 migrant children access education and stay out of the work force. However, as a result of different circumstance FED fears that unless we can find emergency funds to cover 4 months of costs, the education of these children will be severely disrupted.  FED is currently unable to cover expenses for its education program from January – May 2012. FED greatly appreciates contributions of any amount to assist us in covering the current education deficit of 1,142,000.00 baht ($37,295.436)

 

I have attached an appeal providing greater detail of the situation for your review. 

 

On behalf of our Board of Directors, staff and Burmese Community we thank you for your consideration.

Khao Lak - An Emergency appeal

View more documents from Wicked Diving - Similan Islands.


-Similan Diving