In 2004 I ran a shark protest, yes, you heard right, sharks protesting for their rights! With the support of Saatchi and a number of volunteers, who pretended to be sharks holding protest boards out of the water, and during the Simon’s Town Festival, at which AfriOceans had a stall, we succeeded in raising awareness in a very unique way. Since then I threatened to use the boards again but shark conservation got hectic and they remained in my garage gathering dust and getting in my way. But the moment came when a few weeks ago we were proactively involved in the 350.org event on Camps Bay Beach. A wonderful support of volunteers – not in the water this time – marched across a packed beach creating attention and a talking point.
This is the stuff l love doing and being part of, finding ways to raise awareness in the most compelling ways, and there are many new projects I am excited to be working on for next year. Overall it is a busy time at the Centre, and while everyone begins to wind down for the year end, we are busy preparing our school holiday programs. As the year draws to a close I feel a sense of relief, it has been another year with my plate overflowing while I played general manager, operations manager, financial manager, admin and more admin, and director of education and awareness! My expertise have been wasted on the wrong things, which has frustrated. Despite requesting help in the form of more funds to employ a manager it has not been forthcoming. With the Centre, an AfriOceans project funded by SOSF, up and running, however, the New Year promises help in the form of a new manager, which is a massive relief so that I can focus on what I love most – being creative and developing exciting events and programmes, educational materials, films etc. that help raise awareness, AND being in the water more often with my camera – I can’t wait!
