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Hope
Town student attends UNESCO conference
By
Candace Key
 Photo
caption: Katie Joseph represented the Hope
Town School at a recent UNESCO conference held on Dominica. The
school has done a year's study of a test beach site, keeping detailed
records. Katie is shown here as she presents the report on the
results of the school study.
Hope Town
school student, Katie Joseph, and teacher and principal, Mrs.
Candace Key, were proud to represent The Bahamas recently in Portsmouth,
Dominica at a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization) 'Sandwatch' conference. Grades 5 and 6
at the Hope Town School had joined schools throughout the Caribbean
and Pacific Islands for an 'associated schools programme' called
'Sandwatch'.
This project
was a detailed hands-on beach monitoring project that ran for
the past year. Schools that embraced the project grappled, measured,
counted, compared and tabulated such things as types of sand on
their test site beach, types of vegetation, water quality, wave
heights and frequency, beach debris, number of beach users (walkers,
swimmers, boaters and snorkelers), tide measurements, beach erosion
and pollution, wind speed and current direction. The work the
students did was directly correlated into all classroom subjects.
This conference was the culmination of phase 1 of the project.
We flew to
Puerto Rico, enjoying a tour of Old San Juan, before flying on
to Dominica which is nicknamed 'The Nature Island'. The trip across
the tropical mountain chain to our conference site of Portsmouth,
the second largest town in Dominica, after Roseau the capital,
was nothing short of spectacular. Lush, green hillsides led down
to the ocean beaches with brightly painted boats bobbing in the
surf. Banana plantations were scattered throughout the mountain
regions, all sporting bright blue protective bags covering the
stalks of the bananas. We were already in love with this island
before we even reached our conference destination.
We stayed
at the Portsmouth Beach Hotel where bright green iguanas basked
on the lawns that led down to the dark volcanic sand beaches.
The conference site was a five-minute drive away at the Portsmouth
Cruise Ship Berth. It was actually the Cabrits National Park site.
Cabrits means 'goat' and evidently goats were once in great abundance
around the ruins of an old fort at this historical site. A climb
to the ruins gave you a spectacular view of the mountainous island.
We met approximately
50 teachers and students just like us who had been doing beach
monitoring work for this project. It only took about an hour for
everyone to become acquainted and then good friends through the
friendly and helpful personalities of the conference directors,
Dr. Alexandra Burton-James, Secretary-General of UNESCO for Dominica,
and Dr. Gillian Cambers, beach erosion expert and author serving
as a UNESCO consultant. Countries present were Cuba, Dominican
Republic, Curacao, Seychelles, Cook Islands, Palau, British Virgin
Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Grenada, Guyana and three
Dominican schools.
We set up
our projects and the individual school students began their presentations.
Katie and I were shocked at some of the problems several groups
encountered while working on this project. We were proud to have
had a safe, beautiful beach as our test site. Interspersed with
various presentations was practice time for students to work on
their skit and teachers to hold work groups to work on phase II
of the project. The second part of Sandwatch will feature schools
making positive changes to their test site beaches now that they
have monitored them.
St. Vincent
and the Grenadines reported on their ingenious recycling project
using ground-up glass bottles mixed with cement to make benches.
The students do all the work for this creative eco-project! Dominican
cultural dance and instrument groups got all the students up and
dancing.
The five days
were full and activity packed. One afternoon we visited the ruins
of the Cabrits Fort and one afternoon we went whale watching.
Long, relaxing after-dinner chats with new friends at our open-air
restaurant on the sea was like taking an actual trip to these
islands. The night sounds of the elusive little green frogs (coqui)
have always been one of my favourite. The food was great - definitely
Caribbean. Bananas, pineapple, guava jam, passion fruit juice,
homemade bread, fish, chicken, plantain, breadfruit, cassava and
black beans and rice - no one complained!
On the final
day educational dignitaries attended our closing ceremony where
each student proudly displayed and explained the symbolism of
their country's flag. Group reports were made on our decisions
for the second phase of the program and the students very professionally
presented their skits. We all promised to keep in touch and many
of us are e-mailing already. We hope to be able to meet again
next year on another chosen Caribbean island to hear of each team's
improvements to their beach.
We were fortunate
to be able to stay one extra day, and we used that day to it fullest,
touring several national parks with our friends from Curacao,
the Dominican Republic and one of the Dominican teachers who was
a superb guide. The mountains, boiling volcanic lake, waterfall,
sea views, friendly people, beautiful little communities with
French names and people who are proud of their country all lent
themselves to a perfect working vacation for us. By the way, it
must be a healthy island to live on - the oldest woman in the
world, reported to be 117 years old lives in Portsmouth. In her
same community there are several other people over the age of
100. It is also the only island that still has Carib Indians.
They make absolutely beautiful baskets.
I would highly
recommend this unique island to anyone who is adventurous and
enjoys being out of doors touring wonderful national wonders.
There are no fancy hotels on Dominica and all the resorts are
owned by Dominicans, who are very anxious to make sure you enjoy
your time with them. Getting around is easy - buses (vans) run
all over the place all the time. You simply hail one, pile in
and off you go. One of our drivers was a Carib Indian, and I really
enjoyed talking to him. Everyone speaks English but they easily
slip into Creole with each other - proof of their French background.
The US$ is worth a bit more than $2 Dominican so money changing
is necessary. They are happy to receive U.S. dollars.
We wish we'd
had just a couple more days because there are fast ferries that
will take you to the neighbouring islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique,
(quite inexpensively I might add) for a day's tour. If you're
looking for a new vacation experience, try Dominica. You'll not
be disappointed.
The
Abaconian, 1st September 2003
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