Sapphire Marine Discovery Centre Education and Events Co-ordinator and Sapphire Coast Rotaractor, Jillian Browning, recently spent seven months in Lombok, Indonesia, as part of the Australian Volunteers for International Development Program.
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Jillian was the guest speaker at a recent Pambula Rotary meeting, and talked of the battle in Indonesia for “sustainable seas”.
After being trained for three weeks in Yogyakarta in the Bahasa language, Jillian flew to Lombok. It took her a while to get used to simple basic accommodation, the wet season heat and the language problems which confronted her each day.
Jillian was working with an organisation called Juang Laut Lestari which translates to ”fighting for sustainable seas”.
Part of their work was building a boat suitable to run an education program for the students of Lombok, a floating marine discovery centre.
Her work found her in classrooms where teachers have very little access to resources and as such her work was to develop a booklet for teachers giving them fun and interactive ways to teach their students about the ocean.
Jillian found the lack of waste infrastructure shocking as this led to rubbish being thrown into the ocean or burnt. It was confronting seeing rubbish covering the beaches and surrounding waters.
Jillian is a fine example of a young professional adult in our local community making a difference.
