I am delighted to share that I have been selected along with 13 other individuals across Sage globally for the company’s first Volunteer Abroad Scholarship!

I will be travelling to Zanzibar in May/June 2022 to take part in a Sea Turtle Conservation and rehabilitation project. This is a long-established conservation program where injured marine turtles are treated and looked after. Injuries usually occur as a result of Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing operations or discarded fishing waste. The turtles are released several times per year and the project also breeds turtle eggs at a safe location until the baby turtles hatch. Young turtles are kept at various pools and at the lagoon before they are released into the ocean once they reach a size that guarantees a higher chance of survival in the wild.

Whilst volunteering here I will be involved in tasks such as:

• Cleaning the turtles, lagoon and pools
• Collecting seaweed
• Feeding the turtles
• Medically treating injured and sick turtles (under supervision of local staff)
• Rehabilitating and releasing Sea Turtles.

Before undertaking this once in a lifetime opportunity I will be aiming to fundraise £1000 for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Sea Shepherd are an international non-profit with a worldwide presence and a mission to protect all marine animals.  The mission is to partner with governments from around the world, to assist them with the detection and capture of criminal enterprises that are in operation to engage in Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing operations that cause so much destruction for our marine ecosystems. 

The oceans regulate and drive global systems that make the Earth
habitable for humankind. Marine biodiversity is critical to the health of
people and our planet. Preserving threatened ecosystems and species as well as tackling marine pollution and overfishing through conservation activities is key to saving not only our oceans, but our planet.

First up on my fundraising schedule on the 2^nd April. I will be running
the The Allendale Challenge. Considered one of the toughest around. It covers 26 miles across the North Pennines. 

(I will also be raising funds for the north of tyne mountain rescue team in this event.)

Please donate anything you can to see me suffer for 26 miles and help me reach my fundraising target. You can follow my training & event progress on my Just Giving page.