Words by Lucy 

A great week at Paindane school painting murals on the walls and teaching the kids all about coral reefs.

The mornings were filled with painting, featuring some insanely talented artwork. The younger kids loved learning the names of all the species we painted in both Portuguese and English. With a large wall to fill, by the end of the week we were running out of paint, and had to get creative with the colours of our fish, but that didn’t stop us covering the wall in our designs.

In the afternoons, we spent time in the classroom, teaching the older students about coral reefs, the biodiversity found there, and the threats facing the reef. As the week went on, it was rewarding to see they had understood the importance of the reef as an interconnected ecosystem. They especially enjoyed acting out species on the reef and the game of charades for the threats facing the reef.

On Thursday we took a day out from the school to attend a stakeholder consultation meeting in Inhambane, campaigning against the planned seismic surveying off the coast. This will not only impact the whale populations, but also the fish populations the local fisherman rely on. Run by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the Mozambique government will only see 25% of the profits, of which little if any will be felt by the local people in affected areas. We took a large team, including local fishermen to voice our concerns about the project and to take a stand on behalf of the local community here. Hopefully it makes a difference and improves the legislation of the project to protect the local area and its people.

This weekend we helped give the local children swimming lessons, and enjoyed playing with the dive sticks almost as much as them, as well going on some fun dives during our off time, seeing some rays, an octopus and some cute nudibranchs and enjoying the gorgeous weather.