Kovalam, Tamil Nadu, India
In July 2015, when Appu from Kovalam, a small fishing village, met Michael, a German guy who came to India for vacation, changes were about to come. Appu (25) is a passionate surfer who loves the ocean as it is home not only to his hobby, but also his source of employment. Appu’s family is a fishing family and he himself works as a fisherman too. But his life changed wh
en he started to surf the waves of the Bay of Bengal. Ever since he participated in competitions and did quite well. Michael (55), a piano builder and tuner from Germany, visited India for the first time in July. He also went to Kovalam as his daughter Pamina is friends with the local surfers. Not only does Appu surf in Kovalam but many other young guys also love this sport and are found in the water whenever the waves allow them to surf. When Appu gave Michael his first surfing lesson they started to talk about one of India’s main problems: The waste. Through this meeting an idea came up which might change the village of Kovalam and the life of the village boys and girls for the next generations. Introduction
‘BeachOceanLife – Keep our beach clean’ is the name of the project which was born in July 2015. Michael visited Kovalam and loved it but was shocked by the dirty beach. When he got into a conversation with Appu they both agreed that something has to change and something can change as there is so much potential. In Kovalam one can find so many young people who spend a lot of time in the ocean and at the beach as they are surfers. This minority of young stars know about the consequences of throwing away waste in their environment. Besides the fact that it makes the beach and the whole village less beautiful, the plastic, for example, kills fishes, birds and turtles as they eat the waste. The idea
‘How can we create more awareness about pollution?’ ‘How can we motivate people to make a start and change something about all the waste?’ These were the questions Appu and Michael were asking themselves and discussing. It is a fact that only the locals can change something about the situation once they understand and they want to change something. Michael is happy to help them with the finances at first:
Once a week a group of around 20 to 30 local young people get together and collect the rubbish on the beach (of course the whole beach can’t be covered at once, but parts of the beach will be covered as far as possible). Appu is connected with the refuse disposal service which will collect the rubbish after the clean-up. The idea is to construct and set up dustbins at the beach and maybe one day in the whole village, and to go to schools and talk about pollution and plastic and waste to create awareness from the beginning. And Michael’s idea was to give a small token allowance to every participant (approx. 100 to 200 Rupees per clean-up) to support the locals and the young surfers of this beautiful village. The most important thing is that every participant understands why this project exists and that this information gets spread through the village and also to the Indian tourists who come each weekend to enjoy the ocean breeze and the beach (but at the same time they throw their waste in the environment (!)). Therefore Appu and his friends will organize a weekly meeting where new ideas, suggestions and critics can be discussed openly. The initial meeting, with about 10 surfers who are fishermen like Appu, took place when Michael came back from his travels in north India at the end of August. Appu, Michael and Pamina presented the idea of ‘BeachOceanLife – Keep our beach clean’ to the group, who really liked it and had many other ideas (such as putting signs on the beach saying stuff like ‘Please keep our beach clean’) and in general seemed really enthusiastic about the project. Make a difference
This project is about to start, seed capital has been donated but obviously more money will be needed: money which will be used for building the dustbins, paying the refuse disposal service men, creating signs, buying gloves for collecting the rubbish and supporting the locals in general. Maybe you have already been to India, maybe you have already seen the beauty of this country which gets destroyed because of all the waste. We want to make a difference. Everyone knows that it might not be easy but it is at least a start. If you want to be a part of this change we want to make, please support us with whatever you have and want to give (not only money, but also ideas are welcome).
