Where is the Gandoca-Manzanillo Refuge?

Here is a map of where I will be volunteering. The refuge is located in the bottom right corner.

For Sale: Painted Wooden Boxes

These are a few pictures of hand-painted wooden boxes to help fund raise money for me to volunteer with Leatherback turtles in Costa Rica. Take a look at my web album to see some samples. I painted these myself and use a wood burning tool to do the lettering. There are many designs and types of boxes to choose from. You can mix and match. Please feel free to customize yours with writing on the inside and/or outside. Boxes sell for $4.

Contact me @ Heidi.Heung@gmail.com if you are interested.

What exactly am I doing in Costa Rica?

My program in Costa Rica is run by a NGO that employs biologists and volunteers that train temporary staff like me. I will be doing very hands on work with close contact to turtles. Volunteers work night and day on a rota basis with four hour shifts. In total, I'll be working around 6 to 8 hours a day, 6 days a week.

My roles will include
- beach patrolling
- clearing the beach of obstacles
- preparing nests
- relocation of nests
- handling eggs
- helping to release baby turtles in season
- counting and recording eggs
- taking temperatures in nests
- recording the number of turtles arriving

Here is an informative link to a site about the reserve I will be working in. Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge.

Loose change adds up!

I'm happy to say that my first fundraising endeavor was a success. I was able to collect $177.57 from knocking on doors in one of the bigger residence buildings on campus. Students were very nice to me. Some were also very generous. There are still many things i need to plan for and pay for. I have not been able to tally how much I will need to spend while volunteering, but this is a great start.

unexpected fee increase

Directors of the Gandoca turtle reserve raised homestay fees by $2 per night. Volunteers are asked to cover the cost so as not to burden the partner that we work with in Costa Rica. It is not that much money, but it adds to the fees I have to pay to volunteer this summer.

a dollar a day, keeps extinction at bay

Someone once asked me: “keeps extinction at bay”, isn’t that a bit morbid?

I believe that was the sort of thought I wanted to induce. Originally, I was going to name my fund raising campaign “a dollar a day, keeps extinction away.” A play of words on the apple and doctor rhyme. However, as I put more thought into planning the campaign, I realized that slogan was far from the truth. Apart from raising money so I can take part in volunteering in Costa Rica, I also want to raise awareness for the Leatherback Turtle. They are terribly endangered right now. Every bit of help they can get goes a long way, but unfortunately, sponsoring me 30 dollars is not enough to bring them back to their original/safe amount of numbers. So I urge you to find other ways to help their cause. If not the leatherback turtle, I want to raise awareness about endangered species and mother earth in general because all these issues are linked together.

Raising awareness is the key and getting people to ask the right questions - only they can decide what they do from there.
- James Gibbs