Conservation & Community Internships in Malaysia

Why did you decide to participate in the Ecoteer Conservation and Community Internship program in Malaysia?

Sophie: I first took part in an Ecoteer Internship program in 2009 on the Perhentian Islands Turtle Conservation Project. I discovered this project while backpacking through South East Asia.

I first went there as a volunteer looking to learn about conservation, meet new people, and try something different.

I had such a unique experience as a volunteer and fell in love with the Islands that I decided to apply for the Intern position and ended up staying for 3 more months!

Later in 2013, I was taking another career break traveling around Asia.

Due to the experience I had the first time, I decided to apply again for an Ecoteer Internship, this time wanting to experience city life (rather than island life) at The Yellow House KL. This also led to interning at the Ipoh Rainforest Conservation Project and a return trip to the Perhentian Ecoteer House.

What was the best moment of the internship experience?

Sophie: I have many great memories from my times as an intern and I can certainly say that out of all the time I spent traveling over the years, its my volunteering memories that stay with me the most! It's hard to choose just one!

On the Perhentian Islands, the best moment for me was seeing how much of an impact the Ecoteer Club conservation classes for the local children had. The children really started to care about their islands and realized how important it is to preserve what they have.

At Yellow House KL, I loved teaching at the Hilla Community Center for refugee children from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Burma. The children there were so full of happiness and hope, despite their circumstances.

I particularly enjoyed leading an English class for the children's parents, even though my knowledge on English football teams wasn't as good as theirs! Another highlight for me was the warm welcome I received from the local community in Ampang Campuran where Yellow House was situated.

Our neighbors were a mix of nationalities and we were often invited around for food, drinks, and socializing. We were invited to join in the celebrations for Deepavali.

We also participated in temple ceremonies, ate festival food around a number of neighborhood homes, and joined a neighbour's engagement ceremony and street party (where I got dressed in a beautiful saree and even taught fellow party-go-ers how to dance with Poi!)

What was the most challenging aspect? Most rewarding

Sophie: I think the most challenging aspect for me was realizing that things aren't always fair - the hand we are dealt is often pure luck and I have been lucky enough to get a good one.

Meeting people who have often faced difficult circumstances in life or who have less than what I have, be it money, education, or opportunities, makes you question a lot of things about fairness.

At Yellow House KL, we volunteered daily at the refugee community center. These children and their families had lost a lot and left so much behind. When I compared that to my childhood, I sometimes found that hard to face.

But the most rewarding thing was learning that there are a lot of selfless and good people out there trying to help, and to be part of that. To work with the people in that community has really had a big impact on me.

I'm extremely glad to have met these people and the volunteers. So I guess the most rewarding aspect was being part of such a great community and joining in the fun and games with the children.

Tell me about one person you met you will never forget.

Sophie: From my first time on the Perhentian Island Project, I will never forget a 6 year old girl named Anna, daughter of one of the local boat drivers.

She was very scared of me and would not speak to me when I first arrived. After a few weeks I caught her spying on me while I was doing things around the project, watching me giving conservation talks, leading snorkel tours.

Then one day she started helping me during the beach cleanup, picking up bits of litter I had missed. A little later she began following me down to the water's edge watching the snorkeling activities.

Anna couldn't swim so we started giving her swimming lessons. By the end of my internship we had formed a strong relationship, even though she didn't speak English or me Malay.

We built our relationship through watching and learning what each other did and through enjoying the beautiful surroundings together. She made me realize the effect you can have on others around you and for this I wont forget her!

Has your worldview changed as a result of your trip?

Sophie: Yes, my view has changed - I've seen that there are so many good people out there, wanting to help others. And I've realized that no matter how much you've lost, how ever little you have, there is always hope.

One little girl at Hilla said that when she first left her home as a refugee she saw the world as a bad place, with bad people doing bad things. Then when she started coming to Hilla Community Center, this safe refuge where volunteers gave up their time to contribute whatever they could to helping others, it restored her faith in humanity and gave her hope for a better future.

I've realized that everyone can have an impact. No matter how big or small your contribution, you can do something that makes a difference to someone.

What position do you hold at Ecoteer? What has been your career path so far?

I am the co-founder and lead researcher at Blue Temple Conservation C.I.C. We work in collaboration with Ecoteer in Perhentian and set up the Marine Research station with Dan and Seh Ling in 2014.

I still struggle to think of my work as a 'career', but after floating around in various jobs of no interest, I ended up travelling and spending time volunteering around Asia, where I met Dan and Seh Ling and the Marine Research station was born. I have a degree in Environmental Conservation and am currently undertaking a PhD with Plymouth University, UK.

Did YOU volunteer abroad? If so, where and what inspired you to go?

I have spent some time volunteers. In 2014, I visited Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam with my wife. During our trip we volunteered at various projects, a farm in Thailand, the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, the Perhentian Community project with Ecoteer (where we met Dan and Seh Ling) and a Marine conservation project in Cambodia.

When we decided to quit our jobs and go travelling, we weren't sure what we wanted, but we knew we weren't really keen on following the backpacker trail that has been well worn down. We wanted to experience a different type of Asia, and knew from friends that volunteering was a good option. We wanted to experience the culture in a way that tourists don't see it, spending time meeting locals and sleeping in villages was the best and most rewarding aspect, especially being thrown into the market to buy food for dinner with no idea of the language or costs. Fantastic experience.

What does the future hold for Ecoteer - any exciting new programs to share?

As the leader of the Marine Research Station, I am very excited for 2015 and the upcoming years. 2014 was our first year so was very much a case of getting to grips with running the project and starting to build some ground level data and relationships in the village. 2015 opens up a whole new chance to step forwards and really begin getting to grips with some of the aspects damaging the corals.

We are hoping to train our current dive team of locals up even further as well as expand the team. Whilst our research will continue with reef monitoring (via Reef Check methods) but will expand to include snorkel and dive impacts on the reef, shark population surveys and hopefully a coral nursery just off the village beach.

Very excited. Also in discussions with Universities to set up fieldtrips for students and encourage independent researchers on board.

What about the future of the industry? How do you think volunteer abroad will change over the next 10 years?

I think volunteering is becoming a much more popular choice than it used to be. It is easy to see with quick online searches, that the number of opportunities is growing rapidly. Whether this is a good thing or not I don't know. Hopefully the positives and benefits that volunteering projects provide remain the strong foundation for which they have been built up, contributing to the local community and environment is vital and without it the project will struggle.

I have already seen a slight shift in some companies towards a much more 'monetary' focused work, looking at profits rather than making a difference. I hope that doesn't put people off genuine projects like ours and at Ecoteer, where the community and environment really do come first.

Which volunteer abroad destination is most underrated? Conversely, which is most overrated?

Really hard to answer this, I have visited projects before they became popular or successful, similarly I have visited huge projects (Elephant Nature Park) which I would have expected to be off topic on their focus.

However, I think it goes back to my previous point. If the people running the project have their priorities set on the project aims, not selfish success or money then a project can be perfectly imperfect. All projects that focus on their work won't be perfect, but if a volunteer has the expectations of working hard, being involved and often covered in paint or dirt. Then it will be fantastic....I think.