The sun shone brightly last Saturday morning. It was an auspicious start of a storytelling session about our threatened marine ecosystems and our crucial role in protecting them with our young citizens.
The event was intended to be part of the series of awareness-raising activities preceding the first ever productive National Sharks Summit held in Cebu last week. These included the Sharks Awareness Forum at the University of Cebu, University of the Visayas and the University of San Jose Recoletos.
The Basadours, the passionate and creative reading ambassadors of Cebu made up of young professionals based in the city, teamed up with the students of the Environmental Law class of the University of Cebu College of Law (UC), the convenors of the Shark Summit 2014 and the Looc Barangay with the help of Mandaue City Councilor Lolypop Ouano Dizon, to ensure a learning experience for our young citizens.
Weeks earlier, lawyers Melvin Legaspi and Tara Rama, Em Gamboa, Payi and fellow volunteers held an orientation training for UC law students who would be assisting them and coordinating the event.
They shared its history and the role of the founder, the much-respected trailblazer, Cris Evert Lato, and their heart-warming experiences in sharing their passion for reading to the people not just in the urban areas but also in mountain barangays and the coastal communities.
The emphasis was also on respecting the rights of children which proved quite handy during the event itself.
The future lawyers of UC took on the task of making fun facts about sharks and integrating science, environmental rights and the law in the module.
However, the fire that gutted the factory and some houses in the barangay the day before the scheduled event compelled the organizers to move it the week after. It became a post-Summit event, which was good, as the weather was cooperating nicely.
The enthusiastic participants were school children aged four to 10, all residents of Looc, a coastal barangay in Mandaue City. They proudly displayed their awesome shark identification tag with their name on it.
They were as engaged from beginning to end, the enthusiasm never waned, indeed a much welcome response from the perspective of an educator, as we don’t see that vigorous display of interest as kids become adults. (What happened along the way?)
The Basadours regaled the kids with stories, with attractive cut-outs and materials about our bakawan (mangroves), corals, the species that depend in our seas including sharks and the various species, and of course, the destruction that humans have caused such as making them a dumping ground of used resources like the perilous plastic.
The endeavor was also an opportunity for the UC law students to appreciate that their knowledge can be applied even to the youngest of our folks. They also promised to have a profile pic in Facebook of their picture with the cut-out shark for a week. Hopefully, they will be able to replicate what took place last Saturday in other communities and touch more young hearts and minds.
The past week had been another inspiring week of learning and many realizations. We are seeing more young leaders in the frontline of advocacy, stressing the importance of stakeholders doing their share to protect our only planet we call home.
According to Anna Oposa, she, AA Yaptinchay and Vince Cinches came up with the idea of a Shark Summit only two months ago. Armed with only the audacity to make their dream come true, but without the resources essential to hold such, they persisted.
It was also an opportunity to meet Loy Madrigal, the Head of the Task Force Against Illegal Fishing in Cebu, who helped put Cebu as a champion in the fight against illegal fishing.
Milestones were achieved with the public and private sectors including media, converging to protect the apex predators of our seas.
Yet, we know that urgent actions have to be done. The lack of awareness of our collective responsibility to protect the sharks and other vulnerable creatures and their habitat is appallingly obvious.
This reminds me of the many small and delicate hands that were raised last Saturday when kids were asked if they have seen sharks. We thought they meant that they saw them in television or in magazines. But, they did see real sharks, with two juveniles, which ended up being sold in the market.
A sad reality, but a continuing challenge that must be addressed now, not later.