VANESSA James recently returned from an eye-opening trip through Panama and Costa Rica with International Student Volunteers (ISV), an organisation that travels the world helping communities in need. The 18 year old is the second Bermudian to become involved with the charity - Kristin Loving travelled to the Dominican Republic to work in a village with ISV only a few weeks prior to Miss James' expedition through Central America. Miss James shared her experience with Mid-Ocean News reporter Heather Wood and photographer David Skinner.

Q: How did you get involved with ISV?

A: Representatives came to my school and they had a presentation. I was studying environmental science and the project that I had to do had to do with conservation and they thought it would be a great idea to get me involved, to see if that was really what I wanted to do career wise.

Q: Where are you studying?

A: I'm at the University of East Anglia, in England. I was studying environmental science however I'm switching to law (when I return).

Q: Why did ISV think a trip to Costa Rica would be a good fit for you? What were they doing there?

A: They give you a list of countries and projects that you can do. You can either do cultural development projects or conservation projects and you pick a country and you pick a project that you think best suits you and what you want to do. I chose Costa Rica. The project that I did (focused on) sea turtle and manatee conservation. I thought that that best suited me, especially coming from Bermuda where we have a huge sea turtle population - I thought it was relative.

Q: Had you been involved with the Bermuda Aquarium Museum & Zoo and their turtle preservation project?

A: I haven't been involved with the Aquarium but I have done other projects. I took part in a weeklong natural history excursion on Nonsuch Island a couple years back and while I was at Warwick Academy we did fieldwork (to do with projects involving) wildlife/sea life.

Q: And because of that interest you decided to major in environmental science?

A: Yeah. (However) as much as I like it I don't think I can do it as a career (although) I might take up a few elective subjects in environmental conservation management and sustainable development policy - I think that's relative to Bermuda especially with all the new developments that are about to take place, like the hotels.

Q: Your hope was to bring what you learned back here? To expand on lessons learned in school?

A: Initially I went (to Costa Rica) with an open mind. I didn't have any expectations. I knew that I was going to gain things - academically and culturally - but I really didn't have any expectations about how I was going to apply what I learned to Bermuda.

Q: When did you go on the trip?

A: I left on July 25 and I just recently got back - on August 24.

Q: Was there a huge selection process or did you just apply and that's it, you were in?

A: The representatives come to your school, they speak to you, they get you interested, then you fill out an application form and you have to write a statement saying why you would like to go, why you should be chosen - basically sell yourself. They only have a certain amount of space for a certain amount of countries. So after that you go through a selection process and get a letter back in the mail either saying, 'Yes, you were accepted, congratulations', or 'No, we're sorry, try again next year'.

Q: Did you apply on your own or were there school friends who applied with you?

A: I applied on my own only because none of my friends were really involved in science - they take other subjects like philosophy. And how it was presented at my school was (persons taking) the science-based subjects were mainly the ones that were given the opportunity.

Q: Why Costa Rica? Had you been there before?

A: I actually hadn't been there before but the website sold me. They had a bunch of information about it. I actually wanted to go to either Costa Rica or Ecuador. They were my top two choices. I would've been happy with either one.

Q: Where were you in Costa Rica?

A: Actually our conservation project was in Panama, just off the coast of Costa Rica. We were on the Pacific side of Panama in a place called San-San Pond Sak (Wetland Reserve which is located in the western portion of Bocas Del Toro Province, in the Changuinola district). It's a little community. They started a conservation project as a community and they have the locals involved in maintaining the sea turtle population. They have hatcheries and they patrol the beaches at night as a community effort, to make sure that poachers aren't able to steal eggs and kill turtles. As a group of 12 we came and we helped them. We basically took part in their daily activities and we also helped them to build a dock because they're trying to develop an eco-tourism scheme where tourists are able to come and stay there and also help with the turtle conservation project. They have a residential building but the dock is kind of undeveloped. So when we got there we obviously got wet before we actually got onto the property because (we arrived by boat). They want to make it so when people come in the future it's a bit more comfortable. So we were helping them dig sandbags and pile them from the bottom of the river to the top.

Q: Had you any experience at all in that before?

A: No. My very first time.

Q: About how many volunteers were involved?

A: In total, there were about 150. But they split you up into little groups and I was in a group of 12 - which was the biggest group. We worked well together.

Q: One hundred and fifty people? That's quite a lot. How big is the area?

A: Actually they split people up and they all go to different areas so some people were in Panama, others were in Costa Rica, so they were spread all over and they all did different projects.

Q: Were the volunteers all from islands? From the States?

A: I was the only island person there. Most people in my group were from California and Canada. And then there was me, from Bermuda.

Q: And what age range?

A: I was the youngest. So from 18 to, I had one girl in my group that was 28 - quite an age range.

Q: What else did you do there other than build a dock?

A: We did so much. It wasn't all about work. We went there, obviously, to volunteer but also for more than that. I went expecting to do everything and that they were (only) going to take but then I'd go home feeling happy because I helped somebody. But it wasn't like that. They gave us so much as well. They taught us more than you could learn sitting in a lecture hall in school. They taught us about their culture, their way of life, how they think. And they bonded with us even though sometimes it was hard to communicate because I speak very little Spanish and they speak very little English. We still had very good relationships with the people in the community because we worked together everyday. Even though there was a language barrier we were able to connect. On the last day we thought we would surprise them and my group all put in donations and bought them things we thought they'd be able to use in the community. We bought new shovels - they had shovels but theirs were handmade, they weren't very sturdy. We donated some of our clothes, our headlamps - we had to use headlamps at night when we patrolled the beach and they didn't have any so they would walk in darkness and trip over logs and (whatever else was there). At the end we had money leftover. It was about $150. They were so surprised. They were so happy. They were crying and (according to our translator, kept telling us) we were the best group they'd ever had. We were quite content with that and then (we found out) they had a surprise for us as well. They had hand carved little turtles out of mahogany. They carved our names in them and the year, 2008, and presented them to us with a little speech about how every individual person had affected somebody. Some people were closer to (a particular) person in the community than others. That person that you had bonded with the most stood up, made a little speech and gave you a little handcrafted turtle.

Q: I take it everyone was pleasantly surprised?

A: It was real nice. They had a party for us. They had traditional Panamanian food and games like Piñata and pin the tail on the donkey - which I didn't know was traditional in Panama. I would definitely suggest that other Bermudians (take part in this type of project). You learn so much - not only about the country that you go to but about yourself and the country that you live in and how you can change things and grow. They have so little but they live within their means. We, even though we might be able to afford (things) economically, environmentally we live far beyond our means especially (when you consider we're) living on a 21-square-mile island. We have to learn to develop sustainably and right now I don't think that we're doing that. I realised that going to Panama and Costa Rica and coming back, even though they have so little, they cherish and appreciate everything that they have. They do not waste.

Q: I'm a little confused. You mentioned Panama and Costa Rica. Did you visit both?

A: I was there for a month. Our conservation project was actually in Panama. But after the conservation project we went on tours and they took us all over Costa Rica.

Q: They took you on tours that were significant to the environment I guess?

A: Yeah. We stayed in eco-lodges and environmentally-friendly places as well. Some places they took us the hotels were trying to portray themselves as eco-friendly but they weren't really. They took us to a range of places so we could see the differences, especially between the tourist areas and where we were staying - which was in the community. The hotels started from five star hotels - which apparently were eco-friendly but I don't see how - to lodges in the rainforest made out of leftover wood from loggers. They had come down and cleared an area and just left pieces that weren't the right size, weren't the right shape, weren't the right colour. One particular lodge went and collected the wood and built their cabins out of the leftovers to try to reduce waste. So there was a huge difference. And we were able to see that more than if we had gone as typical tourists, instead of being guided by local people.

Q: Is it something you would do again?

A: I would love to do it again. At first I wasn't sure. I signed up because I had so much time this summer. I had four months vacation (from school) and so I was like 'Why not? I have a month I might as well donate it to somebody I think can benefit from it instead of sitting around once my job is over'. Now I would definitely do it again. I would love to do something like this every year if I could afford it.

Q: Back to law. What made you switch from environmental science?

A: Everybody asks me that. It is a big change. Initially I wanted to do law and then I got my exam results back and my science grades were the best ones. So I thought, maybe I should do science only because I was good at it - I guess I was trying to take the easy way out and then halfway through the semester I thought, 'No, I can't do this'. I put in my application to change subjects but had to wait until the end of the year. But I would still like to take a few modules in environmental law. I think it might be big one day, eventually, in Bermuda, by the time I graduate.

Q: You're looking to complete your undergraduate studies at East Anglia?

A: Yes. I might stay out there for a little while (after) to gain work experience but eventually I want to come back to Bermuda.

Q: What was the best memory of the trip for you?

A: It has to be the first and the last day. The first day because we got there (having) travelled for eight hours by bus, by train, by boat and when we finally got there they had a big meal prepared for us. They had a presentation of their expectations and they asked us what we expected to gain from them. We then went on the beach to play volleyball - they'd given us a day off because it was our first day. As soon as we walked out to the beach, about 35 baby turtles were hatching. It was our first day there, our first hour, literally and they let each and everyone of us release our own turtles. We stood there on the beach for about maybe an hour, waiting for every one to get to the water. We just stood there. Everybody was silent. We just smiled and thought, 'Yeah, this is what we're going to be doing for the next two weeks'. The last day was more like a reward, I guess. We dedicated so much time and effort and then we got to see how everything we did paid off - you could see the progress we made on the dock.

Q: Was it completed when you left?

A: We had the sandbags above the water level but they didn't have enough money to put wood over it so we hope that the money that we donated goes towards it. I would like to go back in a couple of years and see how everything's progressed.

Q: Had any of them heard of Bermuda before? The volunteers?

A: The volunteers knew about the Bermuda Triangle but they didn't know much about Bermuda. They would ask me if it was like Costa Rica. I'd have to tell them, 'No, not at all. There are slight cultural similarities but socially and economically there are no similarities whatsoever'. I don't think people grasped that you can come from an island but not know poverty. None of them were really educated about us.