Beautiful People Archives - ResponsiBo Travel

Morocco Animal Aid – putting the welfare of animals first

May 20, 2020

by Bo with No Comment Beautiful People Morocco Responsible Travel

During my time in Morocco, I decided I wanted to do something for the stray animals of Morocco. While traveling, you often encounter sick and hurt animals but there is not much you can do about it. Now that I was staying at one place, nearby an animal shelter, I decided it was time for me to start volunteering for the animals. This nearby shelter is called Morocco Animal Aid and I will tell you more about them in this blog.

Who are they?

MAA is a small non-profit organisation based near Aourir (Assersif) at the Atlantic coast of Morocco. They vaccinate, treat and feed the dogs, cats, donkeys etc. in the surrounding area and are home to over 120 animals on their land. They make sure that all the animals get the help they need and try to put them up for adoption when they are ready. Some dogs are lucky to find a home outside Morocco and MAA helps them to get to their new homes.

They often encounter dangerous situations like dogs with rabies, but they still take the risks in order to make the Agadir area a safe, rabies free environment. By castrating and sterilizing the dogs and cats they can fight the number of stray animals in the future. They use their Instagram and Facebook account to raise awareness on the problems in the Agadir area regarding stray animals and try to fight the slaughtering of the animals by local people. By vaccinating as many animals as possible and giving them a visible ear tag, they hope to fight the slaughtering and show that these animals are not dangerous to people.

My experience with MAA

As I already said above, during my time in Agadir I wanted to volunteer for the stray animals in Agadir. After some Googling I stumbled upon Morocco Animal Aid and I immediately fell in love with their animals and their work. After contacting them it became clear that they could really use help in hiking with the dogs. As I only had the weekends off, this was perfect for me as I could still help them out! Hiking with the dogs only takes around 2 hours and is a great experience and workout at the same time.

Imagine holding one, two or three dogs and going up and down the mountains. I have learned to not overestimate my strength as this is definitely not the same as walking a dog in the flat flat Netherlands. These dogs are happy to be out, full of energy and very very strong, so walking these dogs is definitely a good exercise haha!

To be honest, it felt absolutely amazing to be part of such an amazing initiative. You can really make a difference to the people working there full time and of course to the animals. I am so inspired and amazed by the woman who set everything up. She left Australia for Morocco and started this animal organisation about 4 years ago. To leave your life behind and start doing something so good for the world, I really think that is beautiful!

Of course, unfortunately, it does not always turn out well and they lose animals like dogs, cats or donkeys, but at least you know that these animals died while they were fully loved by the people of Morocco Animal Aid. Because that is what they do, they love and show love to every single one of the animals.

MAA in COVID-19 quarantine

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 has also reached Morocco, which caused the country to go in a full lockdown since half March, and it got extended to June 10.. For Morocco Animal Aid this is absolutely devastating as almost all of their volunteers had to leave Morocco and go home. Vets are now often closed and animals cannot get the help they need. The people at the shelters work day and night to make sure that the animals will survive. Unfortunately, they recently also lost a lot of puppies to the Parvo disease..

What can you do?

As a rather small organization but with many animals, they are dependent on donations and help by people like you! If you are in the Agadir region (Agadir, Taghazout, Tamraght, Aourir), you can help them out by going for a hike with the dogs, as they do not have time and volunteers enough to walk with every single dog. Right now, the dogs go out for a hike once a week, which is of course not enough!

Hiking with the dogs

Going for hikes is really something beautiful. You can see the energy of the dogs and how much they love to go outside and explore the area. The shelter is located near some nice mountains where you can hike to the top for a beautiful view over Aourir and the sea. It is crazy to think that a simple thing like walking a dog can have such a big impact on an organisation like this and its animals.

Bringing supplies

If you are in the Agadir region but you do not have time to go for a hike, you can also donate for instance your old towels. With this many animals, there is always a need for new materials like warm towels. Of course, you can also buy them food or cookies or other supplies!

Donations

One of the most important things they need to help out these poor animals is of course money. As they are dependent on donations and going to the vet for treatments is often expensive, they can use all the financial help they can get. So if you do not have time or you cannot help the animals physically, you can also choose to donate an amount of money.

Here are some useful links:

https://donorbox.org/morocco-animal-aid

https://www.gofundme.com/f/MoroccoAA

Donate@moroccoanimalaid.com – Email

www.moroccoanimalaid.com

Adopt, don’t shop!

Last but not least, if you love dogs as much as I do and you have some space left in your house and time left in your life, you can also choose to adopt one of these cute babies! Remember that by adoption, you can save a life and give the animal the best life he or she could ever wish for. I know for sure that once I have a house and a steady life, I will come back to Morocco…

Follow MAA on their socials and check out their website for more information on how you can help!

@moroccoanimalaid – Instagram

https://donorbox.org/morocco-animal-aid

https://www.gofundme.com/f/MoroccoAA

Donate@moroccoanimalaid.com – Email

www.moroccoanimalaid.com

If you have some questions about Morocco Animal Aid or other remarks, please leave a comment or contact me!

Sumba Hospitality Foundation: a future in sustainable tourism for the youth of Sumba

January 22, 2020

by Bo with No Comment Beautiful People Indonesia

During our research on Sumba, Indonesia we had the opportunity to interview someone from the Sumba Hospitality Foundation. In this blog for my Beautiful People section, I will share the story of the foundation, what they do for the people of Sumba and the environment and my experience visiting the foundation.

Sumba Indonesia

The Sumba Hospitality Foundation (SHF) is based on the Indonesian island called Sumba since 2016. This island is located in the South of Indonesia and is rather underdeveloped. It gets a small amount of tourists every year in comparison to mass tourism destination Bali. Then again this is also the strength and beauty of Sumba, being a rough diamond in an area full of mass tourism. If you want to read more about Sumba and my personal highlights click here.

The foundation

Founded by a Belgian woman with love for Asia, the SHF is set to provide a future to underprivileged youth of Sumba by educating them about the hospitality sector, sustainable tourism, environmental awareness and permaculture farming. The students of the hotel school get housing, meals and healthcare together with their education. After the theoretical and practical lessons at the school, the students do an internship at a 5 star hotel or restaurant to turn those skills into practice. One of these resorts is Nihi Sumba which is rewarded as world’s best resort for the last couple of years. By providing education on sustainable development, the foundation hopes Sumba to be an example of a sustainable tourism destination, where the local community is included in economic welfare and decision making and the environment is well taken care off.

The school

The whole campus, including the school, resort, restaurants etc. are built from bamboo as it is a very sustainable and durable product. Also, the students get taught about farming and growing herbs, fruits and vegetables that are used in the restaurant and bar. By using solar panels for energy and a water treatment system, the campus is able to be fully self-sufficient.

The hotel

As part of the lessons, the students have to work in the hotel or restaurant on the campus. This hotel is also built from sustainable products and provides a great learning space for the students. Here they can transform the theory learned in the classroom into practice.

Our research

During our research on Sumba we got the opportunity to attend a day at the school. We had to share our research design and they got to share their knowledge about their island. It was an amazing day meeting all these beautiful people and hearing their stories. We also got a tour of the whole ground and they showed us their farm, classrooms etc. It is amazing how in such a short period of time, they created this foundation and are able to help the students with their future.

The practices at the school are a great example of how a destination should develop. The students learn about how precious their island is and how they should treat it in order to benefit from it in a responsible way. I think the Sumba Hospitality Foundation is a beautiful example of sustainable development. Making sure the local community benefits whilst taking good care of the environment.

If you have some questions or other remarks, please leave a comment or contact me!

Story time: How we got invited to a local home in Jerash, Jordan

November 8, 2019

by Bo with No Comment Beautiful People Jordan

This story is about someone we met during our travels in Jordan. This story is about a salesman in Jerash working in the tourism industry. This story is about kindness, trust and respect. This story is about Morad.

Daytrip to Jerash, Jordan

We start our trip in Jordan in the capital Amman. Amman is a great city and also has a lot of possibilities for daytrips. Jerash is one of these possibilities. Jerash is the largest Roman site of Jordan which is why a lot of tourists decide to go see these ruins. Of course, where tourists are, there are souvenir shops and salesmen trying to sell you all kinds of local products. One of these salesmen is Morad and he tried to sell us the typical scarves of Jordan.

At first, I felt really annoyed as we were not even through the main gate of the ruins and already ended up in a shop, but after a while we saw that he was actually a very nice guy. He looked our age and was just doing his job. Men working in tourist shops often are seen as pushy and annoying and I also sometimes try to avoid an encounter with them. However, Morad made me look differently at these people.

We spend way too much time in his shop talking with him and ended up both buying a scarf. Afterwards he made us necklaces which he gave to us and then he invited us for lunch the next day at his home. His mother would cook a traditional meal for us. My boyfriend gave his phone number and we promised to stay in contact.

To be honest, I was a bit scared. I did not fully trust the situation but I was also curious about the experience. We decided to do it and arranged an appointment with him for the day after. The next day we took a taxi back to Jerash and the whole way I was picturing everything that could go wrong in my head. But now I am thinking: what were these scary images based on?

Lunch at a local home

He picked us up from the taxi stop and we walked to a restaurant of someone he knows and had a nice lemon mint there (if you go to Jordan, make sure to try the lemon mint!!). We were not allowed to pay for the drinks as the custom in Jordan is when you invite someone, you pay everything for them.

After this drink, we went to his house where he and his mom live to eat traditional Mansaf. On the way to his house, which is not in the tourism part of Jerash, we were looked at by local people but he said that we were his guests, and so they left us alone. In his house, we sat down on one of the pillows that were laying on the floor and he told us that this was also the place where they slept.

He placed a piece of plastic on the floor and put plates and glasses on there. Then, his mom came with the Mansaf, which is a rice dish with chicken (or lamb) and yoghurt, and this was also placed on the plastic on the ground. We sat down and enjoyed the food and some nice talks, of course for me it was hard to eat chicken but I did it out of respect. Morad told us about his life in Jordan and before Jordan and his goals in life.

Traditional Mansaf

Pushy salesman or person with a story?

Morad is from Syria and had to flee his country because of safety. He arrived in Jordan when he was 15 years old and now only lives with his mother. His father helped his sister and brothers to move to Canada and Germany but by the time he was going to help Morad he passed away. Now Morad got the full responsibility to take care of his mother and find a job. After a while he found a job in tourism because he could speak English and this is where we met him.

He explained to us that a lot of times tourists can be very rude or even ignore him. He finds this hurting as he is also just a person with a story. Tourists can treat him like he has no talent or knowledge and nothing better to do in life.

This is what I would like to raise awareness on. It is of course okay if you are not interested in particular products, but I think it is very important to respect other persons at any time. If you show interest in the local people you might get a beautiful experience in return and otherwise made their (and your) day a little bit better! This lunch was one of our highlights of the trip as it really brought us closer to local life. It opened our eyes and showed us a story of an incredible friendly person who despite everything that happened still tries to accomplish his dream: to rap.

As a kid he already dreamed of writing songs in English and rap about his life. This is the way for him to show his soul and heart instead of always only listening to the mind. He loves humans from every religion or country as he believes that we are all the same in the afterlife. So next time, when you are annoyed by local sales people, think about people like Morad. Just people with a different life story.

Using Plastic Waste to be Independent: the story of Armin’s handicrafts

October 17, 2019

by Bo with No Comment Beautiful People Indonesia

This blog is not about nice places or tips. As you can read on my ‘Beautiful People’ page I would also like to share stories of people that I meet during my travels. People that inspired me in some kind of way, all with an eye to environmental and social sustainability.

This post is about a girl that I met on an Indonesian island called Sumba. With two other friends I did research on this island into the waste management. It appeared that Indonesia is one of the biggest producers of waste and they often do not have a great waste management system. A lot of waste gets dumped on a landfill, in the sea or gets burned. All of these methods are damaging the environment and serious changes are needed.

We went looking for people that were contributing to the solution of managing plastic waste. This is the point where we got in contact with a special girl on Sumba..

The Girl that wants to be Independent..

Armin lives in a small house with her family on the island of Sumba near the city of Tambolaka. She is 17 years old and has a disability. She is born without hands and legs, which makes her very dependent on help of her family. In order to be more independent, she decided to watch tutorial videos on how to make certain handicrafts by reusing plastics. After a while she started asking friends to collect plastic cups that they use for water and juices and bring them to her. She would pay them a small amount of money in exchange for their efforts.

Of the cups she uses the top ring for herself made products. These products are baskets, bracelets and plates. By making the baskets she hopes to encourage her buyers to use these baskets for grocery shopping so that no extra plastic bags are needed. In this way, she not only recycles plastics that were thrown away but also adds a small part to the solution of this plastic problem.

Ambitions for the Future..

Being the real business woman she is, she thinks about expanding her business in the future by moving her production to a small shop. This shop will be given to her by the Sumba Hope Foundation of which she is part and to which she also sells some of her products. Other buyers can be foreigners (tourists) or other local people of Sumba.

To me it was such an honour to meet this strong and ambitious woman and her family. She tries to make the best out of her situation in life and also contributes to a better world. The way she taught herself to use her handless arms to make the products is just fascinating. She really stole a piece of my heart, of which she made use of course by selling a basket to me!