Arriving in Raja Ampat as the sunset fell over the mountains of the surrounding islands, gave the feeling of a land touched by God. It was nightfall by the time our boat made landfall on the small island home of Githa Anasthasia.
Githa’s dogs met us on the beach and escorted us to my homestay hut on the opposite side of the island. I knew the island would be small, but it was even smaller than I imagined. It took us two minutes to walk from one side of the island to the other. I couldn’t see much in the darkness but I knew that where I was, was overlooking the water. I scrambled with the one plug in my hut, realizing that it was the only outlet I would have to charge my myriad of electronics with over the next few weeks. As I imagined myself waking up multiple times in the night just to switch my many electronics on the one outlet to charge, I decided that was a problem for future me to figure out, tucked into my mosquito net for the night and slept soundly until morning.
I woke up to the sunrise shining through my hut, and the beautiful world I woke up to, took my breath away. I stepped out of my hut straight onto a tiny wooden walkway over a shallow vibrant reef with a school of baitfish happily swimming amongst the pillars. Githa’s island, Arborek, is a tiny island at the heart of Raja Ampat, with 300 inhabitants, a beautiful marine ecosystem, and a code of ethics for how to preserve the marine ecosystems they rely on.
My next few weeks in Arborek were spent learning about Raja Ampat through Githa’s eyes. She and her husband own a dive shop on the island and guide dives on a daily basis. They know the reefs like the backs of their hands. Githa’s sunny personality and love for life has introduced so many divers to the incredible marine ecosystems of Raja Ampat. No matter how many times she dives the reefs of her backyard, she is always just as excited to get up and out in the morning, to be in the ocean, and to show other people the world that she loves so much. Githa is one of those people that you can’t help but adore and on our days of heading out on the water, the ocean almost seemed to respond to Githa’s energy, with the playful waves dancing us along the ocean’s surface.
Githa is dedicated to the oceans that are her daily world. She is a leader in her community, working actively for conservation, sustainable management and community engagement. She works hard to create opportunities for her island people. She is engaged in conservation, community management programs and is the project director of MORA, an island initiative led by island women for island women, that strives to provide opportunities for capacity building in the field of conservation and ecotourism. MORA works to change their island communities’ interactions with the oceans for the better through education, training and stewardship.
Mangrove Restoration on the Island
Githa and the village artisans
MORA’s programs are just at their beginnings and Githa asked me to help. Their vision and dreams for their island communities are big and strive to improve the ways that island people of Raja Ampat are engaged and included in ocean stewardship. Githa and her MORA team plan to carry out educational workshops that provide marine science, scuba and ecotourism training for island women from local island communities.
Githa introduced me to her executive team and they were so incredibly kind and welcoming to me. It felt like I immediately gained a whole bunch of amazing island sisters. We laughed and planned and worked amazingly together. During my time there, we worked together on the short term and long term goals for MORA. We carried out the educational programing for a workshop on one of the nearby islands. The workshop included a marine science lesson for the island children, complete with arts and crafts. I contributed by teaching simple marine life sketches that the students could use for their t-shirt designs.
It was amazing to see the MORA women in action. Their dedication to their people and their homeland was evident and they worked tirelessly to help their communities. They had already experienced success in the initial stages of their community empowerment programs. One of the islands they had worked with through their educational programing, had already established a new code of ethics for their island marine management. MORA’s programs will only continue to grow and expand their reach as they are able to further carry out their long term vision for improving ocean stewardship for Raja Ampat island communities.
Sketching stencils for t-shirt designs
The MORA team!
With these amazing women, I was able to see the beauty of Raja Ampat, beyond just the marine ecosystem, to see it within the context of community life and cultural interactions. I was able to join them to attend several community events centered around conservation and dive safety. With Githa, I was able to dive within the marine parks and see the wonders of the ocean world, to see firsthand why this area is so worth protecting, with its amazing marine creatures, from mantas to pygmy seahorses to blacktip reef sharks and sea turtles feeding on jellyfish.
Raja Ampat and its people have inspired me and I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to spend time there. I am endlessly grateful to Githa for hosting me and for showing me her ocean world.
A huge thank you to Rolex, Our-World Underwater Scholarship Society, DAN, and my product sponsors Aqua Lung, Diving Unlimited International (DUI), Fourth Element, Halcyon, Light and Motion, Nauticam and Reef Photo and Video, for making these opportunities possible. A special thank you to Githa and the MORA women for inviting me to experience their world.
