Our Female Fellows

1. Tika

Tika is currently a freelance digital marketer for hotels and films. She fell in love with diving after her friends convinced her to dive one day. She believes that this fellowship will be a wonderful opportunity for her to further explore and nurture her newly found love for diving. She hopes to also apply the skills acquired through the fellowship to advance her hometown community of Padangbai. She is easy going, loves challenges and truly can’t wait to get in the water!

 

2. Gita

Gita is a self-made entrepreneur who loves travelling. Gita is active in the youth community of Padangbai, oftentimes initiating routine beach clean-ups. She finds it unfortunate that a lot of the local youths are still very much apathetic towards the environment. Through this fellowship, she hopes to initiate a paradigm shift amongst the locals and ultimately galvanize them to start caring for their hometown of Padangbai. Gita is fearless and is enthusiastic to start implementing lessons learned from the fellowship to be a catalyst for change in the community.

 

3. Eka

Eka is a final year high school student with an interest in pursuing a career in tourism. Since schools have resorted to online learning as a result of the pandemic,  Eka  finds herself spending a lot of time at home. She feels that this fellowship is a chance for her to spend her time more productively rather than just staying home, but really learn to better equip herself with real-world skills beneficial for her future career. Gita hopes to destigmatize the commonly held perception that diving is scary, especially for women. She also intends to use the skills and knowledge acquired through the fellowship to encourage the local community to be more aware and realize that saving the earth starts with small steps, such as mindfully throwing your trash properly. She is soft-spoken when it comes to meeting new people, but can be quite the chatterbox around those who know her well!

 

4. Saras

Saras is an employee for a local villa. She studies computer engineering in college and is now working in the tourism industry. Saras is curious about the underwater seascape, especially considering how close they are to the ocean! In gaining a better understanding of what we are trying to protect, she hopes to be able to educate and familiarize with marine ecosystems and why they are so crucial to protect. She believes that securing the trust and support of local communities is essential as conservation is reliant on community participation. Saras is persevering and loves making new friends!

 

5. Praba

Praba is a first year high school student. She intends to pursue a degree in pharmacy and aspires to be a pharmacist. Praba is not familiar with the ocean, but she generally finds immersing oneself in nature is a remedy for self-healing. She once participated in a clean-up activity, but she found it frustrating how difficult it was for her friends to clean up with her due to their lack of care for the environment. Through the fellowship, she hopes to be able to develop her public speaking skills to better influence others. She also intends to give back to the community by increasing their awareness and care towards coral reef ecosystems. Praba loves singing and dancing and hopes to add diving as another one of her hobbies.

 

6. I Made Ayuswantari (Dede)

Dede is a final year vocational high school student. She would like to be a doctor to help people. In her spare time, Dede helps her parents, who are fishers, carry and sell the fishes they catch. Through the fellowship, she wants to overcome her trauma of the water and eventually become an awe-inspiring female diver. She is talkative and loves joking around!

 

After completing the dive portion of the fellowship, these girls will soon undergo training to improve their skills and capacity in leadership, fundraising and communication – skills that are crucial to shape them into the groundbreaking community leaders they aspire to be. This group of girls will eventually form the first ever Kelompok Pemuda Peduli Karang otherwise known as the Youth for Corals group in Padangbai. They will be encouraged to apply the skills they will have learned through the fellowship to continue to work to restore Padangbai’s coral reefs to its once pristine state.

We are plenty excited and hopeful to see our network reach even more youths in spreading the love for the Ocean!