British volunteers to work alongside Iwokrama
Stabroek News
January 14, 2003
Trekforce Expedition, a British youth volunteer group, is teaming up with the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development to build two ranger-stations.
Operations Manager, Ian Craddock told Stabroek News on Friday that the first batch of 30 volunteers are expected in the country on January 28 for an initial two-month period. They will be accompanied by three group-leaders and three members of a medical team.
The upcoming expedition, he said, will cost some $6M.
Craddock said the team would travel to the Iwokrama field-station in Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) where they will initially spend eight days familiarising themselves with the people, terrain and engaging in jungle and survival training.
They will then move to their project-site at Corkwood, on the southern boundary of Iwokrama, which is more accessible via Annai in the Rupununi, for a seven-week stint.
Their task at Corkwood would be to build a ranger-station, which will serve to monitor access to the reserve along the Georgetown/Lethem road which leads to Brazil but which cuts through the Iwokrama Reserve. They hope to complete the building by March 20.
Craddock said plans are also in train to build another ranger-station on the northern boundary in the vicinity of Kurupukari in May when another Trekforce expedition is due.
He said, at the same time the volunteers will be building the ranger-station at Cork-wood, a small team will trek to the western section of the reserve for nine days. Three teams during different periods will go to this area, about which, he says, very little is known. This trek will be done in conjunction with the Wildlife Unit of Iwokrama headed by senior biologist Dr Graham Watkins.
On each task, he said local staff will be deployed to assist and guide. Craddock said apart from working at Iwokrama, plans are in place to take the team to Kaieteur Falls and to spend at least some time at one of the local resorts before their departure, scheduled for March 24.
The young people, most of whom are from England, are between the ages of 17 to 25 though on one occasion, Craddock said a 61-year-old accompanied the team.
The young people, selected to take part in Trekforce, he said need to contribute 2,500 pounds sterling to assist in defraying expenses. He said that many work at several jobs and sponsor runs and other programmes to raise the funds. Some in the past have stocked shelves in supermarkets, done `bungee' jumps, and some have even sat in bathtubs of baked beans.
Though the majority of young people come from England, he said that to date youths from twelve other countries, including France, Holland, Canada, Australia and Brunei have also taken part.
There are opportunities, through sponsorship, for young Guyanese to take part in similar treks to South East Asia or Central America. Plans are also in train to set up a trust fund to send persons on expedition either here or overseas.
For the May expedition, sponsorship is being sought for eight Guyanese youths to take part in the expedition.
He said Trekforce is registered as a charitable society.
Giving a background to how Trekforce decided on Guyana, Craddock said that based on evaluations done after several trips to South East Asia - mainly in Indonesia - and Africa, the majority felt that South America should be included. Trekforce also had a recent expedition where they built a ranger-station, similar to the one they plan to construct in Guyana. Trekforce's initial visit was last year April. Craddock visited Guyana for the first time for three weeks then and met with several ministers, the British High Commissioner and representatives of Conservation International, the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society and Iwokrama, among others.
In meeting the Director of Iwokrama, Dr Kathryn Monk, it turned out that she had taken part in one of the first expeditions, as a scientist, to South East Asia.
Craddock has been back in Guyana since last October setting up Trekforce's office in Oronoque Street, Queenstown, along with colleague Rebecca Passmore. They have been co-ordinating the logistical support for the current expedition. (Miranda La Rose)
