Follow the Journey

Hello, everyone and all distinguished guest, it’s Martin Farias again, I well be the author of todays blog. We made it to Vietnam and are in the city of Can Tho; We crossed the border through a travel van from Cambodia to Vietnam. Everyone now happily resting. Furthermore, the most important activity we did throughout this week was our work at the Mangrove ecolodge. The Mangrove Ecolodge works to conserve mangroves, through growing and then planting the mangroves on the residing saltwater river. Mangroves, which personally before my stay at the ecolodge didn’t know such plant existed, they provide valuable nursery areas for juvenile fish and are also important source of nutrients for the adjacent marine ecosystem. Mangrove made shelter and food possible for animals living there. Most importantly, Mangroves helps to protect the coastline from serious erosion during tropical cyclones. They provide protection for animals, such as birds and fish. Essentially, mangroves, have an important role in the area of this community and areas around South East Asia. Furthermore, the people behind the mangrove planting, the ones fighting behind the scene, the ones that have been working here for years planting thousands of mangroves, just putting their small share, in to leave this world a better place. One of these people is Mr. Him, the owner of the Mangrove Ecolodge. Mr. Him is a fisherman standing firm and tall, and sometimes you can see him smoking his cigarette, and even though a rarely smiles, he has a charm the brightness up anyone. He started conserving Mangroves more than a decade ago, he knew about the importance of Mangroves, he formed a community and by times slowly grew.. And sometimes it wasn’t easy, the government, people with money, the one who believe they can treat nature however they want, want to destroy the mangrove plant all over the coastline and use it for developing, without conserving the mangroves. Mr. Him has had call from the government, the government telling him they will buy the land out of him, buy Mr. Him has denied every request, he has stayed firm of his belive, firm for the community and firm for the mangroves.