Busy Friday in Mangkok

Exchange of gifts. I was given a beautiful hand-made shawl from Pakistan

Written by Dr. Chan Eng Heng

Dr. Chan is a co-founder of TCS. She is a retired Professor who had spent more than 30 years studying marine turtles in the country.

24 Jul 2010

23rd July in TCC@Mangkok had been pre-arranged with River Foo of WWF. He had some high-ranking officials from the Government of Pakistan and WWF-Pakistan and would like to have them visit TCC as well.

So the day came, I did the usual and thoroughly enjoyed myself sharing with them our humble efforts at TCC. I felt a lot of goodwill coming from the group members and we finished by exchanging gifts. A beautiful hand-made shawl from Pakistan and a WWF-Pakistan folder packed with project descriptions. Our gift to them was “Little Turtle Messenger.”

Later, a group of first year students from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu came to learn about terrapins and our projects at TCC.

The kids arrived shortly after I opened up our place. They were quite well-behaved when the guests were there, but soon after, it was the incessant “auntie, auntie, auntie…”

They took a break for the Friday prayers, but were back again. I have to admit that I do have a soft spot for them. They told me they had never ever touched, nor seen a real life marine turtle hatchling before. What else could I have done but contact Nurol from WWF to inquire if there were any hatchlings in their hatchery at Penarik Inn for release?

You should have seen the simultaneous jump for joy when the answer was “yes” … I could bring them to witness the release at 7.00 pm.

The day ended with me taking the solo drive back to KT. There were many attempts by the kids to persuade me to stay on. Alam and Aman offered to “teman” (keep me company) me and spend the night in TCC with me. So sweet of them, but unfortunately, I really had to leave.

Acknowledgements to River Foo and Nurol of WWF-Malaysia for making the day’s activities so meaningful and to our guests from Pakistan and UMT for taking the time off to visit us, and of course the kids for making it “never a dull moment” whenever I am back in TCC@Mangkok.

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