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ScubaDiva · 14-11-2008, 11:58 AM

Hi Polly,

just had a thought - if any of the schools that you are going to abroad are placces that would need things like pencil, copybooks, etc. maybe we could send you donations to take along?

Lol.

Polly · (This post was last modified: 28-11-2008 02:25 PM by Polly.)

Just thought I'd let you know that I've made it to interview - which will be on 8th January.

It's exciting but daunting - I've settled on wanting to write stories in Borneo, Maldives, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Antarctica, Tanzania and Russia. They normally only pay for up to 8 weeks in 1 or 2 places but they do sometimes 'consider bigger projects'. I was unsure about pitching the whole project to them, in case they thought it was too much, but they're obviously interested and I'd be happy to go to just one of those places for now.

So that's a little bit of good news after finding out that another project for January has fallen through at the last moment.....no doubt there'll be more questions to follow between now and then!

bottlefish · 28-11-2008, 02:40 PM

Fantastic news Polly, congratulations and good luck with it!

Sakara Drinker · 28-11-2008, 03:42 PM

Well done Polly. I am sure you will blitz the interview.

furryman · 28-11-2008, 05:01 PM

Don't forget the polar bears that are dying 'cos they have nothing left to stand on - all the ice melting and their habitual migration routes disappearing. Ths that are left forced into contact with humans, having to rummage through rubbish bins in Canada etc.

(Mind you knowing how much you enjoy the cold, ice diving may not be top of your list!)

Chris

mickwood · 29-11-2008, 08:58 AM

(08-09-2008 05:01 PM)Polly Wrote: I have a project I've been wanting to develop for quite some time now, involving working with children in several different countries. The idea is that I work with a group of children in a school to write a story about a conservation issue that affects them. I then take that story to a different country and the new children make their own story in response to it. The stories would also some how be appropriate for acting out so that they could be shared physically as well as in book form.

I've just had the chance to receive a grant that could well cover all of the travel expenses but I've not really had time to figure out what I want to do and where. I've already got a couple of stories about the destruction of the rainforest that I could adapt, and I had an idea for a story about turtle conservation while I was in the Gilis but I only have a couple of weeks to get my head round other conservation issues that could be appropriate for teaching to 6-8 year olds.

And the reason I'm posting here is that it would probably be quite cool if I could get a few months of paid travel in places that I can dive... My stories only have one sentence on each page so I can probably generate myself quite a lot of free time while away if they were to decide to bless me with the cash!

So...any of you guys got ideas about conservation issues around the world / endangered species etc. that I could write about but that would also be within reasonable distance of some pretty good diving?! The world could well be my oyster and I don't actually mind extending the trip if necessary. It could also be that the series of books ends up being published alongside some of my others so technically any time or cash I put into it myself would be an investment... and of course I'd keep you all up to date with my usual travel disasters. If I get the grant it would probably be January 2010 that I would go as I'm kind of booked up until then anyway.

Sorry to be so lazy but I've only got about a week or so to put my initial proposal together and although I know the kind of series of books I want to produce, it's a bit overwhelming to have to figure out exactly where I would like to go and why so quickly!
I've been looking here for ideas so far...

http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherew...index.html

Not sure if it's useful but I lead overseas expeds once a year, this year I'm heading to Ecuador and will be doing a bit of community work with a tribe in the amazon. If you wanted to I could get some contact details for ya for the company I work with? they have school contacts all over the world.

Polly · (This post was last modified: 29-11-2008 11:39 AM by Polly.)

That sounds perfect - cheers! I'm desperately in need of contacts in these places, and others as well.
I'm already in touch with a research centre / schools in the Honduras for another story.
I've also tried to contact WWF as they have a lot of projects in these areas, but am hoping to link the work to that of the 'ecoschools' organisation here in the UK. That would be perfect if they're interested.

Furryman - I'm hoping to go and see the polar bears up in Canada (Hudson Bay, if I remember rightly)...as for ice-diving? Well, I'm going to have to see where I end up (if anywhere at all) but it would be wrong to be in an amazing place like that and not have a go if I get the chance.

We'll see, I'm trying not to pin all of my hopes on this (although it's now the only project I've got left...) in case they don't go for it.

Letz · 29-11-2008, 11:35 AM

(28-11-2008 02:25 PM)Polly Wrote: Just thought I'd let you know that I've made it to interview - which will be on 8th January.

It's exciting but daunting - I've settled on wanting to write stories in Borneo, Maldives, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Antarctica, Tanzania and Russia. They normally only pay for up to 8 weeks in 1 or 2 places but they do sometimes 'consider bigger projects'. I was unsure about pitching the whole project to them, in case they thought it was too much, but they're obviously interested and I'd be happy to go to just one of those places for now.

So that's a little bit of good news after finding out that another project for January has fallen through at the last moment.....no doubt there'll be more questions to follow between now and then!

Excellent

Well done

Kato · 17-12-2008, 10:56 AM

Why not do a story on coral reef conservation and how damage to the reefs impacts upon the lives of the local community. Coral Cay Conservation is a charity that runs marine conservation projects in the PHilippines and Tobago. You dive during the week to survey the reefs, then you can get involved in local education initiatives at the weekend. The charity only runs projects in communities that have invited it in so it has excellent ties with the local community. You could take advantage of these and visit local schools on Sundays. You can be on site for 2-16 weeks. If you stay on the project for 16 weeks or more you get free divemaster training! Check out the website: http://www.coralcay.org.

Polly · 17-12-2008, 12:36 PM

Thanks - I already am a divemaster and can only spend about 3 weeks in each place because of my job. At least 10 of those days need to be spent directly in schools and I'm already hoping to write a couple of stories about coral damage - one in Utila in April and another on the Barrier Reef if I get the grant. I may well end up getting in touch with Coral Cay at some point but can't spend that amount of time in one place.