It was a quick turnaround for Celina Guadagni – from the time she heard about Operation Groundswell to the time she clicked the ‘submit application’ button, the Prince Rupert product found the perfect fit for what she was going to be doing this summer.
And that included Cambodian elephants, river dolphins, sun bears, tarantulas and laying her ecological footprint mark in Southeast Asia by helping Cambodian farmers fight drought and build a permaculture centre to streamline sustainable agriculture practices in the area.
“My friend’s teacher emailed [the organization’s info] to her and she literally just saw it and said ‘Celina, you would love to do this’ ... basically I stayed up late that night and applied and had to fill out this huge form for it,” said the world traveller, who in 2012, was whisked away to Brazil on a student-exchange through the Prince Rupert Rotary Club.
Operation Groundswell is a non-profit, eco-tourism organization filled with self-described ‘backpacktivists’ who maintain a social, political and environmental presence in the seven regions and 16 countries they travel to including Cambodia and Thailand, Guatemala, Peru, East Africa, India, the Middle East and Ghana.
Last year, close to 200 travelling enthusiasts paid their own way, and fundraised over $750 each, a required total Groundswell asks of their members. Eighty-two per cent of the money fundraised in that total goes towards the local grassroots organization that the participant will be working with – for Guadagni, that means the Mirror Foundation (a Thai NGO that supports isolated communities) and the Elephant Valley Project. Ten per cent goes towards PlanetAir, an organization offsetting the carbon footprint created by the members’ travel and eight per cent funds administrative fees.
“The part I’m probably most excited about is probably working with the elephants – helping clean them and take care of them. I think that would be an incredible experience,” said Guadagni, who will be away on the adventure from July 12 to Aug. 20.
The name of the program (Operation Groundswell runs several, all with differing locations and time lengths) that Guadagni was accepted to, just a week after her interview, is Southeast Asia: Animal Conservation. Her itinerary includes visiting Bangkok’s both richer and more impoverished areas, working at a permaculture education farm to help farmers succeed with their harvests, wandering the Mekong river in Phnom Penh, volunteering to help conserve the endangered Asiatic Black Bear, seeing the Irrawaddy River Dolphins and caring for wild Asian elephants.
“They do specialized programs ... and they have it all planned out for you which is one thing I like. I’ve always wanted to go to Southeast Asia but it’s kind of scary to go by yourself, so this time I’m going with a group of people who are going for a reason and going to help people – not just be a tourist but to be involved in the community and really help [the area’s citizens],” said the Vancouver Island University student.
To support Guadagni’s endeavours with the Mirror Foundation and eastern Cambodia’s Elephant Valley Project, interested parties can donate to her Groundswell fundraising page at http://fundraising.operationgroundswell.com/celina-guadagni.
She holds a lot of gratitude for the $300 of that total already received by family and friends and future donors.
“I’m really thankful for their support,” said the Rupertite.