I want the turtles of my childhood back!

“When I was a young girl I would come to the beach every evening during the high tides to watch turtles ‘play’ on the waves, then they would crawl to the sandy beach. Watching them follow the tide is breathtaking. I can’t explain the feeling, you have to experience it to get what I am saying.

Today, the story is different; when I come to the beach I am lucky if I can spot a turtle. The turtles are now under threat as they are hunted, killed by plastics or trapped by fishing nets. Turtles on the beach have been replaced by trash and plastics.

I want my children to experience and feel what I did. I do not want them to only read of sea turtles in books. I want the turtles of my childhood to come back. I will do everything possible to make sure they come back.

That’s why I volunteer my time to help WWF-Kenya patrol at the Mkokoni beach and record data using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) provided to the Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group. We are able to record and report on turtle nests or sightings.

The patrols take place during the day and at night because turtles come out to lay eggs at nightfall. Marine turtles are endangered species. I have decided to help them because they are helpless. If the turtles are healthy, the ocean is and so are my people and my community whose economy and livelihoods depend on the ocean.”

Story Told by Mulhat Mohamed, Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group.