From: Indian Express
Mithika D’Cruz, an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences went to Bolivia to study conservation of the rainforest and came back with first-hand knowledge of sustainable tourism
Here is a young girl from Pune who chose to go abroad to study after doing her masters’ course but not to the US, the UK, Australia or a European country. She chose to go all the way to Bolivia, in South America. The purpose of the visit was to study ecology of the Bolivian Amazon rainforest and that too while working for conservation of the rainforest.
Mithika D’Cruz, alumnus of St Anne’s School who did her masters’ from the TISS had recently gone to the Bolivian Amazon rainforest to join eco- conversation tour organised by Madidi Travels,an agency that supports conservation by means of sustainable tourism. It involves work that seeks to gain support and also benefit the needs of the surrounding communities. It operates primarily in the Bolivian Amazon, downriver of the Beni in the northern Bolivia.
“I am quite interested in the issues related to ecology and that was the reason I did masters’ in social sciences from TISS,” says Mithika. “After my masters’ course, I wanted to travel abroad but for a different reason. I thought I should see the other face of the world and decided to go to Bolivia,” she recalls.
“I not only got to learn about the ecological issues but also the socio-political constraint attached to it,” says Mithika. “The Madidi National Park was the outcome of a political battle against a dam to be built inside the park; to ensure that some amount of the Bolivian Amazon remains intact,” she informs.
“As a volunteer, one can be involved at many challenging levels, be it office work, or the sales and marketing of the tourism part of it, coordinating and organising events in the rainforest itself, assisting the field work team. I was there for a longer period than most other volunteers, I did a little of all types of work, spending considerable time in the rainforest as well as doing logistics and sales in La Paz,” she adds.
She learnt to row the 15 ft dug out canoe, coordinated work, from cooking to sales, to using a radio to attempt to understand outboard motors, local politics and accounting. “There were many exciting moments during my three-month stay there. However, more than anything else, it was the satisfaction I got while working there and that is more important,” smiles Mithika.