[X] My Assistant

[Guana Cay]

Hi,

Drew is a true inspiration, and has really inspired me and my family to do good in our own community.

Before, that meant helping the school, or helping with litter, that sort of thing. We live on a really small island in the Bahamas called (yes, I know this is ironic) Great Guana Cay.

I am a native Bahamian, and we are very poor people, but we are also proud, and very proud of our island's beauty are our heritage. In 2005, I gave up helping at the school and helping with litter, because we found out that a megadevelopment was to be built on 2/5ths of our island, and that it would take away our mangroves in an area that used to be our national park, and that they would build a golf course that would destroy our coral reef.

Today, that is all we do when we have time. We try to stop this development from happening. You see, the mangroves are where we used to fish for crabs, which was something our ancestors did for 200 years, right on this island. And the mangroves are also the filter between the reef and the land. Coral reefs require an absense of nutrients, and thats what the mangrove does. It filters out what the land produces. Now those mangroves are gone.

Because the developer is worth billions, they bring over celebrities and tell them they are a green development. The celebrities laugh, enjoy themselves and go home. But we are stuck here. We didnt want this development and we tried to fight it in court and in the local council. But central government did not allow our voices to shine.

So our only way to fight now is by teaching people about real conservation, and why mangroves are important. Drew has shown us what it takes - that resolve - to keep fighting for our heritage against incredible odds.