By Maritxu Darrigrand, Quiksilver Sustainable Development Director

Like all good things, Steph’s travel diary has also come to an end… but there is still more to come and we’ll be soon sharing with you a short documentary of our African adventure and much more!

For everyone involved in this mission this was a live changing trip and our experiences and souvenirs will accompany us forever. I hope you have felt the same. For us this is not the end of a trip, but the beginning of a new path with a refreshed new mind-set…

In the name of the Quiksilver Foundation I would like to thank everyone involved in our Senegal mission this year: our ambassadors, Stephanie Gilmore (4 x Surfing World Champion), Alain Riou (Surfer) and Tom Frager (Musician)… Our image production team: Bernard Testemale and Vincent Kardasik… Everyone at Coeur de Foret: Jérémie et Thibault, Jean Marc, Krim… our guide in Dakar : Pantxo and of course, all the people in Anambe.

Here’s a snippet of what’s to come…

NIO FAIR WITH STEPH GILMORE - TEASER #1

By Stephanie Gilmore

Coming away from the trip with new friends and a special village to return to like a new family, we all headed back to Dakar, brainstorming along the drive. To raise funds that go to re-building the local hospital.

Tom Frager suggested we composed a song along with the other Quiksilver team riders who are musically inclined and that we released it to raise funds for our new project! Anambe Hospital: TBC… We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the song.

by Stephanie Gilmore

Our last afternoon in the village was a trip down to the local hospital (if you can even call it that). The place was in desperate need of even the most basic tools and medicinal instruments if there is to be any professional medical care for the village. I seriously had some nightmares of re-visiting the hospital rooms as a sick patient and it was so apparent that if there were to be any complications with the birth of a child or if someone young contracted Malaria, then there really is the smallest chance of survival. I think this scene really pulled the heart strings of us all in the Quiksilver Foundation team and so we decided to make our next project to be the rejuvenation of the hospital.

by Stephanie Gilmore

With an exciting buzz of energy throughout the group, we all headed out to the field to do some tree planting.

Everyone partook in each stage of the planting. Alain was doing a great job as the water boy. Tom and I were knee deep in mud and everyone was dusty from head to toe. But that didn’t stop the women from using the empty water jug as a drum beat.

Everyone started to dance and sing, myself included. You really can’t help but get involved in the celebrations!

At this moment I believe we were celebrating with the locals, not just the planting of the trees but the new life and purpose for them. A future with a sustainable project.

I’m still dancing and I know they are too!

by Stephanie Gilmore

Time to get in the field and really get to work. The sun is extremely hot during the middle of the day so we had to wait for the later afternoon before we could really get our hands in the field. Handing out the young trees to the families was truly a highlight of the trip.

 

To see the joy and the fulfillment each person showed in their genuine eyes when they were given a tree was such a wonderful feeling!

 

To see how valuable even just one fruit tree is to an entire village was exactly the purpose of this project and trip.

by Stephanie Gilmore

ANAMBE

25/01/2012

08h00

Today we taught the locals how to extract the oils from eucalyptus leaves and use it for medicinal purposes. This was done with a giant alembic. 30 kilograms of leaves makes only 150ml of oil. This process is also great to create essential oils that can be used in beauty products like body butter and moisturizer. I think their dry African skin loved it!

So to be there with the Quiksilver Foundation with a mission to educate and help create a sustainable life for these beautiful people in Anambe, I was feeling pretty warm and fuzzy!