Like many alumni of the Emmanuel’s Alternative ‘Schoolies’ program, Ellie McCosh, has returned from the community of Atauro Island, Timor Leste describing it as a life-changing experience.
“It was amazing, we felt like they had given us so much more than we had been able to give them. I had travelled overseas before, but this was different. I really enjoyed working with the people on Atauro, and learning and their culture and history. They were really environmentally conscious. I loved seeing how they lived and adapted to the environment.”
Ellie says that the experience even strengthened the relationships of her fellow classmates. “In less than two weeks we had made deep connections with each other. We had been at school together since Year 7, but I really didn’t know them at all.”
It was amazing, we felt like they had given us so much more than we had been able to give them.
Ellie also commented on how the experience opened her eyes to the opportunities available to us and things that we take for granted every day. “I gained an appreciation of how we live, what we get, and our education.”
Having kept the East Timorese people close to her heart, Ellie is now involved in Ekipa Tasi Mos - Atauro. (Ekipa Tasi Mos means Clean Ocean Team in Tetun) Established by environmentalists Bernadette Davis and Barry Hinton (of Barry’s Place Atauro) and lots of locals, the organisation was founded in response to the pollution they were seeing accumulate along the beaches of Atauro. This litter also stood out to Ellie. “I just love the environment and the ocean.”
The aim of Ekipa Tasi Mos Atauro is: to remove and record plastic pollution from the marine environment that surround the waters of Atauro; to assist the community in reducing their use of single-use plastics and to enhance the locally managed marine areas. “Ekipa Tasi Mos do beach clean-ups and everything collected gets entered into a database to determine where the bulk of the pollution is coming from. Storms and other major weather events can influence what washes up on shore.” Ellie says.
On Atauro (located 36 km north of Dili), the trade winds bring debris, mainly plastics, onto the shores of the island each year, much of it coming from Australia. In the ocean, plastic cups break up into smaller pieces that are mistaken for food by fish and other marine species, so the plastic enters the food chain, and impacts the health of local villagers. “The bulk of the waste is not home grown, coming from other countries, like Australia. These people shouldn’t have to live with it” Ellie comments.
Ekipa Tasi Mos do this in conjunction with Blue Ventures, and international organisation, who work with communities to rebuild and to protect marine biodiversity in ways that benefit coastal people.
A key goal of Ekipa Tasi Mos at the moment is to establish a Recycling Centre. Bringing their project closer to becoming a reality is the construction of a building, which will eventually house the various machinery required to convert the waste plastic into a usable raw material. The ‘shruder’ recycles the plastic to create coils of plastic that can then be used in 3D printing or for weaving items such as baskets and home furnishings.
As part of Ellie’s continued work with Ekpi Tasi Mos, she has involved Emmanuel College in an awareness and fundraising campaign to further the progress of the Recycling Centre on Atauro. Through Ellie’s initiative, Emmanuel College was included as part of a national campaign to create a human sign that read “Ekipa Tasi Mos”. Along with Emmanuel College, students of Radford College in Canberra, ACT, and Carroll College in Broulee, NSW spelled out a word each.
Ellie further supported the campaign by speaking at assemblies to students at Emmanuel College and St Patrick’s Primary School in Koroit, where she demonstrated the impact of single use plastics, such as straws, bottles, cups, and toothbrushes! “Swapping little things in your life can make a big difference.” She comments.
The students at Emmanuel College further supported Ellie’s plight by organising an out of uniform day fundraiser for Ekipa Tasi Mos, which netted over $1,150.
Ellie now has plans in place to travel back to Atauro later this year, this time for six weeks, working on the reefs with Blue Ventures on various community projects. She will spend 4-5 weeks at the Centre’s accommodation, and the rest as a home stay.
While Ellie is now studying what is clearly a strong passion of hers - Marine Biology, it was a late decision. “When I was younger I thought I would do Marine Biology,” she says. However when it came time for VCE subject selection, Ellie rationalised that studying law would be an area more likely to result in employment, so focused her studies in the direction of Environmental Law. After working hard at her studies, she was recognised as one of Emmanuel’s highest achieving VCE students in 2018.
If you are interested in showing your own support, collection tins are placed at various businesses around Warrnambool.
Thanks Ellie for your spirit of service as a global citizen.
