By: Jacqui Fetchet

What does every girl want for her birthday? Clothes, dolls, new shoes, money raised to protect an endangered species? The latter was the gift of choice on Thursday 4 February. It was a special day for a special little girl in Jakarta and for the sea turtles of Indonesia. Tiara Rheyne, otherwise known as Tititutotukik (named after ‘tukik’ a sea turtle hatchling), turned 6 years old, in 4th February 2010, and decided on a rather unconventional birthday gift, a student of Indonesia Montessori School, Tebet, South Jakarta, Titi gave a presentation to her classmates about the plight of the sea turtle and the challenges they face for survival.

From the threat of turtle egg consumption, to pollution and turtle meat hunting, the group were engaged by a detailed visual storybook read aloud by Titi. Following the story there was question time and the students all received an information pack about turtles. As a final gift to Titi, the children gave money donations, which were accepted on behalf of WWF marinebuddies.org program and will contribute to their current turtle conservation campaigns.

Titi whole-heartedly loves sea turtles and is one of the greatest supporters of the efforts of WWF marinebuddies.org. She reads books, writes stories, draws pictures and devours any information she can regarding turtles and their plight. She can often be seen in the WWF-Indonesia Jakarta office adorned in turtle headscarves and t-shirts, drawing pictures of her favourite animals and chatting animatedly. How inspiring it is to see such a young person with such a passion for the environment and species conservation. If only more children were engaged as Titi with the major issues affecting this country and as eager to learn about biodiversity and ocean protection.
MarineBuddies.org representatives were honoured to accept the generous donation and are always keen to involve the younger generation of ocean lovers. Titi will continue to be a part of the WWF and MarineBuddies.org family and we wish her the best in all her turtle endeavours. It won’t be long before she is scuba diving with the rest of the team! Happy birthday, Titi, all the best!