Ecotourism Training Centre opens in Khao Lak, Thailand

The Ecotourism Training Centre (ETC) in Khao Lak, a long term tsunami recovery program, aimed at assisting southern Thailand tsunami victims create new and sustainable futures in the tourism industry, opened its doors on 4 August to the first students of its program.

The ETC was developed in response to the devastation wrecked upon the lives and livelihoods of the people of the Khao Lak region, one of the worst hit areas of South West Thailand, in the 26 December, 2004 tsunami and a former thriving international eco-tourism destination for diving and nature lovers. The idea was to provide professional industry training and to create awareness of the region's plight, the recovery effort and a brighter more optimistic future.

ETC founders and local expatriate residents Reid Ridgway, of San Fransisco, and Pascal Hernikot, a Swiss national and himself a Khao Lak tsunami survivor, worked tirelessly during the tsunami aftermath, helping survivors and delivering aid to the devastated region. Many of their friends in the Khao Lak diving industry were tragically lost. Others lost everything to the freak wave; homes, possessions, jobs, businesses even their town, all washed away.

Ridgway and Hernikot hatched an idea for the future welfare of the region's young dive and tourism workers and set about to make it a reality. Eight months after the tsunami, the ETC is now an exciting hub of youthful vigour as the first 16 students enthusiastically embrace their new tourism careers.

The program trains young Thai men and women in three integrated areas of study: computers, English and diving - all part of a curriculum focused on environmental education and sustainable tourism. The diving education takes the students to the professional rating of divemaster over a 9 month period, and if the candidate is already a PADI divemaster they will be upgraded to PADI open water instructor.

The ETC has the commitment of many professionals and experts from the local community to design and instruct workshops for the students (aged 16 to 41) including PADI, an international association for diving professionals.

"PADI was one of the first to stand up and support the program and has been a major force in gaining momentum, but getting the program fully supported has been a long uphill battle," said Hernikat.

The ETC now has a fully accredited English language component supplied by the TEFL Teacher Training (TTT) language institute (Phuket) and a custom curriculum designed to stress the vocabulary of environmental tour leadership and computer technology. The centre now is decked with an Apple computer lab, a professional video editing suite, a class room with a projection screen, a dive gear maintenance lab, two long tail boats specially equipped for diving and research operations.

As the program progresses, the students will document the entire experience on video, producing a film to be released on the one year anniversary of the disaster.

"The film will contain the compelling story of what happened here and the remarkable resilience of this culture as we rebuild and recover," said Ridgway. "It will highlight and showcase the beauty of the natural environment here in Thailand, both on land and undersea, and it will be a testimony to what these young people have achieved in the face of overwhelming circumstances".

"We both feel that our program is going to help the young Thai people find meaningful employment and a greater stake in the ecotourism industry. The English component is very important to their success and value in the industry and the computers are helping them learn skills that make them valuable in nearly any business environment" added Ridgway.

The students are paid a student allowance of 6000 baht a month by the ETC to assist in living expenses during the program.

ETC is a not-for-profit organization and is privately funded. The program is still looking for help and commitments from individuals and businesses to help fund the students scholarships and to help create a permanent program that runs each year. An Open Day for media will be held at 4pm on 20 August at the Khao Lak centre.

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