Kunigunde Baldauf

In 2008 I had volunteered in a school in Northeastern Thailand, travelled through Southeast Asia alone and came back a different person. Immersing myself into different cultures was the most enriching experience of my life, and although I have always enjoyed nature and being outside, I hadn't realized before just how beautiful Earth is. Since then I have been working for that NGO, preparing future volunteers for their trips. I now felt that it was time to depart on a new adventure myself. Hearing the word Madagascar had always made me fantasize about unique fauna and flora, although these images were rather vague apart from saucer-eyed lemurs. Being chosen as a member of the Explore! group felt like my wildest dreams were about to come true. They did. And once more, I changed in a lot of ways.

A different perspective

My time in Madagascar gave me the opportunity to see many things from a different perspective and shed a new light on my own way of life. Some of my previous beliefs and views were strengthened, some changed completely. Particulary the conversations about environmental issues with local farmers left me deep in thought for hours. Often they were well aware of environmental problems resulting from their way of life, but they had no choice in order to sustain themselves. Now that I have returned home, I cringe at how thoughtlessly we in Europe exploit our environment without any imminent need to do so. The Explore! programme has inspired me to work hard towards a future where humans and nature can flourish together.