Flipping for Chennai

A love for Olive Ridleys brings conservationist Youssef Labidi from the beaches of Bizerte, Tunisia, to the Marina

January 26, 2015 08:34 pm | Updated March 05, 2015 04:46 pm IST

mp_Tunisian

mp_Tunisian

After Bizerte and Benghazi, Youssef Labidi has found a third home. An activist-like interest in Olive Ridleys brought this 29-year-old Tunisian, who works in Libya as a mechanical engineer, to Chennai last December. He did not expect the vacation to extend far into the New Year. It did. Not only that, this vacation promises to be the first of many here on the shores of this Indian metro.

Youssef, who stays in Kottivakkam, has found Chennai extending its warmth through a diversity of handshakes. His newfound friends include Forest Department workers engaged in turtle conservation, corporate volunteers going on turtle walks, youngsters playing beach football and college students, with whom he shares his experiences as a protector of sea turtles.

A love of beach life and sea turtles are central to these friendships.

Spending time on the beach tops Youssef’s list of pastimes. He has spent much of his life in sea-kissed locations. His home town Bizerte, located on the northern extremity of Tunisia, paddles its feet in the Mediterranean Sea. So does Benghazi — this Libyan city has one of the major ports in the region — where he has found employment.

“During a visit to a Mediterranean beach in 2011, I found a dead sea turtle washed ashore. I Goggled sea turtles and learnt about their stiff fight for survival. With a small group of friends, I began to care for injured sea turtles, ensuring medical treatment for them and returning them to the sea,” explains Youssef.

His continuing study led him to the Olive Ridleys, whose story fascinated him. He wanted to volunteer with groups that have allied with the sea creatures in their battle for survival. It took nearly three years and a civil war in Libya for Youssef to find the time for such voluntary work.

“The political situation in Libya has affected industries with many units in the country going in for temporary closures. With mine shutting down too, I managed to have an extended holiday.”

Around the time, Hafiz Khan, a leadership trainer and mentor, who lives in Kottivakkam and supports Olive Ridley conservation initiatives by the Forest Department, was looking for new volunteers. Hafiz issued a call on a couch-surfing platform. And that’s how Youssef realised where he should go.

In the weeks he has spent with volunteers, who operate in batches looking for Ridley eggs on three sections — Marina to Besant Nagar, Besant Nagar to Neelankarai and Neelankarai to Muttukadu — Youssef has become an expert on Olive Ridleys, creating videos explaining the dangers facing them.

In one video, where he discovers a dead Ridley, he explains the cause of the death — ingesting plastic. “On an average, six dead Ridleys can be found on the shore, which is sad,” he says.

Youssef’s presence has boosted the Ridley awareness drive.  Be it people living on the coast or college students, he finds a receptive audience. And he has become a poster boy for >Ridley Run , a corporate-supported event inviting people for a run at the Marina on February 8.

Youssef speaks in halting English. When English does not help altogether, he is assisted by translators. “When translators are not to be found, I resort to body language. In certain situations, body language does not work too. For example, the head movements people here use for ‘yes’ and ‘no’ leave me confused. For a ‘yes’, I wait for a long nod, which is about bringing the chin down to the chest — that’s how people back home say ‘yes’. Here, a slight tilt of the head can signify ‘yes’, which appears to be a ‘no’ to me. So, I have now stopped watching the movements of the head, but wait for a ‘seri’ (yes) or ‘illai’ (no).”

To be a turtle conservation volunteer for the Forest Department, call 9940142349.

 

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