Tag: history

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‘My family thought, OK, this must be a phase, she’ll grow out of it – but diving was the thing that stuck.’

Becoming a marine conservation scientist is hard. For women in traditional societies, it’s almost impossible. Yet once she began diving, Jenan Al Asfoor was determined to break free from the confines of gender and her corporate job alike. It wasn’t easy, but now Jenan runs her own marine conservation consultancy, training the next generation to protect the coral reefs of her native Oman. Looking back now, Jenan credits Biosphere Expeditions as the turning point that transformed her passion into a lifelong purpose.

From a young age, Jenan was not deterred from defying social norms for women. She excelled in school, went to university and then took a corporate job in marketing at the Environment Society of Oman, an NGO in her native country. Diving was her hobby. ‘I was just doing it [diving] for fun, until I got the chance of a placement on a Biosphere Expeditions diving project in my country.’

Jenan had had other placement opportunities, ‘but the Biosphere Expeditions one stuck out. I was so happy to be on expedition with them. It truly changed my whole life, what I’m passionate about, and what I’m capable of doing. After my placement in Oman, went to the Maldives to expand my marine knowledge. To find a network of people, from all around the world, from very different fields, but always sharing the passion for doing something for the environment – it makes you change how you see people.’ She became more enthralled with the underwater world and the running of expeditions.

Part of the expedition to the Maldives includes getting certified by Reef Check (a reef conservation NGO that partners with Biosphere Expeditions), meaning citizen scientist divers are then qualified to conduct underwater surveys anywhere in the world. Soon, Jenan found herself re-evaluating her career and her way of living. Working alongside Biosphere Expeditions’ founder and executive Dr. Matthias Hammer and team scientist Dr. Jean-Luc Solandt changed how she saw diving too.. ‘These two opened my eyes that there was more to diving than to have fun. They then helped me to get Reef Check Oman off the ground, I started a science diploma and then went on to start a consultancy in marine conservation.’

Jenan Al Asfoor on the Musandam Peninsula diving expedition, Oman

In 2017 Biosphere Expeditions’ involvement around the Musandam Peninsula of Oman concluded with the declaration of two protected areas in the region. Jenan was the perfect steward to protect these achievements. She quit her corporate job and devoted herself full-time to diving and reef conservation, launching community-based reef conservation efforts, becoming Oman’s first Omani Reef Check Trainer, and to top it all off, starting Reef Check Oman, an offshoot of the NGO that originally qualified here as a survey diver, as well as her own consultancy. All this was not easy either. ‘My friends and family were surprised,’ she recalls. ‘Diving as a woman in Oman is unusual – it’s not seen as a field for females. People don’t see diving as something with a career related to it. People think it’s not a job, that there’s nothing there to learn, so quitting my job was really challenging, as it was not acceptable to my family. Finding encouragement was hard.’

Jenan about her achievements, hopes and aspirations in reef conservation

‘Without the encouragement of the people I met on the expeditions, I wouldn’t have made it,’ says Jenan. ‘When you don’t get support in your regular life, you need it elsewhere – that’s why Biosphere Expeditions had such a big impact.’

Proving almost everyone wrong, she is now an experienced diver and trains others – including delegates from the Omani government, who are learning how to protect the country’s precious corals. ‘I want to share all the beautiful, life-changing experiences I had being part of Biosphere Expeditions. I want to demonstrate the impact of knowledge sharing and community engagement.’ Working with Biosphere Expeditions meant Jenan learned ‘to face challenges on a daily basis. You don’t need to be a scientist to make a difference; even as citizens there’s so much we can do.’

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‘It opened my eyes to the possibilities of another way of living. Out in nature, you actually need less to be happy and fulfilled.’

When she stepped foot on Arabian soil back in 2006, Malika Fettak had no idea how influential and life-changing it would become. Starting as a citizen scientist with Biosphere Expeditions, she eventually landed a job with them, initially as part of their marketing team. However, she craved being back in the field and so jumped at the chance of becoming an expedition leader, taking on the responsibility for teams of citizen and professional scientists as well as a handful of staff and helpers; mastering to be empathetic towards people she may otherwise have trouble getting on with and helping people achieve their dreams. Malika Fettak tells her own story.

‘Back in the early 2000s I was looking for a different way to explore the world. As a single woman wanting to travel alone, it can be scary not knowing who to trust. I was searching for a worthwhile holiday to do something more adventurous. And Biosphere Expeditions sounded perfect: you’re in a group, you’re safe, and you get to do unique things out in nature that you can’t do on your own: not as tourists, but as a team on a mission, working together in conservation. You are also pushed beyond your comfort zone: you don’t know what people you’ll be with, what the work will be like and how hard it will be. On my first expedition, my English was not as good as it is now and I was worried that I would not be able to understand my team mates, the expedition leader or the scientists. Luckily, since team members come from all over the world, the English was very accessible and I had no problems. I instantly fell in love with the simplicity of expedition life. Before the expedition, I remember worrying about how I would cope with not having a hot shower for two weeks! But it didn’t take long for those thoughts to dissipate. You learn not to be afraid and to trust your own abilities and resilience.’

Malika Fettak (yellow circle) with her expedition team in Oman

‘It opened my eyes to the possibilities of another way of living. Out in nature, you actually need less to be happy and fulfilled. If you’re warm, dry, fed and have a place to sleep, that’s enough. And it calms your mind. You don’t have to worry about material luxuries, because in nature, on a fundamental level, it’s not important. A lot of people are overwhelmed in their lives. For example, there may be constant streams of information through phones that don’t actually have anything to do with your day-to-day life. Out in nature, especially away from phone coverage, things become simple. Things become easy. It’s not complicated out in the wild.’

‘After my first experience in Oman, I continued following Biosphere Expeditions across the globe all the way to the Altai Mountains in Russia. By this point, I’d been thinking about a career change, but I lacked a sense of direction. Matthias, Biosphere Expeditions founder and an expedition leader himself, and I had become well acquainted on expedition over the years; making me seriously consider a step into the unknown . He just said: ‘Why don’t you work for us?’ This was in 2006, seven years after Biosphere Expeditions was founded. I kind of created my own job by writing an essay about what I could contribute to the organisation. Having a degree in marketing and communications, I could see a lot of opportunities, so I began working full-time in the background.’

Leading in the Altai Mountains

‘Soon, however, I craved the expedition life again. Being out in nature, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing else but the expanse of the environment. So I signed myself for expedition leader training. It was a huge challenge at first, especially in a foreign language, but it was also extremely fun. I learned a lot. Once I started leading expeditions, that was it – I knew I’d found my place. Working in the wild, weathering the elements whilst leading people: everything that’s missing in contemporary city life, Biosphere Expeditions brings to you.’

Malika Fettak in between countries as an expedition leader

Starting as a citizen scientist, I loved the shift in perspective I got as an expedition leader. Not only was I suddenly responsible for all those people on the expedition; I also found myself in unimaginable situations. I learned how to solve problems, figuring it out as I went along. I felt a sense of accomplishment taking people out there, encouraging people to leave their comfort zones and helping to change people’s self-limiting beliefs – not in theory, but in reality. It really was a life-changing journey.’

Expedition leader Malika Fettak

In more recent years, I took a step further in my career again and qualified as a systematic coach and trainer in order to encourage and support personal development of people and empower teams outside expedition life – but I still lead expeditions. This has allowed me to look at the work Biosphere Expeditions does from a different perspective yet again. It has become all too clear for me that people are a lot more comfortable speaking about the things they want to achieve in their lives, rather than actually taking action. Biosphere Expeditions requires action. A lot of people talk about nature conservation, but never do anything about it. They think there’s no way I could do that! Then you find out: I actually can!’

‘The great thing about Biosphere Expeditions is that a formative personal experience of simply existing ias part of nature is almost built in. You’re there not to save the world all by yourself – for this is impossible – but learn and make experiences for your own sake and for the world around you. Biosphere Expeditions has made me appreciate the importance of every living thing on the planet. Even the smallest animals have successfully found a niche to live in; they all have an impact on each other, starting with a bug or ant, their presence is vital for, say, the top predator to have a healthy ecosystem to live in; that’s what I’ve understood and learned and experienced. The jaguar depends on the ant.’