The Mauritius Diaspora Wakashio Relief Fund

My name is Shailesh and I am part of the 200K+ Mauritian diaspora spread around the world. I live in the U.S. near the capital Washington D.C.  I'm a proud American with a soul made in Mauritius! Growing up I spent much of my school holidays at my grandpa’s house in the idyllic coastal village of Mahebourg and Blue Bay, which is world renowned for its clear water and white sand and is also home to a marine park.


Photo: me, my mom and my two nephews at La Cambeuse beach

On July 25 the Wakashio cargo ship ran aground in this previously idyllic location. People woke up with the sight of a giant ship in their ‘backyard’. 
Watching the giant oil tanker from the shore

The people of Mauritius were falsely reassured by local authorities of the low risk of oil spillage, and then the worst happened. On August 6th, the hull breached and oil spilled in the pristine lagoon. Today these regions are covered in crude oil and are at the center of the cleaning effort. I was horrified and deeply saddened by a situation which could have been avoided had authorities acted promptly in the first place. This is proving to be the Chernobyl of the island with long term damage to the coastal ecosystem and affecting the livelihood of hundreds of locals and fishermen.



I’m driven to help, and thanks to my family and friends in the US, we are actively raising money for  two relief causes. First we are providing ‘food packs’ for those most impacted by the disaster. Next we plan to fund the lagoon restoration effort.  With the borders still closed, we think the best to help is to donate money and food directly to the people affected by this disaster. We have assembled a small team of volunteers on the ground and this weekend we will proceed with our first food pack donations. It costs us $50 to ‘build’ a food pack and we ask you to donate generously so we can alleviate the sufferings of as many people as we can.  Thank you!