with
national
Katie Taylor, 2nd
Year Medical
Student
rainforest being cut down to make
space for palm oil plantations. Palm
oil is now found in pretty much
everything, it is incredibly cheap and
versatile. I am not under the
impression it would be viable to cut
out palm oil entirely, however I
would love for more companies to
make the switch to sustainable palm
oil. My final placement was in a
remote village in the heart of the
Borneo. This was the opportunity to
get the highly sought ‘picture with an
impoverished child’ which would
later become our Facebook profile
picture (it’s a must of overseas
volunteer work).
supplied the solar panels, the other
charity sent 3 grandmothers from
the village to India to be trained how
to fix the solar panels and Raleigh’s
job was to build a workshop for the
grannies to work in on their return.
This was a plan that had been
previously implemented in a couple
of other villages and proven both
effective and sustainable. The 6
weeks run up to my time in Sungai
Magandai saw 2 Raleigh groups
come in and start the building
process. We were to complete the
build and organise an opening
ceremony for the workshop. This
placement had the real feel good
factor about it. We spent time in the
school teaching the kids English, we
would go play sport with the children
in the evenings, we would dance
with the locals at night. The
community was truly grateful for the
work we had done and to this day
the workshop is still in use.
What is sustainable palm oil?
The village I stayed in was called
Sungai Magandai. Many children
from different villages would walk for
hours to stay in this village for
several weeks to attend a primary
school. This school was the only
one for miles around. Raleigh
International worked with two other
charities to complete the main aim
of supplying this village, and in
particular this school, with solar
power. One of these charities
Palm oil can be certified as
sustainable by an organisation
called the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The
RSPO sets out a number of social
and environmental criteria that if
followed correctly will minimise the
negative environmental effects of
palm oil whilst still enabling
economical gains for the often
impoverished countries that are the
main suppliers. One of the main
criteria is that no primary rainforest,
land that is high in biodiversity or an
area with a fragile ecosystem is to
be cut down to make space for palm
tree plantations. The RSPO
accredits organisations that are
sourcing certified sustainable palm
oil and can the display the RSPO
trademark on their packaging. Some
examples of companies using
responsibly sourced palm oil are
Jordans and Ryvita, Primark, Nestle,
Kellogg’s, L’oreal and many more.
Why am I telling you this?
I went to Borneo as a
venturer, but it is possible to
go out and do the something
similar as a medic. For
something a little different/
anyone interested in doing
expedition medicine I would
highly recommend
considering a Raleigh
International expedition as
an option
I want to educate as many
people as I can about the
implications of the wide
spread use of irresponsibility
sourced palm oil
I want you to think twice
about choosing a slightly more
expensive product that doesn’t
contain palm oil/uses sustainable
palm oil over a cheaper but less
ethical alternative
I had a fab time and I just
like talking about it