Dear reader, Hector the crab and myself, Archibald the coral, come today to give you some news about our island. We both managed to survive that horrible oil spill that gave us many scares and could have ruined our little piece of paradise. We lost many friends, brothers and sisters among the marine animals, who were trapped in the infamous magma that poured into our lagoon. Superimposed layers, which we must avoid so as not to get caught again, criss-cross the ocean here and there. We remain vigilant and on the lookout.

The good news is that many of us have survived thanks to the incredible solidarity that has been shown on the island, and far beyond, since this tragic incident. Grégoire, our friend, has continued to take pictures so that we can give you this slightly more encouraging news. But we must not forget that there are also unconscious, irresponsible, cynical, selfish, greedy and heartless humans, such as those who charter garbage ships without even caring about the risks to our ecosystem. Foolish people who do not want to see the importance of what is happening in preserved places in terms of biodiversity. Careless people who forget that we cannot survive without each other and that our fate is linked for all eternity.

In front of those, there are thousands of beautiful people. Some of them have lost everything in this event that follows the confinement because of the Covid 19. Beautiful people who, despite their worries, mobilize every morning to block the road to this oil spill that would otherwise advance like an army ravaging everything in its path. Tireless men and women when it comes to fighting, because they are aware of the disaster that is already unfolding before their eyes, but even more aware that if they do nothing, it will be even worse.

Men and women who sail day and night to fight the oil spill and save us. Men and women who, throughout the day, make large chains of big socks filled with straw and hair, which will block the unspeakable and unspeakable smelly cloaca and limit the extent of the oil spill on our corner of paradise. Hector is just like me, amazed to learn that a kilo of hair can absorb eight kilos of fuel oil.

And the good news is, it’s working well, it’s amazing anyway.

In addition, we learn that a large chain of solidarity is organizing around the world to collect hair and send it to us. This morning, we heard at the Pointe d’Esny that a young Parisian woman is going to get her long hair cut, which took her years to grow. What a wonderful sign of solidarity! It is said that hairdressers have organized the collection all over France and that they will charter a plane soon. There is even a rumour among the crabs that the Jamaicans are even considering parting with their incredible dreads to protect us. I personally learned this morning from a reliable source – a turtle back from the Backwaters – that Indian women were in the process of sending us each a piece of their beautiful hair.

So here we are, with Hector, both of us dreaming of an international hair dam that would put an end to the dramatic situation that has plagued us for more than a week now.

We catch ourselves dreaming of a sea serpent with brown, white, black, blond, chestnut, frizzy, long, short, straight, fine, curly hair, crisscrossing the ocean as the symbol of a diverse humanity united against the worst in order to preserve the environment in which we live.

It is often thousands of small gestures which, when put together, will one day lead to the end of the worst situations, the worst injustices, the worst disasters. Small gestures that tell us again and again that we must never despair, that despite the greed of the richest 1%, the majority of human beings still take care of our planet, that they mobilize whenever necessary. We have also heard that a friend of Gregory’s has started a collection, with a girl named Greta, who seems to be very well known among young human beings. In a few days, they raised close to €100,000.

So yes, Hector and I, like all living things here, in and out of the water, have suffered a lot this past week. We’re not in great shape anymore, we’ve probably lost a few years of life expectancy, but we’re happy to cross some of your hair, escaped from a sausage, and floating here and there in the lagoon. For us it is a sign of your solidarity. This morning, we met Halina the turtle who was making a wig against the magma that shows up in the Mangrove. It’s a good sign if she regains her sense of humor. And yes, it makes us happy to see, that in the midst of the disaster, and despite what some say, cooperation and humour still exist throughout the world!

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Par Nathalie (with the help of Grégoire who is a tireless reporter, volunteer on site and that of Jean-Yves who is a tireless proofreader)

Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)