Marie Anne Verloppe, 40 and mother of four children, has been scrutinizing the horizon for years in search of additional revenue for a decent life. But the horizon grew bleaker and bleaker in her native coastal village of Le Morne.

Her husband’s catches, as well as those of all the fishermen of the village, has been diminishing year after year due to lagoon depletion and pollution. Her willpower to fight pollution and at the same time bring additional revenue has been rewarded this month when the GEF Small Grant Project of the UNDP – United Nation Development Programme - donated  50 000 dollars, (Rs 1.5 million),  to the association she founded last year for anti-pollution campaign as well as the production of recycled hand bags and cardboard  furniture.

It all started when Marie Anne Verloppe, holder of a school certificate and ex-hotel room maid and kitchen helper, said to herself that the days when there will be no fish to catch at all were fast approaching. In a bid to reverse what seemed to be irreversible, she rounded last year almost all the housewives of the village in an association called Le Morne Espoir Femme Association and started to clean the lagoon and to teach to the villagers the importance of protecting the environment.

«We used plastics bottles and other wares thrown in the lagoon into ashtrays and other handicraft products. I then realized that we could also recycle other things, like old clothes and cardboard boxes, which they call here “boîte carton,” before they are thrown by the hundreds into the lagoon», she explains.

The women of the village thus started two other line of production under the leadership of Marie Anne Verloppe who is presently an office attendant for the Le Morne Heritage. She is also highly ambitious.

« My aim is not only to produce flower pot, jewel case and presentation boxes with the cardboard I collect from shopkeepers, but to produce furniture, such as arm chair, cupboard, book-case etc.» she says.

To achieve this, she knocked at many doors. She received help from the organisation Entreprendre au Féminin, Océan Indien, to coach her members into the production of cardboard furniture and money from the UNDP to purchase equipment.
« Part of the money is being used in our environment protection campaign and the theatrical company Komiko has been commissioned by us to produce a play on the importance of environment protection. The gala show is scheduled for mid-October», she explains.

Her ambition goes further than this. Her firm intent is to open a tourist shop on the coastal road of Le Morne to sell her association’s directly to local and foreign customers.

Read the French version of this article in l’express dimanche.