On an adventure of a lifetime

RJ Prathyusha Parakala, is on cloud 9 these days after completing her maiden voyage to Antarctica as part of ClimateForce: Antarctica (CFA) expedition 2018 along with around 80 participants from across the globe to raise awareness about climate change and work towards creating a more sustainable future.

The expedition commenced on February 26 and concluded on March 12. The 29-year-old was the only girl selected from the two Telugu states and only RJ ever to be part of such expedition in the world. For the journey, she took a flight to Argentina and reached Ushuaia, the tip of the country from there the team commenced their expedition to Antarctica.

“I have a Masters degree in computer software and was placed in three software companies, however, I felt that it is not my calling and I joined ‘Teach for India’, which is a two-year fellowship programme an under-resource course. Since then I thought that I wanted to be in a place where my impact is directly visible. It started with Teach for India, under this we had a leadership programme where I got to meet a Robert Swan, who is the head of an organisation ‘2041’.

He is the first man to work at both the North and South Pole. Since my childhood, I was very passionate about geography. I was very conscious about the environment and the climatic conditions. When I met Robert Swan in 2013 I realised that going to Antarctica was a possibility which I have always dreamt of and going there for a cause makes it worthwhile,” Prathyusha shares.

About the CFA expedition, she informs: “The programme is divided into two parts – the first one is the expedition where we had to travel to the seventh continent; the last wilderness on earth, the place where very few people in the history would have gone so that was a very dramatic thing. Antarctica is a place where there is literally nobody just white layer everywhere around. The second part of the trip was the leadership programme, which was the crux of it.”

The RJ states that it was quite interesting to travel with 80 like-minded people, who were committed individuals from 20 to 25 countries forming a global network. “Connecting with these people was an enriching experience. During the day we would be on the continent and look at the climatic changes and the effects of it and then we would gather during the evening hours and have a session by experts, where we would come up with solutions that benefit our society and what is that we can do after coming back to our country. Being present at that place and learning is something different and no other experience can get parallel to this one.”

Speaking about the challenges during the trip she shares: “It wasn’t a psychically demanding programme, but then being at the best of our health was the main criteria.” “While we were crossing the Drake Passage one of the worst seas in the world because that is where the Antarctic and the Pacific Ocean connect and so the waves come up to 50 feet and it gets dramatically crazy,” she adds.

About the training, she says, “We had a lot of reading of material; we had to do a lot of pre-expedition work. During the boarding point at Ushuaia, Argentina, where the ship started sailing to Antarctica, we got a complete basic course, because once we are in the sea you are just by yourself. We got training about the dos and don’ts of the trip.

We went to Antarctica as a team and to make sure that we do not spoil the environment there, we took many precautions and our trip was declared as carbon neutral voyage, so we never left any carbon spills around. While we were on the land we never touched any animal, we had to be five feet away from wildlife and even before going on the land we were completely vacuum cleaned so that none of the bacteria that we were carrying on us would be carried there.

Such extreme precautions were taken.” After the trip what changes do you find in yourself? “Right now I choose myself to be positively insignificant. I started to think that there is so much out there where we can see, do and contribute. A little problem of yours won’t look magnified. I feel like focusing on lot more on that than myself.”

By: D Shreya Veronica