The media often focuses on officials and other highly placed persons who have the ability to influence events and thus win acclamations. But in many cases the real heroes are those working as volunteers in communities and in grass roots organisations. This is not an exception in Seychelles.

I was interviewed by SBC television recently regarding the freshwater eel inhabiting our rivers. I wrote about this eel some years ago in The People and this week I want to talk about another strange eel I found in some rivers recently.

The residents of Mare Anglaise and La Batie have been calling to say they have been invaded by fourmi maldiv. This is the latest of reports received every so often of population explosions of these insects known as crazy ants in English.

Some time ago, Terence Vel and I went through the store of an NGO that had been in operation for about 10 years and removed a room full of seemingly obsolete computers, printers, photocopiers and associated machinery. After much unsuccessful running around to get these repaired, we had no choice but to get rid of them. The problem is that these contain large amounts of heavy metals and other toxins such as lead, mercury and cadmium. Known as electronic waste or e-waste for short, they can contaminate the environment and become a serious problem when they are dumped in the landfill.