Protest of a camel
Pentecostal Lam Hon Kwong School, Wong Ching Yan, Fiction: group 3
J
ackie is a renowned environmental activist. One day, she heard shocking news from
China that the world’s fifth largest desert, the Gobi Desert, was expanding at an alarming
rate, in a process known as desertification. To figure out the causes and effects of this
phenomenon, she decided to travel to the Gobi Desert alone. Her mission had aroused
interest, and one of the affected countries, China, had promised to support her actions, the only
requirement being that she must share her feelings at the World Meteorological Conference in
Beijing afterwards. She is now sharing at the conference.
“It is my pleasure to share at this conference. After I’d thought of exploring the Gobi Desert, it
was only a few weeks later that I was in a helicopter on the southern edge of China. It’s here that
the rate of desertification means 3,600 km2 of grassland are overtaken every year by the Gobi
Desert. As travelling there was a dangerous task, the Chinese officials planned a much safer route
for me which meant I could live with the locals in a Mongolian yurt. They also gave me a GPS
watch in case of any emergencies.
During my trip, everything went smoothly. I learnt more about the impact of desertification
by interviewing the locals living in the desert. They told me that dust storms, which occur
regularly in China, have increased in frequency and are more destructive than in the past years,
mainly due to desertification. But I finally realized that all the information I received was just
about the effects on human beings. But how about the animals living in the desert? Haven’t they
also been affected? Therefore, I left the Mongolian yurt in order to discover more.
I walked further and further, but by sunset all I’d seen was just sand and withered grass. The
sky became darker and darker, and I realized I’d lost my way back home. With no food and water,
it was impossible to live in the desert.
“Help…Help!” I cried as loudly as I could, but no one responded. I felt helpless, and was
just blaming myself for my folly while attempting to use the GPS watch. At the next moment,
I had the most memorable and unbelievable experience on this trip. I met a special Bactrian
camel who had the ability to speak and understand human language. He told me that because
of desertification, the animals’ livings were very hard. His words confirmed to me that not only
humans are at risk, animals are the same! Then he told me more about this desert.
Actually, the Gobi Region was once a fertile land with large amounts of farmland and
agriculture. However, everything had changed and the camel had witnessed the changes of the
Gobi Desert. He exclaimed that the weather was now a mess and there were many more disasters
that seriously affected the lives of his species.
Desertification, as you know, is the process whereby fertile land is transformed into desert. You
may think that it isn’t human’s responsibility, but my camel friend confirmed that it was mostly
caused by human activities, notably deforestation, overgrazing and depletion of water resources!
Because of these human activities, lands weren’t suitable for planting and thus there was less
food and not enough water for animals!
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