Partners Who Believe in Our Vision

Torrevieja.de – Why We Support This Project

Because the Sea Begins at Our Doorstep — and Environmental Protection Has No Borders.

Torrevieja.de is a German-language city and information portal based on Spain’s southern Costa Blanca. We live in a region whose quality of life is inseparably connected to the Mediterranean, its beaches, salt lakes and extraordinary natural environment.
Perhaps that is exactly why it is so difficult to see the way we sometimes treat the very environment that makes this place so special.
Plastic left on a beach, beside a river or somewhere in the landscape does not remain a local problem. It breaks down, travels through the environment and enters a cycle that connects our world far more closely than many people realise.
For the environment, it ultimately does not matter where we begin protecting it. What matters is that we begin — and that our support achieves as much tangible impact as possible.
That is why Torrevieja.de supports Friends of the Bamboo Foundation Gambia e.V.

We Didn’t Just Want to Read About It. We Wanted to See It for Ourselves.
At the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, we had the opportunity to visit The Gambia and see the situation on the ground first-hand.
We saw the conditions under which the work is being carried out, the challenges that exist — and, at the same time, the potential that is there.
Most importantly, we had the opportunity to meet two people who are driving this project forward with remarkable conviction: Jens Poppe and Omar Darboe.
Their energy, personal commitment and determination made a lasting impression on us. This is not a project hidden behind an anonymous organisation. It is driven by people who are personally involved, who spend time on the ground, take responsibility and work step by step to build something meaningful.
Those encounters turned our interest into something deeply personal.
Why This Project?
Because we believe support here can translate into very tangible progress.
Different economic conditions mean that resources invested directly and intelligently in The Gambia can sometimes make possible practical project steps that would require considerably greater funding in highly developed European countries.
Relatively manageable contributions can help raise bamboo seedlings, establish irrigation, provide tools, deliver training or finance important parts of a nursery and other essential infrastructure.
That does not mean environmental protection in Europe matters any less.
It means something much simpler:
When the same resources can create an exceptionally high level of tangible impact in a particular place, we believe that opportunity should be used wisely.
Our planet does not care on which continent positive change begins.
Bamboo Is More Than a Plant to Us
What particularly inspires us about this project is the way it connects several solutions.
Bamboo plantings can provide a renewable raw material. That material can, over time, be processed into useful products that may replace selected plastic-based or conventional materials.
At the same time, the project can help create knowledge, skills, employment opportunities and local value creation.
In this way, it brings together environmental protection, greater self-reliance and new opportunities.
And that is what makes the difference for us.
The goal is not to organise permanent dependence on outside support.
The goal is to help build something that can increasingly grow and develop through local capacity of its own.
What Happens in The Gambia Does Not Stay in The Gambia
Our world does not exist in separate compartments.
Oceans connect continents. Air, water, trade and people connect regions. Plastic and microplastics do not stop at national borders — and neither do the consequences of environmental degradation.
That is why we do not see this work as simply helping some distant place.
We see it as one small contribution to a global responsibility that concerns us all.
We Want to Do Our Part
Torrevieja.de will not solve the global plastic problem on its own.
Nor do we pretend that it can.
But we can use our reach. We can tell people about the project. We can raise awareness. We can make introductions. We can provide support ourselves.
And perhaps we can inspire others to contribute their own part as well.
Because meaningful change rarely comes from one person or one dramatic step.
It grows when more and more people decide:
I may not be able to change everything — but I can contribute something.
That is exactly what we want to do.
For less plastic.
For cleaner oceans.
For a healthier environment.

And for people who do not simply talk about change, but work for it every day.
Torrevieja.de supports Friends of the Bamboo Foundation Gambia e.V. out of genuine conviction — and because this project has become personally important to us.

Because we have seen for ourselves what is possible. Because the commitment of Jens Poppe and Omar Darboe inspired us. And because we want to play our small part in helping a powerful idea grow into something much bigger.