Understanding Giant African Snail infection as an local problem in South China, but besides the striking data and numbers published online, we were also curious about whether the species invasion is a global concern that will affect the daily lives of ordinary people all around the world. Gathered information from the Internet, we realized that snails might be part of the local diet in some African areas, where the snails originated. Therefore, we contacted Marlboro Gardens Secondary School in South Africa via email, explaining our purpose for multi-cultural communication regarding the opinions on invasive species, which would significantly enrich the definition of the impacts of our project.
<br><br>Building on our initial motivation, our team recognizes the importance of introducing synthetic biology to this specific group. Synthetic biology, being a relatively new field, remains less accessible, particularly to teenagers worldwide. As adolescents ourselves, we've been fortunate to be finanacially and physically capable of access to synthetic biology laboratories and conduct experiments. However, we also recognize the disparities in access to synthetic biology education, especially in African schools.
<br><br>To address this gap, we firstly provide our synbio online lessons pior our online. These documented education material will help our friends to eastablish primary understanding of synbio which ensure a smooth discussion later. Furthermore, we believe that this long-lasting form of teaching can make synbio more inclusive for teenagers across the globe.
<br><br>During our communication, we shared the aspect of how these snails are portrayed as dangerous animals in China. We also introduced possible treatments for the victim when one is infected and methods to avoid infection when encountering these snails. According to the feedback from the African students that is contrary to our knowledge, snails are in fact not a staple diet in the African community, and there was a mutual understanding between both schools that it is unadvised to consume Giant African Snails due to the A. cantonensis present in them, which greatly support our motivation to initiate project-related education from global perspectives.
<br><br>During our communication, we shared the aspect of how these snails are portrayed as dangerous animals in China. We also introduced possible treatments for the victim when one is infected and methods to avoid infection when encountering these snails. According to the feedback from the African students that is contrary to our knowledge, snails are in fact not a staple diet in the African community, and there was a mutual understanding between both schools that it is unadvised to consume Giant African Snails due to the <i>A. cantonensis</i> present in them, which greatly support our motivation to initiate project-related education from global perspectives.
