Who we are

María Marcos
Co-founder - Nature

María is a Canary island-born ocean lover. She moved to Malaysia in 2015 to work as the General Manager at SALUD. She is a marine Biologist, specialised in coral restoration and Management and Conservation of Protected Natural Areas. She worked as Expedition host for 8 years in the National Park of the Atlantic Islands of Galicia. She participated in many environmental programmes in collaboration with the Spanish government. In 2012, María created the website Millas y Orillas, where she publishes articles about nature and our underwater world. She is also a wildlife conservation photojournalist, and speaks at many conferences. She had the opportunity to work in coral restoration, which showed her the many treasures are hidden behind the waves we can see. This ignited her passion for photography, and she aims to bring the ocean to those who cannot explore it themselves through aquatic art. She has organised reporting expeditions, working with important conservation organisations, and writing for a travel website.

For María, Sungai Project creates a community that respects wildlife and the Melaka sea. She believes that it’s important to create awareness about plastic pollution and encourage the use of alternatives. She wants to encourage locals to make the shift to ecotourism so that they take care of their nature by themselves.

Growing up with the Caribbean ocean surrounding Aruba, Linde has always loved exploring all the wonders our seas hold. She studied Anthropology to still her hunger for experiencing and trying to understand different people, cultures, and traditions. After completing a masters in Conflict & Disaster studies, she started working in the humanitarian field, mostly with refugees in the Netherlands and Southeast Asia. Living in Malaysia since 2017, she felt more confronted than ever with the impact us humans (can) have on everyone and everything around us.

With Sungai Project, Linde hopes to remind people of what we have, and how special that is. She believes that societies have become disconnected from themselves as well as nature, but is optimistic that if we are willing to reflect on our lifestyle, listen to each other and use our strengths to mobilise action, we can take care of our planet and all its inhabitants.

WE CAN DO BETTER, TOGETHER.

Linde Lamboo
Co-founder - Humanities

Cz Chooi, also known as DOMER51, is a Malaysian Graffiti artist, designer and founder of 51CRIB clothing and Melaka City Foundation.

His work - be it art or lifestyle clothing - aims at bringing Melaka to the world and bridging the gap between east & west. Digging into the relationship between Melaka traditional and Western street art, Past and Future. As a result, he created 51CRIB. Heritage and Hip-Hop, Locally Global.

Cz sees Sungai Project as saviour, a light that will shine on the next generation. As a local, he is aware that it has become a "new norm" for Melakans to see their land being reclaimed. He didn't even know how serious it was before learning from Maria and Linde. Our planet needs more healers, peacemakers, and lovers of all kinds. When there is black, there is white. Darkness, and there's light. As above and so below. When there is a destroyer, there's for sure a healer. For Cz, Sungai is the healer.