humanitarian project for the NGO ElephantsNow - Saving Ganesh
Most of you know me from my osteopathic and functional medicine work. But there is another very important aspect to which I have dedicated a chunk of my being, and that is humanitarian work and conservation work with Asian elephants.
In 2020, I created and implemented a humanitarian project in Sri Lanka for an NGO saving endangered Asian elephants from extinction. Elephants Now is from the United States, and has been working in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, India, Thailand, Borneo for more than 20 years educating local and international communities, publicizing the animals' situation, lowering the use of elephants for tourism, and supplying wildlife rangers with equipment. Elephants Now works in areas of so-called Humans-Elephants Conflict, areas of conflict between humans and elephants resulting from humans taking land and bringing human and animal habitats too close together.
I came to the conclusion that if we want to help elephants, we must also help people. My humanitarian project involves medical assistance in the form of osteopathic treatment (hopefully soon also dental treatment) for people affected by the Human-Elephant Conflict and working to reduce it, from farmers and villagers to veterinarians and wildlife wardens to Buddhist monks.
The parts of Sri Lanka affected by the aforementioned conflict are mainly the northern and eastern parts of the country. I have treated people whether in 2000-year-old Buddhist temples, private home gardens or the wildlife department. Much of the cooperation has been with monks who open local temples for us to undertake osteopathic treatment, so that at the same time we are working on a fundamental value, even more so in Sri Lanka, which is the purification of karma between humans and elephants.
After the difficult period of the pandemic, we have managed to get back on the front lines and have started back up operations in Sri Lanka, which are even more difficult than usual. In 2020, even more land was taken away from the elephants by, among other things, building a huge dam, so that of the 200 elephants that show up every year for the so-called "big gathering" in Minneriya, only 70 showed up this year.
In one of the so-called "transit houses" for orphaned elephants, the baby elephants were found to be skinny and poor. The consequences of the global pandemic have hit the Sri Lankan population hard, and the animals have also been affected.
YOU CAN JOIN US! How?
1. during our actions, we organize tours for people who want to join our team for a few-odd days, participate in observing wildlife during numerous safaris, educate themselves straight from scientists and wildlife rangers and join our actions on the front lines. This is global activism in action!
2. are you an osteopath/ chiropractor/ physiotherapist/ dentist? Write to me and let's join forces in using your medical resources.
WANT TO HELP?
1. share the information via social media, forward this post on - maybe a friend of a friend will be willing and able to join. The most powerful tools are often the simplest.
2. Contribute. Of course, these days you can find a whole spectrum of actions worth devoting some of your financial resources to. However, sometimes there is something that will appeal to us more right now, and it is in this direction that we will want our money to flow.
For every donation with 'Karo' in the title, thank you very much! ---
Karo