My Pledge To Help

I write this under unusual circumstances and a heavy heart. I would like to preface this by saying I would normally never ask anything of you as a reader. Your loyalty to visiting my blog and reading it means the world to me, but sometimes our thoughts need to be turned into actions and this is the best way I know how to do that.

Every day we watch (or avoid watching) the news and hear about the sadness and tragedy that happens to fellow humans. The one thing that is skipped over in those reports is the constant damage we humans are doing to others on this planet, like animals.

Poaching is a humongous crime that gets overlooked because it doesn’t have the masses and money behind it to support its end. There are teams like Kenya Wildlife Service who work day and night to catch poachers and save the animals that have fallen victim to them, but we can’t just settle at that, more action needs to be taken.

Poachers, humans, remove elephant’s tusks so we can have ivory jewelry or an expensive chess set. Our species cuts off rhino’s horns for keratin, the very same thing that is in the nails of the hands that are doing the killing. To be honest, I had forgotten what a rhino with its horn looked like because I had become so accustomed to seeing just the nub left over after it has been stolen from them. I once read about a journalists encounter with a Tusker in the wild, and he wrote about how the elephant bull weaved in and out of the bushes, almost drunkenly, on his way to the watering hole. The bull walked in such a way to avoid the sun which would create a gleam on of his floor length tusks, in fear that it would attract attention. One of the worlds mightiest creatures, afraid of his own feature that is supposed to be boast-worthy is now hiding in dispair.

But to redirect my anger, there are positive lights in this dark sadness. There are many trusts and programs that can use our donations. The money they receive goes toward things like gas for the planes that will patrol and fly to remote areas on rescue missons, feed their hard working staff, and feed and house the rescuees.

I pledge to donate all my tips received at work in the month of July towards one or all of these hardworking programs listed below;

1. Saving the Survivors

2. African Wildlife Foundation

3. David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

What sparked this, you may ask? It is something that weighs on my heart everyday since my visit to Kenya in 2014. The trip opened my eyes to the reality of poaching, the increasing number of orphans left behind and the end of species quickly creeping up on us.

If you feel led to I hope you would consider making a contribution. As we all know, every dollar adds up and any amount can help. You can even donate as a gift. For the past two Mother’s Days I have sponsored an elephant at David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust under my mom’s name, almost like my mom can help fill the gap of an orphan missing its own mother. I do not mean to guilt you but to open your eyes and challenge you to not pay $4 a day for your Starbucks and donate that to a much bigger, Earth effecting cause.