<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Alex-Andrew-Kinzer.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 172px; float: right;" />From one continent to the next. Last week, we interviewed <a href="/news_and_resources/blog/profiles_in_stewardship_dave_timmer#.UbFdLPk3uSp">Dave Timmer, Stewardship Coordinator for A Rocha USA</a>. Today, we talk with Alex and Andrew Kinzer who do their work with A Rocha half way around the world in Kenya. Alex and Andrew are both Wheaton College Environmental Studies graduates, and Alex attended Au Sable as a research student studying invasive shoreline grasses while also taking our &#39;Insect Biology and Ecology&#39; and &#39;Field Botany&#39; courses. Their work in A Rocha Kenya is extensive. Projects that serve the local community and conserve species and natural resources abound. We caught up with them to learn more about how they&#39;re putting their skills to work on the ground.</p>
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	<strong>What do you do in your current position?</strong></p>
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	<strong>Andrew:</strong>&nbsp;My official title with A Rocha Kenya is the Research Program Coordinator, which means I set the work plan for all our different projects, make sure they are done on time, that the data is entered, and that our reports and papers get written. As time consuming of a job as that is, I also manage to spend most of my time doing fieldwork, ranging from hiking through the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest surveying endangered bird species, scuba diving in the lagoon helping with coral resilience studies, or working on our conservation agriculture demonstration plot. A major part of what we do at A Rocha also involves living in close community with one another, including volunteers and guests at our guest house, so I also spend quite a bit of time making new friendships, investing in relationships, and planning fun activities or trips for people to do while they are staying with us. Most of my life here is wrapped up in and related to A Rocha Kenya somehow, and even though that means that life is not always as straight forward or as easy as I may like it to be, working here has been a tremendous blessing.</p>
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	<strong>Alex:</strong> I help out with small projects around A Rocha&#39;s field study centre, Mwamba. While my role isn&#39;t very scientific, I do contribute to the community here, our ASSETS program (which supports education through money generated by eco-tourism), and occasionally the research program. Outside of A Rocha, I have also worked for an environmental consulting company, called Cirrus Partners, in two studies, one concerning the invasive Emerald Ash Borer and the other supply chain dynamics. In addition, as newlyweds, Andrew and I are learning how to make sustainable decisions in our home life, and enjoy the steep learning curve of running a household on the Kenyan coast. I also have decided to pursue a Masters in Landscape Architecture to better understand the design side of restoring ecosystems.</p>
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	<strong>Why is this work important to conservation? &nbsp;</strong></p>
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	<strong>Andrew:</strong>&nbsp;The Watamu/Malindi area where we are located has 5 or 6 internationally recognized important bird areas (IBAs) that have been identified because of their importance to endangered or endemic bird species. We are not only working with the local government organizations in charge of protecting these areas, but we are also involved in working with the local communities who are more directly affected by the policies governing the natural resources which they depend on. Our research and monitoring programs are providing information to managers which help them to make informed management decisions, and also gauges the success of our various ecotourism and community development projects which have been going on for 10 years now. Most recently, this year A Rocha Kenya was part of a team which discovered the breeding and nesting sites of the Clarkes Weaver, an endangered species endemic to Kenya, and were able to document this species breeding behavior for the first time in history. In addition to our research and monitoring projects, we are also quite heavily in schools, teaching kids about the world around them, and helping show them that the world around them is good, is valuable, and needs to be protected and conserved. The aim of our research is not only to increase our knowledge and understanding of the world around us, but to know how to address the needs of the world around us, human and non-human.&nbsp;</p>
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	<strong>Alex:</strong> Right now, my role at A Rocha could best be described as supportive. I support Andrew in his research and project managing decisions, in addition to supporting Mwamba&#39;s guesthouse and ASSSETS program with design services, advice, and the occasional time spent filling in for others. This work is important to conservation because it encourages collaboration among people of different cultures on practical projects, it allows A Rocha employees to focus on their own tasks while they entrust me with others, and it teaches me about my own personal role in conservation. I believe conservation can happen with large organizations, but only if everyone in them is personally committed to it. The more time I spend at A Rocha, and as a part of the larger community here at the coast, the more I become personally committed to a different way of life, a more sustainable one, where Andrew and I think about how our decisions impact the world both inside and outside of our direct conservation work.&nbsp;</p>
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	<strong>What was most memorable and important to you about your time at Au Sable? &nbsp;</strong></p>
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	<strong>Alex:</strong> When I went to Au Sable, all I knew was that I wanted to take some practical classes and learn to identify plants and insects better, in addition to completing my own self-directed research project. I had not been involved in much research before, and I was very happy to complete a very practical project for the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.&nbsp;</p>
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	My favorite class was the insect class. It was so fun looking at all sorts of things under the microscope and identifying them--not to mention the collecting! One of my favorite memories at Au Sable was raising a caterpillar--a red-spotted purple. We named her Stella. When she finally emerged as a butterfly, I let her sit on my nose for a few minutes before she flew to a tree to let her wings dry. I also enjoyed raising monarch caterpillars with the class, and learning how to tell a male from a female from the tiniest little line on the chrysalis. Talk about amazing detail! My experiences in the insect class showed me how much I really love insects, something I didn&#39;t really know about myself until Au Sable. Even today, I love being able to know exactly what I am looking at when it comes to insects.&nbsp;</p>
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	Also, it&#39;s a little mushy, but it was at Au Sable that Andrew first told me he loved me and wanted to marry me, even though we didn&#39;t make any plans or real decisions until the following year.&nbsp;</p>
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	<strong>How does your faith in Jesus Christ affect the work you do today? &nbsp;</strong></p>
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	<strong>Alex:</strong> We were drawn to A Rocha for many reasons, but the Christian influence was a main one. A Rocha&#39;s work is not just driven by science or a need to &quot;make the world a better place,&quot; but by firm belief that this is part of what humans are called to do. At A Rocha we do that together. A Rocha is an intense community of imperfect people (including Andrew and I). Imperfect, Christian people. That in itself has been a great, although often difficult, experience. It takes a lot of love, patience, and forgiveness to handle some of the problems we face. We try to treat each other well and listen to each other, to work out problems together. The community is important to the conservation work because it reminds us that the work is not about us, it&#39;s about the land and the people we are helping. It&#39;s about doing what is right in the sight of Christ.&nbsp;</p>
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	<strong>How did your time at Au Sable help prepare you for what you are doing now? &nbsp;</strong></p>
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	<strong>Alex:</strong> I have had the opportunity to use my insect skills by helping with two inventory projects, one with a professor from the University of Washington, and the other with one of Mwamba&#39;s volunteers. It also gave me confidence in my research abilities, even if I am not involved in many research activities now. I also believe it enhanced my ability to write scientifically and edit scientific papers, which I occasionally have the opportunity to do at A Rocha.&nbsp;</p>
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	<strong>Why do you think people should continue to study at Au Sable today? &nbsp;</strong></p>
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	<strong>Alex:</strong> Au Sable is a fun place to learn. I think the relaxed environment will help most people learn more effectively. Because the classes move so quickly and there is so much covered, being able to take one at a time, in addition to your own research project, will really help students learn about what they really love. I would choose learning in the field over in a classroom any day!</p>
