INSERT INTO `wp_posts` VALUES (1169,2,'2014-02-16 03:48:11','2014-02-16 03:48:11','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that education of children would be a key long-term strategy in aiding and protecting the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful video about the school can be viewed here: <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg</a>.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, the article prompted Cecilia to donate two scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for two of the students at Kanzi Academy. The students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States that helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the B.L. Tezza Primary School for Orphans (<a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html</a>). Established as an annual fundraising effort for January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000ksh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more orphans, who were unable to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is supplying some residual donated funds to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas on what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire Secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from Nursery, through Primary and now into Secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive International schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by IGCSE standards. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, but also from England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that would rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature at Naisula. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, we Skype each week to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – what can be an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved are do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for an organization that would help foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about profit or non-profit corporation formations. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking schedule in development); speakers interested in traveling to Naisula to address the school directly;</li>\r\n	<li>Donations or discounted for National Park or other sanctuary visits;</li>\r\n	<li>Sister classroom or classrooms in the US that might be interested in connecting and partnering with our group endeavor;</li>\r\n	<li>Any ideas or other items you might feel is pertinent for our group to learn, understand or have.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to meet both Naisula scholarship students from MWCT, Lazarus and Valentine, last week during our weekly Skype session with the group. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us in this incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is appropriate to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids. And I look forward to posting about our progress as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 03:48:11','2014-02-16 03:48:11','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1170,2,'2014-02-16 04:58:20','2014-02-16 04:58:20','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that education of children would be a key long-term strategy in aiding and protecting the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful video about the school can be viewed here: <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg</a>.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, the article prompted Cecilia to donate two scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for two of the students at Kanzi Academy. The students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States that helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the B.L. Tezza Primary School for Orphans (<a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html</a>). Established as an annual fundraising effort for January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000ksh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more orphans, who were unable to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is supplying some residual donated funds to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas on what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire Secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from Nursery, through Primary and now into Secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive International schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by IGCSE standards. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, but also from England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that would rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature at Naisula. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, we Skype each week to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – what can be an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for an organization that would help foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about profit or non-profit corporation formations. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking schedule in development and looking for speakers interested in traveling to Naisula to address the school directly);</li>\r\n	<li>Donations or discounted park fees for National Park or other sanctuary visits;</li>\r\n	<li>Junior high or high school classroom or classrooms in the US that might be interested in connecting and partnering with our group endeavor;</li>\r\n	<li>Any ideas or other items you might feel is pertinent for our group to learn, understand or have.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to 2 of the Naisula scholarship students from MWCT, Lazarus and Valentine, last week during our weekly Skype session with the group. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us in this incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is appropriate to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids. And I look forward to posting about our progress as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 04:58:20','2014-02-16 04:58:20','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1173,2,'2014-02-16 05:08:23','2014-02-16 05:08:23','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that education of children would be a key long-term strategy in aiding and protecting the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful video about the school can be viewed here: <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg</a>.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, the article prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States that helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the B.L. Tezza Primary School for Orphans (<a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html</a>). Established as an annual fundraising effort for January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000ksh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more orphans, who were unable to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is supplying some residual donated funds to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas on what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire Secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from Nursery, through Primary and now into Secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive International schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by IGCSE ratings. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, but also from England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that would rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature at Naisula. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, we Skype each week to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – what can be an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for an organization that would help foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about profit or non-profit corporation formations. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking schedule in development and looking for speakers interested in traveling to Naisula to address the school directly);</li>\r\n	<li>Donations or discounted park fees for National Park or other sanctuary visits;</li>\r\n	<li>Junior high or high school classroom or classrooms in the US that might be interested in connecting and partnering with our group endeavor;</li>\r\n	<li>Any ideas or other items you might feel is pertinent for our group to learn, understand or have.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to 2 of the Naisula scholarship students from MWCT, Lazarus and Valentine, last week during our weekly Skype session with the group. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us in this incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is appropriate to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids. And I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 05:08:23','2014-02-16 05:08:23','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1171,2,'2014-02-16 04:58:47','2014-02-16 04:58:47','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that education of children would be a key long-term strategy in aiding and protecting the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful video about the school can be viewed here: <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg</a>.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, the article prompted Cecilia to donate two scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for two of the students at Kanzi Academy. The students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States that helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the B.L. Tezza Primary School for Orphans (<a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html</a>). Established as an annual fundraising effort for January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000ksh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more orphans, who were unable to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is supplying some residual donated funds to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas on what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire Secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from Nursery, through Primary and now into Secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive International schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by IGCSE standards. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, but also from England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that would rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature at Naisula. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, we Skype each week to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – what can be an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for an organization that would help foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about profit or non-profit corporation formations. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking schedule in development and looking for speakers interested in traveling to Naisula to address the school directly);</li>\r\n	<li>Donations or discounted park fees for National Park or other sanctuary visits;</li>\r\n	<li>Junior high or high school classroom or classrooms in the US that might be interested in connecting and partnering with our group endeavor;</li>\r\n	<li>Any ideas or other items you might feel is pertinent for our group to learn, understand or have.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to 2 of the Naisula scholarship students from MWCT, Lazarus and Valentine, last week during our weekly Skype session with the group. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us in this incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is appropriate to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids. And I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 04:58:47','2014-02-16 04:58:47','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1172,2,'2014-02-16 04:59:56','2014-02-16 04:59:56','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that education of children would be a key long-term strategy in aiding and protecting the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful video about the school can be viewed here: <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg</a>.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, the article prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States that helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the B.L. Tezza Primary School for Orphans (<a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html</a>). Established as an annual fundraising effort for January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000ksh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more orphans, who were unable to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is supplying some residual donated funds to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas on what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire Secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from Nursery, through Primary and now into Secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive International schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by IGCSE standards. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, but also from England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that would rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature at Naisula. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, we Skype each week to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – what can be an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for an organization that would help foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about profit or non-profit corporation formations. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking schedule in development and looking for speakers interested in traveling to Naisula to address the school directly);</li>\r\n	<li>Donations or discounted park fees for National Park or other sanctuary visits;</li>\r\n	<li>Junior high or high school classroom or classrooms in the US that might be interested in connecting and partnering with our group endeavor;</li>\r\n	<li>Any ideas or other items you might feel is pertinent for our group to learn, understand or have.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to 2 of the Naisula scholarship students from MWCT, Lazarus and Valentine, last week during our weekly Skype session with the group. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us in this incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is appropriate to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids. And I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 04:59:56','2014-02-16 04:59:56','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1175,2,'2014-02-16 14:18:05','2014-02-16 14:18:05','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L. Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior high or high school sister classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to have two of the Naisula scholarship students that were selected from Kanzi Academy, Lazarus and Valentine, join our group. I was finally able to meet them during our weekly Skype last week. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us as we move forward on an incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 14:18:05','2014-02-16 14:18:05','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1174,2,'2014-02-16 14:13:09','2014-02-16 14:13:09','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the B.L. Tezza Primary School for Orphans (<a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html</a>). Established as an annual fundraising effort for January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. And I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior high or high school sister classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to have two of the Naisula scholarship students that were selected from Kanzi Academy, Lazarus and Valentine, join our group. I was finally able to meet them during our weekly Skype last week. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us as we move forward on an incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 14:13:09','2014-02-16 14:13:09','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1176,2,'2014-02-16 14:18:53','2014-02-16 14:18:53','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior high or high school sister classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to have two of the Naisula scholarship students that were selected from Kanzi Academy, Lazarus and Valentine, join our group. I was finally able to meet them during our weekly Skype last week. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us as we move forward on an incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 14:18:53','2014-02-16 14:18:53','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1177,2,'2014-02-16 14:25:55','2014-02-16 14:25:55','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Graphic Design Services (Club Logo);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior high or high school sister classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the important meeting at Campi ya Kanzi definitely has come full circle. How special it was for me to have two of the Naisula scholarship students that were selected from Kanzi Academy, Lazarus and Valentine, join our group. I was finally able to meet them during our weekly Skype last week. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to support these two as they participate with us as we move forward on an incredible learning journey.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 14:25:55','2014-02-16 14:25:55','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1178,2,'2014-02-16 14:33:36','2014-02-16 14:33:36','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Graphic Design Services (Club Logo);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior high or high school sister classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy with the support of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and now because of Cecilia and Naisula School. Such a joy.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 14:33:36','2014-02-16 14:33:36','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1180,2,'2014-02-16 15:57:22','2014-02-16 15:57:22','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids to get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Graphic Design Services (Club Logo);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior High and/or High School Classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy with the support of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and now because of Cecilia and Naisula School. Such a joy.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 15:57:22','2014-02-16 15:57:22','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1179,2,'2014-02-16 15:56:43','2014-02-16 15:56:43','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing in sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids to get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>Graphic Design Services (Club Logo);</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior high or high school sister classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy with the support of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and now because of Cecilia and Naisula School. Such a joy.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 15:56:43','2014-02-16 15:56:43','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1181,2,'2014-02-16 21:26:57','2014-02-16 21:26:57','My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.\r\n\r\nWhile I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing and sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids to get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>An Illustrator or Graphic Designer to Help Us Create Important Logos;</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior High and/or High School Classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy with the support of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and now because of Cecilia and Naisula School. Such a joy.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 21:26:57','2014-02-16 21:26:57','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1182,2,'2014-02-16 21:27:28','2014-02-16 21:27:28','<strong>My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>While I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.</strong>\r\n\r\nCecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.\r\n\r\nAmongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\nPatrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.\r\n\r\nOnce back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.\r\n\r\nOutside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.\r\n\r\nWorking with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”\r\n\r\nIn early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.\r\n\r\nIn December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.\r\n\r\nThis new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.\r\n\r\nIt all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate</strong>.\r\n\r\nIt was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.\r\n\r\nHaving the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.\r\n\r\nNaisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.\r\n\r\nAnd so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.\r\n\r\nAs an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.\r\n\r\nThe students became very quiet.\r\n\r\n“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”\r\n\r\nAnd they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.\r\n\r\nThis small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.\r\n\r\nThe group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:\r\n\r\nJunior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.\r\n\r\nWCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.\r\n\r\nAn informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWe have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</li>\r\n	<li>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</li>\r\n	<li>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</li>\r\n	<li>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing and sharing knowledge with the group;</li>\r\n	<li>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</li>\r\n	<li>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</li>\r\n	<li>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</li>\r\n	<li>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.\r\n\r\nInformation leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.\r\n\r\nIt is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?\r\n\r\nAs project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.\r\n\r\nIn addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids to get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIn December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Camera and Video Recorder;</li>\r\n	<li>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</li>\r\n	<li>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</li>\r\n	<li>An Illustrator or Graphic Designer to Help Us Create Important Logos;</li>\r\n	<li>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</li>\r\n	<li>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</li>\r\n	<li>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</li>\r\n	<li>U.S. Junior High and/or High School Classroom Participation;</li>\r\n	<li>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nLastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy with the support of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and now because of Cecilia and Naisula School. Such a joy.\r\n\r\nIt is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week.\r\n\r\nUntil next time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 21:27:28','2014-02-16 21:27:28','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1183,2,'2014-02-16 21:29:53','2014-02-16 21:29:53','<strong>My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>While I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Cecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Amongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Patrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Once back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Outside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Working with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Needless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>This new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>There are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Having the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Naisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>And so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The students became very quiet.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>And they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>This small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Junior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>WCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>An informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>We have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing and sharing knowledge with the group;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</strong></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>These are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Information leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI<strong> cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids to get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Camera and Video Recorder;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>An Illustrator or Graphic Designer to Help Us Create Important Logos;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>U.S. Junior High and/or High School Classroom Participation;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</strong></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Lastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy with the support of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and now because of Cecilia and Naisula School. Such a joy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Until next time.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 21:29:53','2014-02-16 21:29:53','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1184,2,'2014-02-16 21:31:02','2014-02-16 21:31:02','<strong>My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>While I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Cecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Amongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Patrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Once back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Outside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Working with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Needless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>This new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>There are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Having the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Naisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>And so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The students became very quiet.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>And they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>This small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Junior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>WCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>An informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>We have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing and sharing knowledge with the group;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</strong></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>These are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Information leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>I cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids to get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Camera and Video Recorder;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>An Illustrator or Graphic Designer to Help Us Create Important Logos;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>U.S. Junior High and/or High School Classroom Participation;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</strong></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Lastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy with the support of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and now because of Cecilia and Naisula School. Such a joy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Until next time.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 21:31:02','2014-02-16 21:31:02','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1185,2,'2014-02-16 21:33:49','2014-02-16 21:33:49','<strong>My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>While I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Cecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Amongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Patrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Once back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Outside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Working with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Needless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>This new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>There are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Having the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Naisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>And so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The students became very quiet.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>And they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>This small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Junior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>WCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>An informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>We have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing and sharing knowledge with the group;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</strong></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>These are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Information leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>I cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids to get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Camera and Video Recorder;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>An Illustrator or Graphic Designer to Help Us Create Important Logos;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>U.S. Junior High and/or High School Classroom Participation;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</strong></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Lastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy and MWCT. Now, we continue to move forward because of generous heart of Cecilia and the teachers of Naisula School. Such a joy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Until next time.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 21:33:49','2014-02-16 21:33:49','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1186,2,'2014-02-16 21:35:29','2014-02-16 21:35:29','<strong>My trip to Kenya last October presented me with many subtle nudges that the education of children would be a key long-term strategy to aid and protect the country\'s wildlife and the environment.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>While I had many important meetings during my trip, there was one at Campi ya Kanzi that was more important than I realized at the time. While there, I was fortunate to meet the founder and executive director of Naisula School along with a small but strategic group of the teachers. They had arrived at camp for just a couple of days to meet Antonella Bonomi, co-founder of <a href=\"http://www.maasai.com\">Campi ya Kanzi</a> along with her husband Luca Belpietro to learn more about the camp, The <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a>, to visit one of the schools and its classrooms, as well as take in a safari or two. In addition, the trip was a planning retreat for the group where important school objectives were discussed for the coming term.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"http://www.naisulaschool.com\">Naisula School</a> is a British curriculum-based, international Secondary boarding school that caters to both boys and girls. It is set on 25 acres in the serene plains of Maasailand near Kajiado, just 85 kilometers outside of Nairobi. The school is based upon the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education\">IGCSE</a> system of education and maintains a vision to educate its students to transform lives and communities. A wonderful <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47Df-8M5gg\">video</a> about Naisula and its approach is worth viewing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Cecilia Muchemi, Executive Director &amp; Founder had read a newspaper story about Antonella and her experiences in founding Campi ya Kanzi, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and Kanzi Academy for the gifted Maasai children. Impressed, it prompted Cecilia to donate three scholarships - sight unseen - to Naisula for students at Kanzi Academy. Two of the students, a boy Lazarus and girl Valentine, were already in attendance at Naisula when Cecilia and the teachers group visited the camp.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Amongst the group, one teacher named Patrick Rakiro stood out. Full of life and ideas, I found him to have many interesting perspectives into Kenya’s issues, children’s viewpoints and what steps may be necessary in order to create lasting change to protect the land and its wildlife.</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1136\" alt=\"SAM_4914\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SAM_4914.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Patrick discussed his experience growing up in an impoverished village in Kenya and how fortunate he was to be sponsored by a married couple in the United States who helped finance his education to completion. This experience helped him realize the importance to give back to the community in which he was raised and to also help other Kenyan children realize the same fate. I was moved by his story and his passion and we agreed to keep in touch to provide updates as we moved forward on our individual ideas and endeavors.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Once back at home, I began to receive emails from Patrick and learned many more interesting facts about his life and mission. At Naisula, Patrick teaches History and Geography and also participates with the school as the head of Curriculum Development/Implementation and Discipline, as a Boarding Master and a Class Teacher for the Year 9 students.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Outside of activities with the school, Patrick is a member of <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;v=-WPAfs9OnLM.\">Communicating Common Ground</a> (CCG), a service and learning program created by Dr. Eddah Mutua-Kombo, a professor from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. From early February to mid-April each year, a group of the university’s communications students meet every-other week with students from three high schools in the surrounding area to teach them about cultural understanding using dialogue techniques.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Working with the group, Patrick has written essays on “Kenyan Cultural Diversity” and the “African Traditional Way of Peace.” Both essays focus on research and reconciliation of the root causes of constant ethnic and tribal clashes in African contests. He is currently working on a third essay entitled “Oil in Turkana Kenya: Is It a Necessary Evil?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In early February, he was invited by CCG to address the group in a keynote speech via Skype on “Peace and Cultural Appreciation.” Humbled, he mentioned to me how wonderful it was to see so many students in the room.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In December and motivated by some of the topics we had discussed while we were at Campi ya Kanzi, Patrick founded “The Helping Hand Program” and set out to raise enough money to send approximately 50 students to Primary school at the <a href=\"http://www.karungu.net/tezza/tezzaen.html\">B.L.Tezza Primary School for Orphans</a>. Established as an annual fundraising effort each January, Patrick donated approximately $850,000 KSh (about $9,700 dollars) to the school last month and ensured that approximately 40 or more students, without funds to pay for this year’s tuition fees, were able to indeed go to school. This weekend, he is applying some last minute donations to pay for much-needed clothes and shoes for the children – something he wishes he had more time and money to accomplish for this year. Already, he has big ideas for what can be accomplished for next. I don\'t doubt that he will achieve them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164\" alt=\"Untitled\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Untitled.png\" width=\"900\" height=\"597\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Needless to say, Patrick is a man of manifest, a champion of change, and supporter and protector of the children and the natural world of Kenya. It is an honor that he believes in me as much as I believe in him. And now together, we have partnered on a project that seems have created something spectacular – a group of children who are empowered to create a change in the world around them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>This new project, called the “Wildlife Conservation Student Group” or WCSG, is a joint, collaborative effort between Patrick and myself that intends to inspire secondary age school children to defend and protect Kenya’s environment and wildlife.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It all started after Patrick had returned to Naisula from his trip to Campi ya Kanzi and he thought it might be interesting to poll his students with a strategic question. “Given a choice, which do you think is more important real estate or wildlife?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Most, if not all of the students, answered real estate.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It was a shocking revelation to Patrick (and of course to me when we discussed it) and at once he knew that wildlife deserved a place in the student’s curriculum. With much thought, he found an appropriate outlet in forming an after school club originally named the “Wildlife Group” and is now known as the WCSG after some strategy and planning around the group’s intentions.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>There are important points to make here. Naisula students are educated children. They are not considered kids that come from economically challenged families. And they are not impoverished kids from the bush unless they have received a scholarship. Most have attended formal schooling all the way from nursery, through primary and now into secondary school at Naisula. The school is ranked as one of the most expensive international schools (not by Kenyan standards) as well as a best performing and disciplined school by the IGCSE ratings. And it is truly an international group of students. Just within the WCSG, we have students from Kenya, England, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast. So remarkable it is to think that just one of these children could have an impact in one of these countries listed.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Having the experience to work directly with Naisula has taught me something very vital. It is simply not enough to send Kenya\'s (and the world\'s) children to school. We must also teach them about the value of wildlife and what that value brings not only to them as an individual, but also to the wealth of their community, their specific country as well as the the rest of the globe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Naisula is an excellent example of well-educated children from Kenya and different countries who were not yet fully aware of the value of the wildlife that surrounds them everyday and the critical threat to that wildlife that may rob them of their cultural heritage and for the Kenyan students, their natural birthright.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>And so because of this, Patrick and I have set out to help them understand the issues the land and animals are faced with and perhaps inspire them to do something to help.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As an exercise one day during a Skype call, I asked the children to look outside the classroom window and take in what they saw. Chances are there were zebra, ostriches, gazelle and other wild creatures within their view. I asked them to consider that most American children have to go to a zoo to see the animals that they were looking at right outside that window, and importantly, that these animals were currently in their natural environment. I clarified that many animals in America and in other places are behind bars, in cages, or are in enclosures that are not native to their genetic and natural understanding.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The students became very quiet.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>“I believe that every child in America would like to have what you have, the ability to look outside the window and see these animals freely roaming everyday.” I told them. “These animals need your wisdom, your energy and your care. They are yours to defend and protect, not only for yourselves, but also for your children and all of us around the world. Will you connect your hearts to your voices and speak for them?”</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>And they have answered that question with a resounding yes because indeed they have begun.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>This small after school club is growing so quickly and in such a short period of time. Just at the beginning of January, we had 9 students, then by mid-January, approximately 46 students, and now by mid-February, approximately 113 students with a word from Patrick that we have a few more to add.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The group is naturally forming leaders and sub-groups based on ages and understanding ability. We have been able to account for the students by school year as follows:</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Junior Group: Year 7 &amp; 8 (11-13 years of age) = 21 students; Year 9 (14-16 years of age) = approximately 60 students and now are largest group; and Senior Group: Year 10 &amp; 11 (17-18 years of age) = 32 students.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>WCSG is a Naisula School after school club under the direction of Patrick and myself along with help and assistance from our friend “Professor George” who teaches English and Literature. Professor George has proven himself not only a faithful attendee to our discussions, but also a miracle worker when it comes to our Internet connectivity needs. Many thanks are due to him for keeping all of us connected during our weekly Skype sessions.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>An informal pilot project, I Skype each week with the group to discuss assignments that are formulated and provided by me via email for the students and include videos, specific articles, materials or news stories. We also spend quite a bit of time conducting question and answer sessions together so that the students may ask and debate certain facts or ideas and concepts.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1280\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" alt=\"Patrick with members of WCSG\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140114_201849.jpeg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" /></a> Patrick with members of WCSG[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>We have already achieved some amazing milestones within less than two months:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Our group member numbers continue to increase each week as the children share their experiences and the importance of caring for wildlife with other students at the school;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>On a recent field trip, the students were quite concerned with encroachment of a real estate development within the limits of a sanctuary park they were visiting. This was key as these were the same students who had previously stated real estate was a priority for them;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Desire to participate in more field trips to garner more understanding of the issues Kenya faces;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Requests for industry experts to come to speak the group at Naisula. The group is also committed to promoting the speaking events to the remainder of the student population and help to guarantee an audience of approximately 160 children for those interested in discussing and sharing knowledge with the group;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Two of the students planned to visit national parks during this week’s mid-term break – one specifically mentioned wanting to go to The Sheldrick Trust mud-bath viewing to view the elephant orphans;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>One of our Senior group members has indicated that she intends to become a wildlife conservationist;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>They have a strong desire to create a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) after viewing the recent WildAid call to action videos for decreasing demand of rhino horn and elephant ivory in Asia.</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>We have secured our first wildlife conservationist speaker for March.</strong></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>These are very small and early milestones, but hugely important ones. They indicate the understanding of key pieces of information, how this information is relevant, and that the group is interested in learning much more. Importantly, we are at that critical juncture of taking awareness into action – an elusive step if not critically fueled by inspiration and conviction of beliefs.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Information leads to learning. Learning leads to awareness. Awareness leads to action. Action leads to change.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" alt=\"A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Best-moments.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> A fun moment on field trip to Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>I cannot begin to tell you how excited Patrick and I are about what these kids might do or how much more they will want to get involved. I can only say that it is best not to predict greatness because you might limit the result of what these kids can really do.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also very important to state that we are not imposing an agenda or global concept with these children about wildlife. Patrick and I are dedicated to presenting the facts, the news, actions of governments around the world, and the relevant statistics to the children and to ask them how they interpret that information. What do they conclude from it? What are the positive and negatives? What needs to be done? How can change be accomplished? How do they feel they can be involved and do they want to be?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As project leaders, we want to empower the children to have enough information so they can make their own informed decisions. And when they as a group make those decisions, to support their conclusions and the actions that they decide is important to take or perhaps not to take. This is not about getting a group of kids to do what we want them to do. It is about empowering these kids with the ability to understand important issues, take in all sides of an argument, make informed conclusions and then feel confident enough to take appropriate action if they choose to make a difference.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In addition, it is our job to connect the group with the people and organizations already making a difference and help to inspire these kids to get involved. How fortunate they are to be surrounded by some of the world’s top conservationists, photographers, political activists, and wildlife management organizations. They are indeed a very lucky group.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1150\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1150\" alt=\"Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Student-listening-to-Wildlife-lecture-.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Listening to Wildlife Lecture at Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In December of last year, I filed trademark applications for naming conventions with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an organization that would help fund and foster projects such as this. We are currently awaiting our approvals and once received, will be making decisions about our intended corporation status, both domestic and internationally. In the interim, our group indeed has a wish list and should you be able to help us with it, we would be so very grateful. Please contact me directly at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>. Asante sana!</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Camera and Video Recorder;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Laptop (with latest version of Windows 8) for our Kenya Project Leader;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Distance Learning Expert Kenya (technical setup and development);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>An Illustrator or Graphic Designer to Help Us Create Important Logos;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Video Production Company Kenya (PSA development);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Speakers and Speaking Topics (we currently have a speaking calendar of events and would like to add to it);</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Park Fee Donations/Discounts for National Park or other Sanctuary Visits;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>U.S. Junior High and/or High School Classroom Participation;</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Additional Ideas of Items of Choice.</strong></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Lastly, the fateful meeting at Campi ya Kanzi has come full circle. How special it was for me to have Lazarus and Valentine from Kanzi Academy join our group and I was able to meet them last week during our Skype session. Now part of our Juniors team, I feel honored to be able to build upon their foundation of knowledge of the environment and wildlife that they received while at Kanzi Academy and MWCT. Now, we are able to continue to move forward because of the generous heart of Cecilia and the support of the teachers of Naisula School. Such a joy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is fitting to close this post with the definition of Naisula which means “something beautiful” in local dialect. I believe we are in the midst of creating something quite beautiful with these kids and I look forward to sharing our progress with you as we grow each week. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Until next time.</strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1142\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1142\" alt=\"Paradise Lost (Kenya)\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fun-time-2.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" /></a> Paradise Lost (Kenya)[/caption]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','My First Project in Kenya: Naisula Wildlife Conservation Student Group','','inherit','open','open','','1135-revision-v1','','','2014-02-16 21:35:29','2014-02-16 21:35:29','',1135,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1135-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1187,2,'2014-02-21 14:12:18','2014-02-21 14:12:18','<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_alkhas.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1017\" alt=\"elizabeth_alkhas\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_alkhas-182x300.jpg\" width=\"182\" height=\"300\" /></a>In 2013, Elizabeth made it her mission to come to the aid of African wildlife. She is currently focused on the elephant poaching epidemic and its effects in Kenya.\r\n\r\nWith a knack for investigative research, she is focused on the key issues that enable poaching beyond the demand created from ivory consuming countries. Her blog is currently a fact-finding workbook where she documents the activities of a pilot education project with The Wildlife Conservation Student Group at Naisula International Secondary School in Kajiado, Kenya.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is a former public relations and marketing executive as well as a clinical practitioner in the field of alternative medicine.\r\n\r\nA native of Los Angeles, California, Elizabeth often traveled with her father, general purpose actor James Wainwright, while he worked in television and film in the late 60’s and early 1980’s. As a young girl, the experience of seeing two worlds – one on camera and one behind the scenes – was pivotal. It was an up-close view of the power of communication, and the interplay of words, images, messaging and perception. It also gave her first-hand experience and insight into privacy issues facing those in the public spotlight.\r\n\r\nAn undergraduate degree in Communications led to an award-winning career in advertising and public relations, where Elizabeth helped clients with awareness, strategic positioning and often served as corporate spokesperson.\r\n\r\nAfter many years working within both agency and corporate settings, and after founding her own successful boutique PR agency in San Diego, Elizabeth sensed that her passion and talents could be better utilized as a voice for humanitarian initiatives. While watching video of chimpanzee medical research testing, Elizabeth was devastated by what she saw and realized that her success in public relations strategy could make a difference in an area she had long cared about — animal welfare.\r\n\r\nElizabeth closed her business and returned to school, earning a Master of Science in Human Clinical Nutrition in 2008. The degree reflected her personal interest in health and nutrition, and for the next five years she maintained a private practice and apprenticed with a progressive MD for alternative and integrative medicine therapeutics. This path also provided her with a scientific foundation in biology and ecology, and greater insight into the connectivity between nutrition, healing, food and agriculture.\r\n\r\nIn 2013, a <i>60 Minutes</i> episode on the epidemic of elephant poaching in Africa stopped her in her tracks. She suddenly understood how her experiences, education and passionate nature could be of influence and fuel a dedication to making a positive impact.\r\n\r\nThat year, she committed herself to learning as much as possible about the African poaching epidemic. An astute researcher, she developed a blog to document the truths she uncovered. She also traveled to Kenya and learned first hand about the delicate balance that exists between the people of the region, private conservancies and government wildlife agencies. It was clear to Elizabeth that in order to honor and protect the area’s wildlife that the rights of the local communities also needed to be honored and protected.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is currently exploring strategic partnerships in Kenya dedicated to creating change. Some of the projects include advocacy and awareness campaigns, education programs and ready-to-wear fashion initiatives.\r\n\r\nIn addition, Elizabeth continues to augment her clinical nutrition expertise through her passion for Biological Farming and High Performance Agriculture. In extreme conditions such as Eastern Africa, this has the potential for improving grassland development for animals and for food production.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is a seeker of truth, and in the process, uncovers the interconnectivity of healing – whether it is the body, animals or the planet. She pays close attention to astrological and geocosmic influences and how these can impact the efforts she is involved in. She is dedicated to being an advocate for local, national, and international animal welfare organizations.\r\n\r\n<b>“Elizabeth is always looking for a better way, a clearer path, the cutting edge and the best methodology. Never satisfied with good enough, she reaches for the best she can do and is excellent in helping others do the same.”</b>\r\n\r\n<i>Marshall Lightner, Ph.D., Executive Coach and Author</i>\r\n\r\n<strong>As a Leader and Strategic Thinker:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Elizabeth sees the big picture that leads to a strategic perspective;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at researching, evaluating and synthesizing information;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to see patterns in the marketplace and then define strategic opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to inspire mutual agreement in complex situations and provide insights to reduce conflict;</li>\r\n	<li>Counseled C-level executives (CEO, COO, CFO) as well as at the Board of Director level (multiple private and publicly traded corporations within different industry segments);</li>\r\n	<li>Proven track record in positioning organizations for successful merger &amp; acquisition initiatives.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Entrepreneur and Business Owner:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Founded and led boutique high-tech public relations agency based in San Diego, named one of the fastest-growing firms in the region;</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the generation of $3.8 million in revenue in less than four years (sans start-up capital);</li>\r\n	<li>Managed all financial and client services aspects of the agency;</li>\r\n	<li>Developed innovative client results reporting methodology;</li>\r\n	<li>Supervised approximately 25 full, part-time and contract staff members;</li>\r\n	<li>Founded Clinical Nutrition practice providing in-depth personalized consultations and therapeutic protocols in an alternative medicine, clinical setting.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Philanthropist:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Deeply passionate about being of service;</li>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying organizations that are capable of creating significant change;</li>\r\n	<li>Believes that the best use of a donated dollar must always be considered and measurable results delivered;</li>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to finding ways to streamline efforts and seek collaboration in order to provide influential and cost-effective results;</li>\r\n	<li>Persuasive communicator about the value of humanitarian efforts to influence political and public opinion.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Advocate:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>A passion for providing a voice for those who have none;</li>\r\n	<li>A deep-seated concern for the welfare of domesticated animals and wildlife;</li>\r\n	<li>A firm believer in treating animals and humans with respect;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands the power of communicating the impact of real effort and results, not just another voice repeating the nature of the problem;</li>\r\n	<li>Strategic ability to research and identify key positioning opportunities within the wildlife conservation arena.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Spokesperson:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Poised and articulate in media interviews, on camera and in public speaking;</li>\r\n	<li>Experienced in crisis communication initiatives and requirements;</li>\r\n	<li>Served as producer and live on-air talent host for a healthy living segment for start-up home shopping network (weekly one-hour show);</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the highest grossing on-air sales segment that reached approximately five million households across five significant test markets.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Public Relations Professional:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying marketing, positioning and communication opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Takes the time to ask questions that lead to understanding about what a target audience actually thinks;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at communicating in a way that motivates and inspires key target audiences;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands how messaging impacts perception and fuels results;</li>\r\n	<li>Develops influential written works that motivate public and media opinion;</li>\r\n	<li>Created innovative domestic and international product &amp; company awareness campaigns supported by strategic media relations outreach;</li>\r\n	<li>Received the prestigious “Edward L. Bernays Bronze Mark of Excellence Award” for outstanding research and evaluation tactics developed for the commercial real estate industry.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist and Educator:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to uncovering the truth in the field of nutrition, health and healing;</li>\r\n	<li>Inspired clients to implement lifestyle changes that transformed their quality of life;</li>\r\n	<li>In addition to Clinical Nutrition expertise, apprenticed as an alternative medicine practitioner;</li>\r\n	<li>Well versed in conventional, alternative and energetic healing modalities;</li>\r\n	<li>Expert in numerous topics including the role of environmental and infectious agents on the immune system; the impact of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and organic, sustainable foods within the food chain and human body; and the need for increased humane treatment and monitoring in animal agriculture;</li>\r\n	<li>Well attuned to the interconnectivity between nutrition, agriculture and animal welfare.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nElizabeth lives in San Diego with her husband and two shelter rescue dogs, Bogie and Jack. She can be reached via email at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>.','About Elizabeth Wainwright Alkhas','','inherit','open','open','','2-revision-v1','','','2014-02-21 14:12:18','2014-02-21 14:12:18','',2,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/2-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1237,2,'2014-04-04 18:32:40','2014-04-04 18:32:40','','header','','inherit','open','open','','header','','','2014-04-04 18:32:40','2014-04-04 18:32:40','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/header.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1238,2,'2014-04-05 00:05:15','2014-04-05 00:05:15','','Screen shot 2014-04-04 at 4.08.41 PM','','inherit','open','open','','screen-shot-2014-04-04-at-4-08-41-pm','','','2014-04-05 00:05:15','2014-04-05 00:05:15','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screen-shot-2014-04-04-at-4.08.41-PM.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(1239,2,'2014-04-05 00:09:11','2014-04-05 00:09:11','','buttons','','inherit','open','open','','buttons','','','2014-04-05 00:09:11','2014-04-05 00:09:11','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/buttons.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1240,2,'2014-04-08 02:08:34','2014-04-08 02:08:34','','ELIZABETH-HEADER','','inherit','open','open','','elizabeth-header','','','2014-04-08 02:08:34','2014-04-08 02:08:34','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ELIZABETH-HEADER.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1241,2,'2014-04-08 02:18:28','2014-04-08 02:18:28','','ELIZABETH-HEADER2','','inherit','open','open','','elizabeth-header2','','','2014-04-08 02:18:28','2014-04-08 02:18:28','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ELIZABETH-HEADER2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1242,2,'2014-04-08 03:09:00','2014-04-08 03:09:00','','ELIZABETH-HEADER3','','inherit','open','open','','elizabeth-header3','','','2014-04-08 03:09:00','2014-04-08 03:09:00','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ELIZABETH-HEADER3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1243,2,'2014-04-09 19:48:15','2014-04-09 19:48:15','It takes more than a great idea to help make a difference in Africa. You need to be better than smart, you need to be shrewd. Know your market, know your limiting factors and know your end user. Simple, but powerful strategic planning can make the difference between just creating excitement about your endeavor and the impact of real results. The following article from Forbes really inspired me to remember to deploy all of the strategic marketing tools that I know work.\r\n\r\n\"When our colleagues studied 439 market-based solutions in Africa, they found that a mere 13% of them had achieved significant scale.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/\">http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/</a>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo: <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org/?gclid=CIjb_uKX1L0CFcqUfgodZUQAvw\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a></em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Better Than Smart.','','publish','open','open','','better-smart','','','2014-04-09 19:56:06','2014-04-09 19:56:06','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/?p=1243',0,'post','',2),(1244,2,'2014-04-09 19:45:38','2014-04-09 19:45:38','','1604738_373552412786198_476049750_n','Photo: Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust','inherit','open','open','','1604738_373552412786198_476049750_n','','','2014-04-09 19:45:38','2014-04-09 19:45:38','',1243,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1604738_373552412786198_476049750_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1245,2,'2014-04-09 19:48:15','2014-04-09 19:48:15','It takes more than a great idea to help make a difference in Africa. You need to be better than smart, you need to be shrewd. Know your market, know your limiting factors and know your end user. Simple, but powerful strategic planning can make the difference between just creating excitement about your endeavor and the impact of real results.\r\n\r\nThe following article from Forbes really inspired me to do it right.\r\n\r\n\"When our colleagues studied 439 market-based solutions in Africa, they found that a mere 13% of them had achieved significant scale.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/\">http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/</a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Better Than Smart.','','inherit','open','open','','1243-revision-v1','','','2014-04-09 19:48:15','2014-04-09 19:48:15','',1243,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1243-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1246,2,'2014-04-09 19:49:54','2014-04-09 19:49:54','It takes more than a great idea to help make a difference in Africa. You need to be better than smart, you need to be shrewd. Know your market, know your limiting factors and know your end user. Simple, but powerful strategic planning can make the difference between just creating excitement about your endeavor and the impact of real results. The following article from Forbes really inspired me to do it right.\r\n\r\n\"When our colleagues studied 439 market-based solutions in Africa, they found that a mere 13% of them had achieved significant scale.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/\">http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/</a>\r\n\r\nPhoto: Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Better Than Smart.','','inherit','open','open','','1243-revision-v1','','','2014-04-09 19:49:54','2014-04-09 19:49:54','',1243,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1243-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1247,2,'2014-04-09 19:55:26','2014-04-09 19:55:26','It takes more than a great idea to help make a difference in Africa. You need to be better than smart, you need to be shrewd. Know your market, know your limiting factors and know your end user. Simple, but powerful strategic planning can make the difference between just creating excitement about your endeavor and the impact of real results. The following article from Forbes really inspired me to remember to deploy all of the strategic marketing tools that I know work.\n\n\"When our colleagues studied 439 market-based solutions in Africa, they found that a mere 13% of them had achieved significant scale.\"\n\n<a href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/\">http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/</a>\n\nPhoto: Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Better Than Smart.','','inherit','open','open','','1243-autosave-v1','','','2014-04-09 19:55:26','2014-04-09 19:55:26','',1243,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1243-autosave-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1248,2,'2014-04-09 19:56:06','2014-04-09 19:56:06','It takes more than a great idea to help make a difference in Africa. You need to be better than smart, you need to be shrewd. Know your market, know your limiting factors and know your end user. Simple, but powerful strategic planning can make the difference between just creating excitement about your endeavor and the impact of real results. The following article from Forbes really inspired me to remember to deploy all of the strategic marketing tools that I know work.\r\n\r\n\"When our colleagues studied 439 market-based solutions in Africa, they found that a mere 13% of them had achieved significant scale.\"\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/\">http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2014/04/08/can-social-enterprises-really-solve-poverty/</a>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo: <a href=\"http://www.maasaiwilderness.org/?gclid=CIjb_uKX1L0CFcqUfgodZUQAvw\">Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust</a></em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Better Than Smart.','','inherit','open','open','','1243-revision-v1','','','2014-04-09 19:56:06','2014-04-09 19:56:06','',1243,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1243-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1214,2,'2014-03-12 01:15:17','2014-03-12 01:15:17','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. To be examined at this time are the repercussions for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Also critical is that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can be sold without guarantee of funds supporting conservation. This also fuels demand of an illegal industry responsible for critical number reductions of the species currently in multiple African Range States. This is the long-term \"animal\" much larger than any one you would find on a typical hunting day experience. Something you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for an \"experience\" or \"bucket list\" that generates income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what might you tell your children and other children when perhaps the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment you realize you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right?','','publish','open','open','','whats-right','','','2014-03-12 13:11:30','2014-03-12 13:11:30','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/?p=1214',0,'post','',2),(1196,2,'2014-03-03 14:58:38','2014-03-03 14:58:38','<strong>In honor of <a href=\"http://www.wildlifeday.org\">World Wildlife Day</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.kws.org\">Kenya Wildlife Service</a>, I will be posting some of the essays from our <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group</a> project in Kajiado, Kenya. The first essay is included below and is written by two of our Year 10 students. I am so inspired and moved by these words. There is such hope for the future with these children\'s voices reaching out into the world today.</strong>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>SAVE THEM, SAVE OUR FUTURE.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>An Essay by Wanderi Kariuki (16 years) &amp; Ivy Chebet (15 years)</strong></p>\r\n<strong>Whenever one hears of the African plains, a common picture instantly comes to mind. One imagines beautiful wide-open spaces. One visualizes extensive grass plains being blown back and forth by the cool African breeze, wildlife grazing freely and intermingling amongst one another. This is the pride of Africans.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>From the enormous elephants to the little birds, from the crocodiles in the water to the vultures in the air, the African plains are littered with diversity of wildlife. This is one of the reasons the African plains are so amazing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>To whom much is given, much is expected; therefore we must do our part in the conservation of our beautiful African wildlife. Be it in a small or big way, let us do our part in nurturing a loving towards preservation of wildlife. Since we co-exist with one another, African people should do their best to ensure the safety of African wildlife. If we are able to achieve this dream we are sharing, our children and grandchildren will be able to admire the wildlife we see today. Let us aim to leave a positive legacy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>We ask you, do you want to be remembered as the generation that cleared out the entire wildlife, or be the heroes that fought to preserve the animal population. This we leave up to you to decide, but as for us, our ambition is clear, since our wildlife is part of our heritage, we shall make it our responsibility to see that it survives in the way that nature intended.</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Essays & World Wildlife Day.','','publish','open','open','','essays-kenyas-kids-world-wildlife-day','','','2014-03-03 18:04:44','2014-03-03 18:04:44','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/?p=1196',0,'post','',1),(1197,2,'2014-03-03 14:58:38','2014-03-03 14:58:38','<strong>In honor of <a href=\"http://www.wildlifeday.org\">World Wildlife Day</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.kws.org\">Kenya Wildlife Service</a>, I will be posting some of the essays from our <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group</a> project in Kajiado, Kenya. The first essay is included below and is written by two of our Year 10 students. I am so inspired and moved by these words. There is such hope for the future with these children\'s voices reaching out into the world today.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>OUR WILDLIFE, MY RESPONSIBILITY, MY HERITAGE.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>An Essay by Wanderi Kariuki (16 years) &amp; Ivy Chebet (15 years)</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>\"Whenever one hears of the African plains, a common picture instantly comes to mind. One imagines beautiful wide-open spaces. One visualizes extensive grass plains being blown back and forth by the cool African breeze, wildlife grazing freely and intermingling amongst one another. This is the pride of Africans.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>From the enormous elephants to the little birds, from the crocodiles in the water to the vultures in the air, the African plains are littered with diversity of wildlife. This is one of the reasons the African plains are so amazing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>To whom much is given, much is expected; therefore we must do our part in the conservation of our beautiful African wildlife. Be it in a small or big way, let us do our part in nurturing a loving towards preservation of wildlife. Since we co-exist with one another, African people should do their best to ensure the safety of African wildlife. If we are able to achieve this dream we are sharing, our children and grandchildren will be able to admire the wildlife we see today. Let us aim to leave a positive legacy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>We ask you, do you want to be remembered as the generation that cleared out the entire wildlife, or be the heroes that fought to preserve the animal population. This we leave up to you to decide, but as for us, our ambition is clear, since our wildlife is part of our heritage, we shall make it our responsibility to see that it survives in the way that nature intended.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>\"Save Them, Save Our Future.\"</strong>','Essays from Kenya’s Kids & World Wildlife Day.','','inherit','open','open','','1196-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 14:58:38','2014-03-03 14:58:38','',1196,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1196-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1198,2,'2014-03-03 15:52:37','2014-03-03 15:52:37','<strong>In honor of <a href=\"http://www.wildlifeday.org\">World Wildlife Day</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.kws.org\">Kenya Wildlife Service</a>, I will be posting some of the essays from our <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group</a> project in Kajiado, Kenya. The first essay is included below and is written by two of our Year 10 students. I am so inspired and moved by these words. There is such hope for the future with these children\'s voices reaching out into the world today.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>OUR WILDLIFE, MY RESPONSIBILITY, MY HERITAGE.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>An Essay by Wanderi Kariuki (16 years) &amp; Ivy Chebet (15 years)</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>\"Whenever one hears of the African plains, a common picture instantly comes to mind. One imagines beautiful wide-open spaces. One visualizes extensive grass plains being blown back and forth by the cool African breeze, wildlife grazing freely and intermingling amongst one another. This is the pride of Africans.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>From the enormous elephants to the little birds, from the crocodiles in the water to the vultures in the air, the African plains are littered with diversity of wildlife. This is one of the reasons the African plains are so amazing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>To whom much is given, much is expected; therefore we must do our part in the conservation of our beautiful African wildlife. Be it in a small or big way, let us do our part in nurturing a loving towards preservation of wildlife. Since we co-exist with one another, African people should do their best to ensure the safety of African wildlife. If we are able to achieve this dream we are sharing, our children and grandchildren will be able to admire the wildlife we see today. Let us aim to leave a positive legacy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>We ask you, do you want to be remembered as the generation that cleared out the entire wildlife, or be the heroes that fought to preserve the animal population. This we leave up to you to decide, but as for us, our ambition is clear, since our wildlife is part of our heritage, we shall make it our responsibility to see that it survives in the way that nature intended.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>\"Save Them, Save Our Future.\"</strong>','Essays & World Wildlife Day.','','inherit','open','open','','1196-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 15:52:37','2014-03-03 15:52:37','',1196,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1196-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1199,2,'2014-03-03 15:58:33','2014-03-03 15:58:33','<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>An Essay by Makena Muriuki (15 years) &amp; Zanelle Wanja (15)</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong></strong><strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group - Naisula International School Kenya</a></strong></p>\r\n<strong>Wildlife is the most precious gift we have. They are living, like us. They are dependent on their kind, like us. Most of all, they are an important part of life just like us. Wildlife is not only a gift we have been given but our heritage and most definitely our responsibility. As the saying goes, with wisdom comes responsibility. We as humans were gifted with the ability to recognize what is needed from us and what is expected of us.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Since the beginning of time, it has been man’s responsibility to care for nature and wildlife in ways they cannot care for themselves. This is through conservation efforts which should be the initiative of every single person. In the past 32 years alone, Kenya has lost over 44% of its total wildlife. This has been due to failure in policy making and keeping, lack of institutional responsibility and market failure. We cannot however blame this all on the people and organizations that have been put in place to be responsible but on that one person it always comes down to. It may be a large initiative but it is always a personal choice at the beginning.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>When one chooses to become a poacher and kill an innocent, beautiful animal that is their choice, yet again it is the same person’s choice to reform themselves and protect the species they once hunted. A reformed poacher in Kenya who had a career in poaching for more than 10 years and killed over 300 elephants has become one of the most established protectors of wildlife in his community. Like most people should, he realized the importance of wildlife, not only in terms of our economy but also our national heritage.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As it has always been, wildlife and nature are Kenya’s heritage, Africa’s heritage. It is the one thing that cannot and will not be taken away from us, unless we allow it. We are the ones who are responsible for what we allow on our land. We cannot comprehend the fact that more people kill animals than animals do people. How is it right to think that one of our lives is more important than an animals? That is not right and will never be. No one should allow the murder of an animal because they want to earn money or prestige. If you want something for yourself then do it justly and honestly! If you don’t know how than think about it like this, is a life worth what I want for myself? That is, a whole life, one that is carefully created and conceived and a life that cannot be replaced or forgotten. You may think that they are not one of your own so you do not have to care for them, but they are your own and you do have to care! They are part of their families life and they feel loss just like we do, pain like we do and most of all, the crime of one being taken away from them in the most evil vicious manner of all.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In order for us to avoid this heartache for not only the animals but ourselves, it is my responsibility, your responsibility, our responsibility to care and conserve our wildlife. We do this by looking out for them and implementing laws that will protect them. Keep our parks protected and be vigilant about the conservation of our animals. The way a mother looks after their child and a brother after his sister, we should and must look after our wildlife. They cannot protect themselves from our kind, or there would be a lot more wildlife, so it is our job to be there for them. To make sure that our kind does not destroy theirs. As we said, we are not more important than animals are and we will never be.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong> </strong>','Our Wildlife, My Responsibility, My Heritage.','','publish','open','open','','wildlife-responsibility-heritage','','','2014-03-03 18:05:05','2014-03-03 18:05:05','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/?p=1199',0,'post','',1),(1200,2,'2014-03-03 15:57:07','2014-03-03 15:57:07','','1794785_591022517653905_677221956_n','','inherit','open','open','','1794785_591022517653905_677221956_n','','','2014-03-03 15:57:07','2014-03-03 15:57:07','',1199,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/1794785_591022517653905_677221956_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1201,2,'2014-03-03 15:58:33','2014-03-03 15:58:33','<strong>An Essay by Makena Muriuki (15 years) &amp; Zanelle Wanija (15)</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group - Naisula International School Kenya</a></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>\"Wildlife is the most precious gift we have. They are living, like us. They are dependent on their kind, like us. Most of all, they are an important part of life just like us. Wildlife is not only a gift we have been given but our heritage and most definitely our responsibility. As the saying goes, with wisdom comes responsibility. We as humans were gifted with the ability to recognize what is needed from us and what is expected of us.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Since the beginning of time, it has been man’s responsibility to care for nature and wildlife in ways they cannot care for themselves. This is through conservation efforts which should be the initiative of every single person. In the past 32 years alone, Kenya has lost over 44% of its total wildlife. This has been due to failure in policy making and keeping, lack of institutional responsibility and market failure. We cannot however blame this all on the people and organizations that have been put in place to be responsible but on that one person it always comes down to. It may be a large initiative but it is always a personal choice at the beginning.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>When one chooses to become a poacher and kill an innocent, beautiful animal that is their choice, yet again it is the same person’s choice to reform themselves and protect the species they once hunted. A reformed poacher in Kenya who had a career in poaching for more than 10 years and killed over 300 elephants has become one of the most established protectors of wildlife in his community. Like most people should, he realized the importance of wildlife, not only in terms of our economy but also our national heritage.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As it has always been, wildlife and nature are Kenya’s heritage, Africa’s heritage. It is the one thing that cannot and will not be taken away from us, unless we allow it. We are the ones who are responsible for what we allow on our land. We cannot comprehend the fact that more people kill animals than animals do people. How is it right to think that one of our lives is more important than an animals? That is not right and will never be. No one should allow the murder of an animal because they want to earn money or prestige. If you want something for yourself then do it justly and honestly! If you don’t know how than think about it like this, is a life worth what I want for myself? That is, a whole life, one that is carefully created and conceived and a life that cannot be replaced or forgotten. You may think that they are not one of your own so you do not have to care for them, but they are your own and you do have to care! They are part of their families life and they feel loss just like we do, pain like we do and most of all, the crime of one being taken away from them in the most evil vicious manner of all.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In order for us to avoid this heartache for not only the animals but ourselves, it is my responsibility, your responsibility, our responsibility to care and conserve our wildlife. We do this by looking out for them and implementing laws that will protect them. Keep our parks protected and be vigilant about the conservation of our animals. The way a mother looks after their child and a brother after his sister, we should and must look after our wildlife. They cannot protect themselves from our kind, or there would be a lot more wildlife, so it is our job to be there for them. To make sure that our kind does not destroy theirs. As we said, we are not more important than animals are and we will never be.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>\"OUR WILDLIFE, MY RESPONSIBILITY, MY HERITAGE.\"</strong>','Our Wildlife, My Responsibility, My Heritage.','','inherit','open','open','','1199-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 15:58:33','2014-03-03 15:58:33','',1199,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1199-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1202,2,'2014-03-03 15:59:58','2014-03-03 15:59:58','<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>An Essay by Makena Muriuki (15 years) &amp; Zanelle Wanija (15)</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong></strong><strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group - Naisula International School Kenya</a></strong></p>\r\n<strong>\"Wildlife is the most precious gift we have. They are living, like us. They are dependent on their kind, like us. Most of all, they are an important part of life just like us. Wildlife is not only a gift we have been given but our heritage and most definitely our responsibility. As the saying goes, with wisdom comes responsibility. We as humans were gifted with the ability to recognize what is needed from us and what is expected of us.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Since the beginning of time, it has been man’s responsibility to care for nature and wildlife in ways they cannot care for themselves. This is through conservation efforts which should be the initiative of every single person. In the past 32 years alone, Kenya has lost over 44% of its total wildlife. This has been due to failure in policy making and keeping, lack of institutional responsibility and market failure. We cannot however blame this all on the people and organizations that have been put in place to be responsible but on that one person it always comes down to. It may be a large initiative but it is always a personal choice at the beginning.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>When one chooses to become a poacher and kill an innocent, beautiful animal that is their choice, yet again it is the same person’s choice to reform themselves and protect the species they once hunted. A reformed poacher in Kenya who had a career in poaching for more than 10 years and killed over 300 elephants has become one of the most established protectors of wildlife in his community. Like most people should, he realized the importance of wildlife, not only in terms of our economy but also our national heritage.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As it has always been, wildlife and nature are Kenya’s heritage, Africa’s heritage. It is the one thing that cannot and will not be taken away from us, unless we allow it. We are the ones who are responsible for what we allow on our land. We cannot comprehend the fact that more people kill animals than animals do people. How is it right to think that one of our lives is more important than an animals? That is not right and will never be. No one should allow the murder of an animal because they want to earn money or prestige. If you want something for yourself then do it justly and honestly! If you don’t know how than think about it like this, is a life worth what I want for myself? That is, a whole life, one that is carefully created and conceived and a life that cannot be replaced or forgotten. You may think that they are not one of your own so you do not have to care for them, but they are your own and you do have to care! They are part of their families life and they feel loss just like we do, pain like we do and most of all, the crime of one being taken away from them in the most evil vicious manner of all.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In order for us to avoid this heartache for not only the animals but ourselves, it is my responsibility, your responsibility, our responsibility to care and conserve our wildlife. We do this by looking out for them and implementing laws that will protect them. Keep our parks protected and be vigilant about the conservation of our animals. The way a mother looks after their child and a brother after his sister, we should and must look after our wildlife. They cannot protect themselves from our kind, or there would be a lot more wildlife, so it is our job to be there for them. To make sure that our kind does not destroy theirs. As we said, we are not more important than animals are and we will never be.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong> </strong>','Our Wildlife, My Responsibility, My Heritage.','','inherit','open','open','','1199-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 15:59:58','2014-03-03 15:59:58','',1199,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1199-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1203,2,'2014-03-03 16:03:09','2014-03-03 16:03:09','<strong>In honor of <a href=\"http://www.wildlifeday.org\">World Wildlife Day</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.kws.org\">Kenya Wildlife Service</a>, I will be posting some of the essays from our <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group</a> project in Kajiado, Kenya. The first essay is included below and is written by two of our Year 10 students. I am so inspired and moved by these words. There is such hope for the future with these children\'s voices reaching out into the world today.</strong>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Save Them, Save Our Future.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>An Essay by Wanderi Kariuki (16 years) &amp; Ivy Chebet (15 years)</strong></p>\r\n<strong>\"Whenever one hears of the African plains, a common picture instantly comes to mind. One imagines beautiful wide-open spaces. One visualizes extensive grass plains being blown back and forth by the cool African breeze, wildlife grazing freely and intermingling amongst one another. This is the pride of Africans.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>From the enormous elephants to the little birds, from the crocodiles in the water to the vultures in the air, the African plains are littered with diversity of wildlife. This is one of the reasons the African plains are so amazing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>To whom much is given, much is expected; therefore we must do our part in the conservation of our beautiful African wildlife. Be it in a small or big way, let us do our part in nurturing a loving towards preservation of wildlife. Since we co-exist with one another, African people should do their best to ensure the safety of African wildlife. If we are able to achieve this dream we are sharing, our children and grandchildren will be able to admire the wildlife we see today. Let us aim to leave a positive legacy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>We ask you, do you want to be remembered as the generation that cleared out the entire wildlife, or be the heroes that fought to preserve the animal population. This we leave up to you to decide, but as for us, our ambition is clear, since our wildlife is part of our heritage, we shall make it our responsibility to see that it survives in the way that nature intended.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Essays & World Wildlife Day.','','inherit','open','open','','1196-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 16:03:09','2014-03-03 16:03:09','',1196,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1196-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1204,2,'2014-03-03 16:04:07','2014-03-03 16:04:07','<strong>In honor of <a href=\"http://www.wildlifeday.org\">World Wildlife Day</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.kws.org\">Kenya Wildlife Service</a>, I will be posting some of the essays from our <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group</a> project in Kajiado, Kenya. The first essay is included below and is written by two of our Year 10 students. I am so inspired and moved by these words. There is such hope for the future with these children\'s voices reaching out into the world today.</strong>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Save Them, Save Our Future.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>An Essay by Wanderi Kariuki (16 years) &amp; Ivy Chebet (15 years)</strong></p>\r\n<strong>Whenever one hears of the African plains, a common picture instantly comes to mind. One imagines beautiful wide-open spaces. One visualizes extensive grass plains being blown back and forth by the cool African breeze, wildlife grazing freely and intermingling amongst one another. This is the pride of Africans.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>From the enormous elephants to the little birds, from the crocodiles in the water to the vultures in the air, the African plains are littered with diversity of wildlife. This is one of the reasons the African plains are so amazing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>To whom much is given, much is expected; therefore we must do our part in the conservation of our beautiful African wildlife. Be it in a small or big way, let us do our part in nurturing a loving towards preservation of wildlife. Since we co-exist with one another, African people should do their best to ensure the safety of African wildlife. If we are able to achieve this dream we are sharing, our children and grandchildren will be able to admire the wildlife we see today. Let us aim to leave a positive legacy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>We ask you, do you want to be remembered as the generation that cleared out the entire wildlife, or be the heroes that fought to preserve the animal population. This we leave up to you to decide, but as for us, our ambition is clear, since our wildlife is part of our heritage, we shall make it our responsibility to see that it survives in the way that nature intended.</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Essays & World Wildlife Day.','','inherit','open','open','','1196-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 16:04:07','2014-03-03 16:04:07','',1196,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1196-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1205,2,'2014-03-03 16:04:54','2014-03-03 16:04:54','<strong>In honor of <a href=\"http://www.wildlifeday.org\">World Wildlife Day</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.kws.org\">Kenya Wildlife Service</a>, I will be posting some of the essays from our <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group</a> project in Kajiado, Kenya. The first essay is included below and is written by two of our Year 10 students. I am so inspired and moved by these words. There is such hope for the future with these children\'s voices reaching out into the world today.</strong>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>SAVE THEM, SAVE OUR FUTURE.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>An Essay by Wanderi Kariuki (16 years) &amp; Ivy Chebet (15 years)</strong></p>\r\n<strong>Whenever one hears of the African plains, a common picture instantly comes to mind. One imagines beautiful wide-open spaces. One visualizes extensive grass plains being blown back and forth by the cool African breeze, wildlife grazing freely and intermingling amongst one another. This is the pride of Africans.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>From the enormous elephants to the little birds, from the crocodiles in the water to the vultures in the air, the African plains are littered with diversity of wildlife. This is one of the reasons the African plains are so amazing.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>To whom much is given, much is expected; therefore we must do our part in the conservation of our beautiful African wildlife. Be it in a small or big way, let us do our part in nurturing a loving towards preservation of wildlife. Since we co-exist with one another, African people should do their best to ensure the safety of African wildlife. If we are able to achieve this dream we are sharing, our children and grandchildren will be able to admire the wildlife we see today. Let us aim to leave a positive legacy.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>We ask you, do you want to be remembered as the generation that cleared out the entire wildlife, or be the heroes that fought to preserve the animal population. This we leave up to you to decide, but as for us, our ambition is clear, since our wildlife is part of our heritage, we shall make it our responsibility to see that it survives in the way that nature intended.</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Essays & World Wildlife Day.','','inherit','open','open','','1196-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 16:04:54','2014-03-03 16:04:54','',1196,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1196-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1206,2,'2014-03-03 16:05:50','2014-03-03 16:05:50','<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>An Essay by Makena Muriuki (15 years) &amp; Zanelle Wanija (15)</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong></strong><strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group - Naisula International School Kenya</a></strong></p>\r\n<strong>Wildlife is the most precious gift we have. They are living, like us. They are dependent on their kind, like us. Most of all, they are an important part of life just like us. Wildlife is not only a gift we have been given but our heritage and most definitely our responsibility. As the saying goes, with wisdom comes responsibility. We as humans were gifted with the ability to recognize what is needed from us and what is expected of us.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Since the beginning of time, it has been man’s responsibility to care for nature and wildlife in ways they cannot care for themselves. This is through conservation efforts which should be the initiative of every single person. In the past 32 years alone, Kenya has lost over 44% of its total wildlife. This has been due to failure in policy making and keeping, lack of institutional responsibility and market failure. We cannot however blame this all on the people and organizations that have been put in place to be responsible but on that one person it always comes down to. It may be a large initiative but it is always a personal choice at the beginning.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>When one chooses to become a poacher and kill an innocent, beautiful animal that is their choice, yet again it is the same person’s choice to reform themselves and protect the species they once hunted. A reformed poacher in Kenya who had a career in poaching for more than 10 years and killed over 300 elephants has become one of the most established protectors of wildlife in his community. Like most people should, he realized the importance of wildlife, not only in terms of our economy but also our national heritage.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As it has always been, wildlife and nature are Kenya’s heritage, Africa’s heritage. It is the one thing that cannot and will not be taken away from us, unless we allow it. We are the ones who are responsible for what we allow on our land. We cannot comprehend the fact that more people kill animals than animals do people. How is it right to think that one of our lives is more important than an animals? That is not right and will never be. No one should allow the murder of an animal because they want to earn money or prestige. If you want something for yourself then do it justly and honestly! If you don’t know how than think about it like this, is a life worth what I want for myself? That is, a whole life, one that is carefully created and conceived and a life that cannot be replaced or forgotten. You may think that they are not one of your own so you do not have to care for them, but they are your own and you do have to care! They are part of their families life and they feel loss just like we do, pain like we do and most of all, the crime of one being taken away from them in the most evil vicious manner of all.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In order for us to avoid this heartache for not only the animals but ourselves, it is my responsibility, your responsibility, our responsibility to care and conserve our wildlife. We do this by looking out for them and implementing laws that will protect them. Keep our parks protected and be vigilant about the conservation of our animals. The way a mother looks after their child and a brother after his sister, we should and must look after our wildlife. They cannot protect themselves from our kind, or there would be a lot more wildlife, so it is our job to be there for them. To make sure that our kind does not destroy theirs. As we said, we are not more important than animals are and we will never be.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong> </strong>','Our Wildlife, My Responsibility, My Heritage.','','inherit','open','open','','1199-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 16:05:50','2014-03-03 16:05:50','',1199,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1199-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1207,2,'2014-03-03 18:05:05','2014-03-03 18:05:05','<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>An Essay by Makena Muriuki (15 years) &amp; Zanelle Wanja (15)</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong></strong><strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">Wildlife Conservation Student Group - Naisula International School Kenya</a></strong></p>\r\n<strong>Wildlife is the most precious gift we have. They are living, like us. They are dependent on their kind, like us. Most of all, they are an important part of life just like us. Wildlife is not only a gift we have been given but our heritage and most definitely our responsibility. As the saying goes, with wisdom comes responsibility. We as humans were gifted with the ability to recognize what is needed from us and what is expected of us.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Since the beginning of time, it has been man’s responsibility to care for nature and wildlife in ways they cannot care for themselves. This is through conservation efforts which should be the initiative of every single person. In the past 32 years alone, Kenya has lost over 44% of its total wildlife. This has been due to failure in policy making and keeping, lack of institutional responsibility and market failure. We cannot however blame this all on the people and organizations that have been put in place to be responsible but on that one person it always comes down to. It may be a large initiative but it is always a personal choice at the beginning.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>When one chooses to become a poacher and kill an innocent, beautiful animal that is their choice, yet again it is the same person’s choice to reform themselves and protect the species they once hunted. A reformed poacher in Kenya who had a career in poaching for more than 10 years and killed over 300 elephants has become one of the most established protectors of wildlife in his community. Like most people should, he realized the importance of wildlife, not only in terms of our economy but also our national heritage.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>As it has always been, wildlife and nature are Kenya’s heritage, Africa’s heritage. It is the one thing that cannot and will not be taken away from us, unless we allow it. We are the ones who are responsible for what we allow on our land. We cannot comprehend the fact that more people kill animals than animals do people. How is it right to think that one of our lives is more important than an animals? That is not right and will never be. No one should allow the murder of an animal because they want to earn money or prestige. If you want something for yourself then do it justly and honestly! If you don’t know how than think about it like this, is a life worth what I want for myself? That is, a whole life, one that is carefully created and conceived and a life that cannot be replaced or forgotten. You may think that they are not one of your own so you do not have to care for them, but they are your own and you do have to care! They are part of their families life and they feel loss just like we do, pain like we do and most of all, the crime of one being taken away from them in the most evil vicious manner of all.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>In order for us to avoid this heartache for not only the animals but ourselves, it is my responsibility, your responsibility, our responsibility to care and conserve our wildlife. We do this by looking out for them and implementing laws that will protect them. Keep our parks protected and be vigilant about the conservation of our animals. The way a mother looks after their child and a brother after his sister, we should and must look after our wildlife. They cannot protect themselves from our kind, or there would be a lot more wildlife, so it is our job to be there for them. To make sure that our kind does not destroy theirs. As we said, we are not more important than animals are and we will never be.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong> </strong>','Our Wildlife, My Responsibility, My Heritage.','','inherit','open','open','','1199-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 18:05:05','2014-03-03 18:05:05','',1199,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1199-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1208,2,'2014-03-03 20:12:57','2014-03-03 20:12:57','<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_alkhas.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1017\" alt=\"elizabeth_alkhas\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_alkhas-182x300.jpg\" width=\"182\" height=\"300\" /></a>In 2013, Elizabeth made it her mission to come to the aid of African wildlife. She is currently focused on the elephant poaching epidemic and its effects in Kenya.\r\n\r\nWith a knack for investigative research, she is focused on the key issues that enable poaching beyond the demand created from ivory consuming countries. Her blog is currently a fact-finding workbook where she documents the activities of a pilot education project with <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">The Wildlife Conservation Student Group</a> at Naisula International Secondary School in Kajiado, Kenya.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is a former public relations and marketing executive as well as a clinical practitioner in the field of alternative medicine.\r\n\r\nA native of Los Angeles, California, Elizabeth often traveled with her father, general purpose actor James Wainwright, while he worked in television and film in the late 60’s and early 1980’s. As a young girl, the experience of seeing two worlds – one on camera and one behind the scenes – was pivotal. It was an up-close view of the power of communication, and the interplay of words, images, messaging and perception. It also gave her first-hand experience and insight into privacy issues facing those in the public spotlight.\r\n\r\nAn undergraduate degree in Communications led to an award-winning career in advertising and public relations, where Elizabeth helped clients with awareness, strategic positioning and often served as corporate spokesperson.\r\n\r\nAfter many years working within both agency and corporate settings, and after founding her own successful boutique PR agency in San Diego, Elizabeth sensed that her passion and talents could be better utilized as a voice for humanitarian initiatives. While watching video of chimpanzee medical research testing, Elizabeth was devastated by what she saw and realized that her success in public relations strategy could make a difference in an area she had long cared about — animal welfare.\r\n\r\nElizabeth closed her business and returned to school, earning a Master of Science in Human Clinical Nutrition in 2008. The degree reflected her personal interest in health and nutrition, and for the next five years she maintained a private practice and apprenticed with a progressive MD for alternative and integrative medicine therapeutics. This path also provided her with a scientific foundation in biology and ecology, and greater insight into the connectivity between nutrition, healing, food and agriculture.\r\n\r\nIn 2013, a <i>60 Minutes</i> episode on the epidemic of elephant poaching in Africa stopped her in her tracks. She suddenly understood how her experiences, education and passionate nature could be of influence and fuel a dedication to making a positive impact.\r\n\r\nThat year, she committed herself to learning as much as possible about the African poaching epidemic. An astute researcher, she developed a blog to document the truths she uncovered. She also traveled to Kenya and learned first hand about the delicate balance that exists between the people of the region, private conservancies and government wildlife agencies. It was clear to Elizabeth that in order to honor and protect the area’s wildlife that the rights of the local communities also needed to be honored and protected.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is currently exploring strategic partnerships in Kenya dedicated to creating change. Some of the projects include advocacy and awareness campaigns, education programs and ready-to-wear fashion initiatives.\r\n\r\nIn addition, Elizabeth continues to augment her clinical nutrition expertise through her passion for Biological Farming and High Performance Agriculture. In extreme conditions such as Eastern Africa, this has the potential for improving grassland development for animals and for food production.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is a seeker of truth, and in the process, uncovers the interconnectivity of healing – whether it is the body, animals or the planet. She pays close attention to astrological and geocosmic influences and how these can impact the efforts she is involved in. She is dedicated to being an advocate for local, national, and international animal welfare organizations.\r\n\r\n<b>“Elizabeth is always looking for a better way, a clearer path, the cutting edge and the best methodology. Never satisfied with good enough, she reaches for the best she can do and is excellent in helping others do the same.”</b>\r\n\r\n<i>Marshall Lightner, Ph.D., Executive Coach and Author</i>\r\n\r\n<strong>As a Leader and Strategic Thinker:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Elizabeth sees the big picture that leads to a strategic perspective;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at researching, evaluating and synthesizing information;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to see patterns in the marketplace and then define strategic opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to inspire mutual agreement in complex situations and provide insights to reduce conflict;</li>\r\n	<li>Counseled C-level executives (CEO, COO, CFO) as well as at the Board of Director level (multiple private and publicly traded corporations within different industry segments);</li>\r\n	<li>Proven track record in positioning organizations for successful merger &amp; acquisition initiatives.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Entrepreneur and Business Owner:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Founded and led boutique high-tech public relations agency based in San Diego, named one of the fastest-growing firms in the region;</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the generation of $3.8 million in revenue in less than four years (sans start-up capital);</li>\r\n	<li>Managed all financial and client services aspects of the agency;</li>\r\n	<li>Developed innovative client results reporting methodology;</li>\r\n	<li>Supervised approximately 25 full, part-time and contract staff members;</li>\r\n	<li>Founded Clinical Nutrition practice providing in-depth personalized consultations and therapeutic protocols in an alternative medicine, clinical setting.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Philanthropist:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Deeply passionate about being of service;</li>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying organizations that are capable of creating significant change;</li>\r\n	<li>Believes that the best use of a donated dollar must always be considered and measurable results delivered;</li>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to finding ways to streamline efforts and seek collaboration in order to provide influential and cost-effective results;</li>\r\n	<li>Persuasive communicator about the value of humanitarian efforts to influence political and public opinion.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Advocate:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>A passion for providing a voice for those who have none;</li>\r\n	<li>A deep-seated concern for the welfare of domesticated animals and wildlife;</li>\r\n	<li>A firm believer in treating animals and humans with respect;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands the power of communicating the impact of real effort and results, not just another voice repeating the nature of the problem;</li>\r\n	<li>Strategic ability to research and identify key positioning opportunities within the wildlife conservation arena.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Spokesperson:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Poised and articulate in media interviews, on camera and in public speaking;</li>\r\n	<li>Experienced in crisis communication initiatives and requirements;</li>\r\n	<li>Served as producer and live on-air talent host for a healthy living segment for start-up home shopping network (weekly one-hour show);</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the highest grossing on-air sales segment that reached approximately five million households across five significant test markets.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Public Relations Professional:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying marketing, positioning and communication opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Takes the time to ask questions that lead to understanding about what a target audience actually thinks;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at communicating in a way that motivates and inspires key target audiences;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands how messaging impacts perception and fuels results;</li>\r\n	<li>Develops influential written works that motivate public and media opinion;</li>\r\n	<li>Created innovative domestic and international product &amp; company awareness campaigns supported by strategic media relations outreach;</li>\r\n	<li>Received the prestigious “Edward L. Bernays Bronze Mark of Excellence Award” for outstanding research and evaluation tactics developed for the commercial real estate industry.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist and Educator:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to uncovering the truth in the field of nutrition, health and healing;</li>\r\n	<li>Inspired clients to implement lifestyle changes that transformed their quality of life;</li>\r\n	<li>In addition to Clinical Nutrition expertise, apprenticed as an alternative medicine practitioner;</li>\r\n	<li>Well versed in conventional, alternative and energetic healing modalities;</li>\r\n	<li>Expert in numerous topics including the role of environmental and infectious agents on the immune system; the impact of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and organic, sustainable foods within the food chain and human body; and the need for increased humane treatment and monitoring in animal agriculture;</li>\r\n	<li>Well attuned to the interconnectivity between nutrition, agriculture and animal welfare.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nElizabeth lives in San Diego with her husband and two shelter rescue dogs, Bogie and Jack. She can be reached via email at <a href=\"mailto:elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com\">elizabethalkhas@yahoo.com</a>.','About Elizabeth Wainwright Alkhas','','inherit','open','open','','2-revision-v1','','','2014-03-03 20:12:57','2014-03-03 20:12:57','',2,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/2-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1216,2,'2014-03-12 01:15:17','2014-03-12 01:15:17','Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.\r\n\r\nI believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined is your motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.\r\n\r\nYou say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.\r\n\r\nIt is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile that has all eyes of the world watching it of late. Namibia is considering another one-off ivory sale to bolster government income. This demonstrates a pertinent departure from most of the world\'s leading governments (including African Range States) who have recently banded together to destroy their own stockpiles to assist with the protection of an endangered species. I am proud that our country has been leading the way in this effort which goes above the current CITES resolutions for the legal ivory trade.\r\n\r\nCritically, those tusks that were surrendered to the government as a result of your hunt are feeding an animal larger than any single hunting day experience. This is something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.\r\n\r\nNo matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose, and so will the folks that come after us.\r\n\r\nOn a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was rightfully yours to experience.\r\n\r\nSo the question right now is, is it right?\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\r\n\r\nRead more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:15:17','2014-03-12 01:15:17','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1215,2,'2014-03-12 01:14:46','2014-03-12 01:14:46','','Olmsted-Elephant-e1394553349390','','inherit','open','open','','olmsted-elephant-e1394553349390','','','2014-03-12 01:14:46','2014-03-12 01:14:46','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Olmsted-Elephant-e1394553349390.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1220,2,'2014-03-12 01:22:29','2014-03-12 01:22:29','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined is your motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can </strong><strong>can at anytime be sold. This is a long-term animal much larger than any single hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:22:29','2014-03-12 01:22:29','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1217,2,'2014-03-12 01:17:15','2014-03-12 01:17:15','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined is your motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile that has all eyes of the world watching it of late. Namibia is considering another one-off ivory sale to bolster government income. This demonstrates a pertinent departure from most of the world\'s leading governments (including African Range States) who have recently banded together to destroy their own stockpiles to assist with the protection of an endangered species. I am proud that our country has been leading the way in this effort which goes above the current CITES resolutions for the legal ivory trade.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Critically, those tusks that were surrendered to the government as a result of your hunt are feeding an animal larger than any single hunting day experience. This is something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose, and so will the folks that come after us.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:17:15','2014-03-12 01:17:15','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1218,2,'2014-03-12 13:10:03','2014-03-12 13:10:03','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\n\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. To be examined at this time are the repercussions for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\n\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\n\n<strong>Also critical is that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can be sold without guarantee of funds supporting conservation. This also fuels demand of an illegal industry responsible for critical number reductions of the species currently in multiple African Range States. This is the long-term \"animal\" much larger than any one you would find on a typical hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for an \"experience\" or \"bucket list\" that generates income for their own pockets.</strong>\n\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\n\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what might you tell your children and other children when perhaps the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\n\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\n\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\n\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right?','','inherit','open','open','','1214-autosave-v1','','','2014-03-12 13:10:03','2014-03-12 13:10:03','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-autosave-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1219,2,'2014-03-12 01:18:37','2014-03-12 01:18:37','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined is your motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile that has all eyes of the world watching it of late. Namibia is considering another one-off ivory sale to bolster government income. This demonstrates a pertinent departure from most of the world\'s leading governments (including African Range States) who have recently banded together to destroy their own stockpiles to assist with the protection of an endangered species. I am proud that our country has been leading the way in this effort which goes above the current CITES resolutions for the legal ivory trade.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Critically, those tusks that were surrendered to the government as a result of your hunt are feeding an animal larger than any single hunting day experience. This is something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:18:37','2014-03-12 01:18:37','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1221,2,'2014-03-12 01:25:28','2014-03-12 01:25:28','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined is your motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can </strong><strong>can at anytime be sold. This is a long-term animal much larger than any animal you might encounter on a hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:25:28','2014-03-12 01:25:28','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1222,2,'2014-03-12 01:26:17','2014-03-12 01:26:17','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined is your motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can </strong><strong>can at anytime be sold. This is a long-term animal much larger than any one you might encounter on a hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:26:17','2014-03-12 01:26:17','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1223,2,'2014-03-12 01:28:48','2014-03-12 01:28:48','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined is your motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which </strong><strong>can at anytime be sold. This is a long-term animal much larger than any one you might encounter on a hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:28:48','2014-03-12 01:28:48','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1224,2,'2014-03-12 01:29:53','2014-03-12 01:29:53','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined is your motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which </strong><strong>can at anytime be sold. This is a long-term animal much larger than any one you might encounter on a hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:29:53','2014-03-12 01:29:53','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1225,2,'2014-03-12 01:38:36','2014-03-12 01:38:36','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined are the motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which </strong><strong>can at anytime be sold. This is a long-term animal much larger than any one you might encounter on a hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right.','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:38:36','2014-03-12 01:38:36','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1226,2,'2014-03-12 01:39:04','2014-03-12 01:39:04','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined are the motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which </strong><strong>can at anytime be sold. This is a long-term animal much larger than any one you might encounter on a hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right?','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:39:04','2014-03-12 01:39:04','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1227,2,'2014-03-12 01:51:53','2014-03-12 01:51:53','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined are the motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can be sold without guarantee of funds supporting conservation. This also fuels demand of an illegal industry which is responsible for critical number reductions of the species in multiple African Range States. This is the long-term \"animal\" much larger than any one you would find on a typical hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right?','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:51:53','2014-03-12 01:51:53','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1228,2,'2014-03-12 01:52:55','2014-03-12 01:52:55','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined are the motives for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can be sold without guarantee of funds supporting conservation. This fuels demand of an illegal industry which is responsible for critical number reductions of the species in multiple African Range States. This is the long-term \"animal\" much larger than any one you would find on a typical hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right?','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 01:52:55','2014-03-12 01:52:55','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1229,2,'2014-03-12 02:09:31','2014-03-12 02:09:31','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. What might be examined are the repercussions for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>It is also critical to point out that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can be sold without guarantee of funds supporting conservation. This fuels demand of an illegal industry which is responsible for critical number reductions of the species in multiple African Range States. This is the long-term \"animal\" much larger than any one you would find on a typical hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for \"an experience\" or \"bucket list\" to generate income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t really about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what will you tell your children and other children when the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment that you realize that you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>So the question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right?','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 02:09:31','2014-03-12 02:09:31','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1230,2,'2014-03-12 13:10:20','2014-03-12 13:10:20','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. To be examined at this time are the repercussions for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Also critical is that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can be sold without guarantee of funds supporting conservation. This also fuels demand of an illegal industry responsible for critical number reductions of the species currently in multiple African Range States. This is the long-term \"animal\" much larger than any one you would find on a typical hunting day experience. Something that you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for an \"experience\" or \"bucket list\" that generates income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what might you tell your children and other children when perhaps the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment you realize you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right?','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 13:10:20','2014-03-12 13:10:20','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1231,2,'2014-03-12 13:11:30','2014-03-12 13:11:30','<strong>Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa\'s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. To be examined at this time are the repercussions for hunting an animal such as the elephant.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Also critical is that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can be sold without guarantee of funds supporting conservation. This also fuels demand of an illegal industry responsible for critical number reductions of the species currently in multiple African Range States. This is the long-term \"animal\" much larger than any one you would find on a typical hunting day experience. Something you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for an \"experience\" or \"bucket list\" that generates income for their own pockets.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>No matter who we are - hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve - we all have a stake in the game. And if we don\'t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we\'ll all lose.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn\'t about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what might you tell your children and other children when perhaps the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment you realize you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>The question right now is, is it right?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/elephants?source=feed_text\" data-ft=\"{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;*N&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:104}\">‪</a>\"I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.\"</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more: <a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR</a></strong>','What\'s Right?','','inherit','open','open','','1214-revision-v1','','','2014-03-12 13:11:30','2014-03-12 13:11:30','',1214,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1214-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1233,2,'2014-03-31 17:02:42','2014-03-31 17:02:42','','January 2014','','publish','open','open','','january','','','2015-07-22 02:37:19','2015-07-22 02:37:19','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/?p=1233',6,'nav_menu_item','',0),(1234,2,'2014-03-31 17:03:44','2014-03-31 17:03:44','','February 2014','','publish','open','open','','february','','','2015-07-22 02:37:19','2015-07-22 02:37:19','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/?p=1234',5,'nav_menu_item','',0),(1235,2,'2014-03-31 17:03:44','2014-03-31 17:03:44','','March 2014','','publish','open','open','','march','','','2015-07-22 02:37:19','2015-07-22 02:37:19','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/?p=1235',4,'nav_menu_item','',0),(1251,2,'2015-01-22 19:53:54','2015-01-22 19:53:54','','984040_673931922663278_1259734589_n','','inherit','open','open','','984040_673931922663278_1259734589_n','','','2015-01-22 19:53:54','2015-01-22 19:53:54','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/984040_673931922663278_1259734589_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1252,2,'2015-01-22 20:00:00','2015-01-22 20:00:00','Economics play a key role in conservation. Some 800,000 people may lose their jobs as the <a href=\"http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/903325.shtml\">article</a> states. Lost wages can equal lost conservation efforts. I am not a proponent of canned safari hunts, but in limited cases, well run, environmentally aware, humane organizations have value to their communities, the land, as well as with species protection. Somewhere here, we have to find a better \"middle ground\" - helping people economically at the same time, protecting key species.\r\n\r\nAt the end of the day, it\'s really all about intent - short term greed or long term sustainability. Unfortunately, surviving for many in Africa doesn\'t support long term thinking. Change the economic paradigm with consciousness for the greater good of all and we might stand a chance making a difference. ‪\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/903325.shtml\"> </a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Economic Intent.','','publish','open','open','','economic-intent','','','2015-01-22 20:00:00','2015-01-22 20:00:00','',0,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/?p=1252',0,'post','',0),(1253,2,'2015-01-22 19:58:20','2015-01-22 19:58:20','Economics play a key role in conservation. Some 800,000 people may lose their jobs as the article states. Lost wages can equal lost conservation efforts. I am not a proponent of canned safari hunts, but in limited cases, well run, environmentally aware, humane organizations have value to their communities, the land, as well as with species protection. Somewhere here, we have to find a better \"middle ground\" - helping people economically at the same time, protecting key species.\r\n\r\nAt the end of the day, it\'s really all about intent - short term greed or long term sustainability. Unfortunately, surviving for many in Africa doesn\'t support long term thinking. Change the economic paradigm with consciousness for the greater good of all and we might stand a chance making a difference. ‪\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/903325.shtml\">http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/903325.shtml</a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Economic Intent.','','inherit','open','open','','1252-revision-v1','','','2015-01-22 19:58:20','2015-01-22 19:58:20','',1252,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1252-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1254,2,'2015-01-22 20:00:00','2015-01-22 20:00:00','Economics play a key role in conservation. Some 800,000 people may lose their jobs as the <a href=\"http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/903325.shtml\">article</a> states. Lost wages can equal lost conservation efforts. I am not a proponent of canned safari hunts, but in limited cases, well run, environmentally aware, humane organizations have value to their communities, the land, as well as with species protection. Somewhere here, we have to find a better \"middle ground\" - helping people economically at the same time, protecting key species.\r\n\r\nAt the end of the day, it\'s really all about intent - short term greed or long term sustainability. Unfortunately, surviving for many in Africa doesn\'t support long term thinking. Change the economic paradigm with consciousness for the greater good of all and we might stand a chance making a difference. ‪\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/903325.shtml\"> </a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Economic Intent.','','inherit','open','open','','1252-revision-v1','','','2015-01-22 20:00:00','2015-01-22 20:00:00','',1252,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/1252-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1257,2,'2015-06-28 07:41:26','2015-06-28 07:41:26','<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_alkhas.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1017\" alt=\"elizabeth_alkhas\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_alkhas-182x300.jpg\" width=\"182\" height=\"300\" /></a>In 2013, Elizabeth made it her mission to come to the aid of African wildlife. She is currently focused on the elephant poaching epidemic and its effects in Kenya.\r\n\r\nWith a knack for investigative research, she is focused on the key issues that enable poaching beyond the demand created from ivory consuming countries. Her blog is currently a fact-finding workbook where she documents the activities of a pilot education project with <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wildlife-Conservation-Student-Group-Naisula-International-School-Kenya/548230011941332\">The Wildlife Conservation Student Group</a> at Naisula International Secondary School in Kajiado, Kenya.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is a former public relations and marketing executive as well as a clinical practitioner in the field of alternative medicine.\r\n\r\nA native of Los Angeles, California, Elizabeth often traveled with her father, general purpose actor James Wainwright, while he worked in television and film in the late 60’s and early 1980’s. As a young girl, the experience of seeing two worlds – one on camera and one behind the scenes – was pivotal. It was an up-close view of the power of communication, and the interplay of words, images, messaging and perception. It also gave her first-hand experience and insight into privacy issues facing those in the public spotlight.\r\n\r\nAn undergraduate degree in Communications led to an award-winning career in advertising and public relations, where Elizabeth helped clients with awareness, strategic positioning and often served as corporate spokesperson.\r\n\r\nAfter many years working within both agency and corporate settings, and after founding her own successful boutique PR agency in San Diego, Elizabeth sensed that her passion and talents could be better utilized as a voice for humanitarian initiatives. While watching video of chimpanzee medical research testing, Elizabeth was devastated by what she saw and realized that her success in public relations strategy could make a difference in an area she had long cared about — animal welfare.\r\n\r\nElizabeth closed her business and returned to school, earning a Master of Science in Human Clinical Nutrition in 2008. The degree reflected her personal interest in health and nutrition, and for the next five years she maintained a private practice and apprenticed with a progressive MD for alternative and integrative medicine therapeutics. This path also provided her with a scientific foundation in biology and ecology, and greater insight into the connectivity between nutrition, healing, food and agriculture.\r\n\r\nIn 2013, a <i>60 Minutes</i> episode on the epidemic of elephant poaching in Africa stopped her in her tracks. She suddenly understood how her experiences, education and passionate nature could be of influence and fuel a dedication to making a positive impact.\r\n\r\nThat year, she committed herself to learning as much as possible about the African poaching epidemic. An astute researcher, she developed a blog to document the truths she uncovered. She also traveled to Kenya and learned first hand about the delicate balance that exists between the people of the region, private conservancies and government wildlife agencies. It was clear to Elizabeth that in order to honor and protect the area’s wildlife that the rights of the local communities also needed to be honored and protected.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is currently exploring strategic partnerships in Kenya dedicated to creating change. Some of the projects include advocacy and awareness campaigns, education programs and ready-to-wear fashion initiatives.\r\n\r\nIn addition, Elizabeth continues to augment her clinical nutrition expertise through her passion for Biological Farming and High Performance Agriculture. In extreme conditions such as Eastern Africa, this has the potential for improving grassland development for animals and for food production.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is a seeker of truth, and in the process, uncovers the interconnectivity of healing – whether it is the body, animals or the planet. She pays close attention to astrological and geocosmic influences and how these can impact the efforts she is involved in. She is dedicated to being an advocate for local, national, and international animal welfare organizations.\r\n\r\n<b>“Elizabeth is always looking for a better way, a clearer path, the cutting edge and the best methodology. Never satisfied with good enough, she reaches for the best she can do and is excellent in helping others do the same.”</b>\r\n\r\n<i>Marshall Lightner, Ph.D., Executive Coach and Author</i>\r\n\r\n<strong>As a Leader and Strategic Thinker:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Elizabeth sees the big picture that leads to a strategic perspective;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at researching, evaluating and synthesizing information;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to see patterns in the marketplace and then define strategic opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to inspire mutual agreement in complex situations and provide insights to reduce conflict;</li>\r\n	<li>Counseled C-level executives (CEO, COO, CFO) as well as at the Board of Director level (multiple private and publicly traded corporations within different industry segments);</li>\r\n	<li>Proven track record in positioning organizations for successful merger &amp; acquisition initiatives.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Entrepreneur and Business Owner:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Founded and led boutique high-tech public relations agency based in San Diego, named one of the fastest-growing firms in the region;</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the generation of $3.8 million in revenue in less than four years (sans start-up capital);</li>\r\n	<li>Managed all financial and client services aspects of the agency;</li>\r\n	<li>Developed innovative client results reporting methodology;</li>\r\n	<li>Supervised approximately 25 full, part-time and contract staff members;</li>\r\n	<li>Founded Clinical Nutrition practice providing in-depth personalized consultations and therapeutic protocols in an alternative medicine, clinical setting.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Philanthropist:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Deeply passionate about being of service;</li>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying organizations that are capable of creating significant change;</li>\r\n	<li>Believes that the best use of a donated dollar must always be considered and measurable results delivered;</li>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to finding ways to streamline efforts and seek collaboration in order to provide influential and cost-effective results;</li>\r\n	<li>Persuasive communicator about the value of humanitarian efforts to influence political and public opinion.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Advocate:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>A passion for providing a voice for those who have none;</li>\r\n	<li>A deep-seated concern for the welfare of domesticated animals and wildlife;</li>\r\n	<li>A firm believer in treating animals and humans with respect;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands the power of communicating the impact of real effort and results, not just another voice repeating the nature of the problem;</li>\r\n	<li>Strategic ability to research and identify key positioning opportunities within the wildlife conservation arena.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Spokesperson:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Poised and articulate in media interviews, on camera and in public speaking;</li>\r\n	<li>Experienced in crisis communication initiatives and requirements;</li>\r\n	<li>Served as producer and live on-air talent host for a healthy living segment for start-up home shopping network (weekly one-hour show);</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the highest grossing on-air sales segment that reached approximately five million households across five significant test markets.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Public Relations Professional:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying marketing, positioning and communication opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Takes the time to ask questions that lead to understanding about what a target audience actually thinks;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at communicating in a way that motivates and inspires key target audiences;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands how messaging impacts perception and fuels results;</li>\r\n	<li>Develops influential written works that motivate public and media opinion;</li>\r\n	<li>Created innovative domestic and international product &amp; company awareness campaigns supported by strategic media relations outreach;</li>\r\n	<li>Received the prestigious “Edward L. Bernays Bronze Mark of Excellence Award” for outstanding research and evaluation tactics developed for the commercial real estate industry.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist and Educator:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to uncovering the truth in the field of nutrition, health and healing;</li>\r\n	<li>Inspired clients to implement lifestyle changes that transformed their quality of life;</li>\r\n	<li>In addition to Clinical Nutrition expertise, apprenticed as an alternative medicine practitioner;</li>\r\n	<li>Well versed in conventional, alternative and energetic healing modalities;</li>\r\n	<li>Expert in numerous topics including the role of environmental and infectious agents on the immune system; the impact of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and organic, sustainable foods within the food chain and human body; and the need for increased humane treatment and monitoring in animal agriculture;</li>\r\n	<li>Well attuned to the interconnectivity between nutrition, agriculture and animal welfare.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nElizabeth can be reached via email at me@elizabethalkhas.com.','About Elizabeth Wainwright Alkhas','','inherit','open','open','','2-revision-v1','','','2015-06-28 07:41:26','2015-06-28 07:41:26','',2,'http://elizabethalkhas.com/2-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1261,2,'2015-07-22 00:09:16','2015-07-22 00:09:16','<a href=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_alkhas.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1017\" src=\"http://elizabethalkhas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_alkhas-182x300.jpg\" alt=\"elizabeth_alkhas\" width=\"182\" height=\"300\" /></a>With a knack for investigative research, Elizabeth is a former public relations and marketing executive as well as a clinical practitioner in the field of alternative medicine.\r\n\r\nA native of Los Angeles, California, Elizabeth often traveled with her father, general purpose actor James Wainwright, while he worked in television and film in the late 60’s and early 1980’s. As a young girl, the experience of seeing two worlds – one on camera and one behind the scenes – was pivotal. It was an up-close view of the power of communication, and the interplay of words, images, messaging and perception. It also gave her first-hand experience and insight into privacy issues facing those in the public spotlight.\r\n\r\nAn undergraduate degree in Communications led to an award-winning career in advertising and public relations, where Elizabeth helped clients with awareness, strategic positioning and often served as corporate spokesperson.\r\n\r\nAfter many years working within both agency and corporate settings, and after founding her own successful boutique PR agency in San Diego, Elizabeth sensed that her passion and talents could be better utilized as a voice for humanitarian initiatives. While watching video of chimpanzee medical research testing, Elizabeth was devastated by what she saw and realized that her success in public relations strategy could make a difference in an area she had long cared about — animal welfare.\r\n\r\nElizabeth closed her business and returned to school, earning a Master of Science in Human Clinical Nutrition in 2008. The degree reflected her personal interest in health and nutrition, and for the next five years she maintained a private practice and apprenticed with a progressive MD for alternative and integrative medicine therapeutics. This path also provided her with a scientific foundation in biology and ecology, and greater insight into the connectivity between nutrition, healing, food and agriculture.\r\n\r\nIn 2013, a <i>60 Minutes</i> episode on the epidemic of elephant poaching in Africa stopped her in her tracks. She suddenly understood how her experiences, education and passionate nature could be of influence and fuel a dedication to making a positive impact.\r\n\r\nThat year, she committed herself to learning as much as possible about the African poaching epidemic. An astute researcher, she developed a blog to document the truths she uncovered. She also traveled to Kenya and learned first hand about the delicate balance that exists between the people of the region, private conservancies and government wildlife agencies. It was clear to Elizabeth that in order to honor and protect the area’s wildlife that the rights of the local communities also needed to be honored and protected.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is currently exploring strategic partnerships in Kenya dedicated to creating change. Some of the projects include advocacy and awareness campaigns, education programs and ready-to-wear fashion initiatives.\r\n\r\nIn addition, Elizabeth continues to augment her clinical nutrition expertise through her passion for Biological Farming and High Performance Agriculture. In extreme conditions such as Eastern Africa, this has the potential for improving grassland development for animals and for food production.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is a seeker of truth, and in the process, uncovers the interconnectivity of healing – whether it is the body, animals or the planet. She pays close attention to astrological and geocosmic influences and how these can impact the efforts she is involved in. She is dedicated to being an advocate for local, national, and international animal welfare organizations.\r\n\r\n<b>“Elizabeth is always looking for a better way, a clearer path, the cutting edge and the best methodology. Never satisfied with good enough, she reaches for the best she can do and is excellent in helping others do the same.”</b>\r\n\r\n<i>Marshall Lightner, Ph.D., Executive Coach and Author</i>\r\n\r\n<strong>As a Leader and Strategic Thinker:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Elizabeth sees the big picture that leads to a strategic perspective;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at researching, evaluating and synthesizing information;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to see patterns in the marketplace and then define strategic opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to inspire mutual agreement in complex situations and provide insights to reduce conflict;</li>\r\n	<li>Counseled C-level executives (CEO, COO, CFO) as well as at the Board of Director level (multiple private and publicly traded corporations within different industry segments);</li>\r\n	<li>Proven track record in positioning organizations for successful merger &amp; acquisition initiatives.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Entrepreneur and Business Owner:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Founded and led boutique high-tech public relations agency based in San Diego, named one of the fastest-growing firms in the region;</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the generation of $3.8 million in revenue in less than four years (sans start-up capital);</li>\r\n	<li>Managed all financial and client services aspects of the agency;</li>\r\n	<li>Developed innovative client results reporting methodology;</li>\r\n	<li>Supervised approximately 25 full, part-time and contract staff members;</li>\r\n	<li>Founded Clinical Nutrition practice providing in-depth personalized consultations and therapeutic protocols in an alternative medicine, clinical setting.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Philanthropist:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Deeply passionate about being of service;</li>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying organizations that are capable of creating significant change;</li>\r\n	<li>Believes that the best use of a donated dollar must always be considered and measurable results delivered;</li>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to finding ways to streamline efforts and seek collaboration in order to provide influential and cost-effective results;</li>\r\n	<li>Persuasive communicator about the value of humanitarian efforts to influence political and public opinion.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Advocate:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>A passion for providing a voice for those who have none;</li>\r\n	<li>A deep-seated concern for the welfare of domesticated animals and wildlife;</li>\r\n	<li>A firm believer in treating animals and humans with respect;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands the power of communicating the impact of real effort and results, not just another voice repeating the nature of the problem;</li>\r\n	<li>Strategic ability to research and identify key positioning opportunities within the wildlife conservation arena.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Spokesperson:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Poised and articulate in media interviews, on camera and in public speaking;</li>\r\n	<li>Experienced in crisis communication initiatives and requirements;</li>\r\n	<li>Served as producer and live on-air talent host for a healthy living segment for start-up home shopping network (weekly one-hour show);</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the highest grossing on-air sales segment that reached approximately five million households across five significant test markets.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Public Relations Professional:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying marketing, positioning and communication opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Takes the time to ask questions that lead to understanding about what a target audience actually thinks;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at communicating in a way that motivates and inspires key target audiences;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands how messaging impacts perception and fuels results;</li>\r\n	<li>Develops influential written works that motivate public and media opinion;</li>\r\n	<li>Created innovative domestic and international product &amp; company awareness campaigns supported by strategic media relations outreach;</li>\r\n	<li>Received the prestigious “Edward L. Bernays Bronze Mark of Excellence Award” for outstanding research and evaluation tactics developed for the commercial real estate industry.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist and Educator:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to uncovering the truth in the field of nutrition, health and healing;</li>\r\n	<li>Inspired clients to implement lifestyle changes that transformed their quality of life;</li>\r\n	<li>In addition to Clinical Nutrition expertise, apprenticed as an alternative medicine practitioner;</li>\r\n	<li>Well versed in conventional, alternative and energetic healing modalities;</li>\r\n	<li>Expert in numerous topics including the role of environmental and infectious agents on the immune system; the impact of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and organic, sustainable foods within the food chain and human body; and the need for increased humane treatment and monitoring in animal agriculture;</li>\r\n	<li>Well attuned to the interconnectivity between nutrition, agriculture and animal welfare.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n&nbsp;','About Elizabeth Wainwright','','inherit','open','open','','2-revision-v1','','','2015-07-22 00:09:16','2015-07-22 00:09:16','',2,'http://kinga.org/2-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(1267,2,'2015-07-22 17:23:32','2015-07-22 17:23:32','<img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1266\" src=\"http://kinga.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elizabeth_wainwright-183x300.jpg\" alt=\"elizabeth_wainwright\" width=\"183\" height=\"300\" />\r\nWith a knack for investigative research, Elizabeth is a former public relations and marketing executive as well as a clinical practitioner in the field of alternative medicine.\r\n\r\nA native of Los Angeles, California, Elizabeth often traveled with her father, general purpose actor James Wainwright, while he worked in television and film in the late 60’s and early 1980’s. As a young girl, the experience of seeing two worlds – one on camera and one behind the scenes – was pivotal. It was an up-close view of the power of communication, and the interplay of words, images, messaging and perception. It also gave her first-hand experience and insight into privacy issues facing those in the public spotlight.\r\n\r\nAn undergraduate degree in Communications led to an award-winning career in advertising and public relations, where Elizabeth helped clients with awareness,\r\nstrategic positioning and often served as corporate spokesperson.\r\n\r\nAfter many years working within both agency and corporate settings, and after founding her own successful boutique PR agency in San Diego, Elizabeth sensed that her passion and talents could be better utilized as a voice for humanitarian initiatives. While watching video of chimpanzee medical research testing, Elizabeth was devastated by what she saw and realized that her success in public relations strategy could make a difference in an area she had long cared about — animal welfare.\r\n\r\nElizabeth closed her business and returned to school, earning a Master of Science in Human Clinical Nutrition in 2008. The degree reflected her personal interest in health and nutrition, and for the next five years she maintained a private practice and apprenticed with a progressive MD for alternative and integrative medicine therapeutics. This path also provided her with a scientific foundation in biology and ecology, and greater insight into the connectivity between nutrition, healing, food and agriculture.\r\n\r\nIn 2013, a <i>60 Minutes</i> episode on the epidemic of elephant poaching in Africa stopped her in her tracks. She suddenly understood how her experiences, education and passionate nature could be of influence and fuel a dedication to making a positive impact.\r\n\r\nThat year, she committed herself to learning as much as possible about the African poaching epidemic. An astute researcher, she developed a blog to document the truths she uncovered. She also traveled to Kenya and learned first hand about the delicate balance that exists between the people of the region, private conservancies and government wildlife agencies. It was clear to Elizabeth that in order to honor and protect the area’s wildlife that the rights of the local communities also needed to be honored and protected.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is currently exploring strategic partnerships in Kenya dedicated to creating change. Some of the projects include advocacy and awareness campaigns, education programs and ready-to-wear fashion initiatives.\r\n\r\nIn addition, Elizabeth continues to augment her clinical nutrition expertise through her passion for Biological Farming and High Performance Agriculture. In extreme conditions such as Eastern Africa, this has the potential for improving grassland development for animals and for food production.\r\n\r\nElizabeth is a seeker of truth, and in the process, uncovers the interconnectivity of healing – whether it is the body, animals or the planet. She pays close attention to astrological and geocosmic influences and how these can impact the efforts she is involved in. She is dedicated to being an advocate for local, national, and international animal welfare organizations.\r\n\r\n<b>“Elizabeth is always looking for a better way, a clearer path, the cutting edge and the best methodology. Never satisfied with good enough, she reaches for the best she can do and is excellent in helping others do the same.”</b>\r\n\r\n<i>Marshall Lightner, Ph.D., Executive Coach and Author</i>\r\n\r\n<strong>As a Leader and Strategic Thinker:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Elizabeth sees the big picture that leads to a strategic perspective;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at researching, evaluating and synthesizing information;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to see patterns in the marketplace and then define strategic opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Able to inspire mutual agreement in complex situations and provide insights to reduce conflict;</li>\r\n	<li>Counseled C-level executives (CEO, COO, CFO) as well as at the Board of Director level (multiple private and publicly traded corporations within different industry segments);</li>\r\n	<li>Proven track record in positioning organizations for successful merger &amp; acquisition initiatives.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Entrepreneur and Business Owner:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Founded and led boutique high-tech public relations agency based in San Diego, named one of the fastest-growing firms in the region;</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the generation of $3.8 million in revenue in less than four years (sans start-up capital);</li>\r\n	<li>Managed all financial and client services aspects of the agency;</li>\r\n	<li>Developed innovative client results reporting methodology;</li>\r\n	<li>Supervised approximately 25 full, part-time and contract staff members;</li>\r\n	<li>Founded Clinical Nutrition practice providing in-depth personalized consultations and therapeutic protocols in an alternative medicine, clinical setting.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Philanthropist:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Deeply passionate about being of service;</li>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying organizations that are capable of creating significant change;</li>\r\n	<li>Believes that the best use of a donated dollar must always be considered and measurable results delivered;</li>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to finding ways to streamline efforts and seek collaboration in order to provide influential and cost-effective results;</li>\r\n	<li>Persuasive communicator about the value of humanitarian efforts to influence political and public opinion.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As an Advocate:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>A passion for providing a voice for those who have none;</li>\r\n	<li>A deep-seated concern for the welfare of domesticated animals and wildlife;</li>\r\n	<li>A firm believer in treating animals and humans with respect;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands the power of communicating the impact of real effort and results, not just another voice repeating the nature of the problem;</li>\r\n	<li>Strategic ability to research and identify key positioning opportunities within the wildlife conservation arena.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Spokesperson:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Poised and articulate in media interviews, on camera and in public speaking;</li>\r\n	<li>Experienced in crisis communication initiatives and requirements;</li>\r\n	<li>Served as producer and live on-air talent host for a healthy living segment for start-up home shopping network (weekly one-hour show);</li>\r\n	<li>Responsible for the highest grossing on-air sales segment that reached approximately five million households across five significant test markets.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Public Relations Professional:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Adept at identifying marketing, positioning and communication opportunities;</li>\r\n	<li>Takes the time to ask questions that lead to understanding about what a target audience actually thinks;</li>\r\n	<li>Skilled at communicating in a way that motivates and inspires key target audiences;</li>\r\n	<li>Understands how messaging impacts perception and fuels results;</li>\r\n	<li>Develops influential written works that motivate public and media opinion;</li>\r\n	<li>Created innovative domestic and international product &amp; company awareness campaigns supported by strategic media relations outreach;</li>\r\n	<li>Received the prestigious “Edward L. Bernays Bronze Mark of Excellence Award” for outstanding research and evaluation tactics developed for the commercial real estate industry.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>As a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist and Educator:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Dedicated to uncovering the truth in the field of nutrition, health and healing;</li>\r\n	<li>Inspired clients to implement lifestyle changes that transformed their quality of life;</li>\r\n	<li>In addition to Clinical Nutrition expertise, apprenticed as an alternative medicine practitioner;</li>\r\n	<li>Well versed in conventional, alternative and energetic healing modalities;</li>\r\n	<li>Expert in numerous topics including the role of environmental and infectious agents on the immune system; the impact of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and organic, sustainable foods within the food chain and human body; and the need for increased humane treatment and monitoring in animal agriculture;</li>\r\n	<li>Well attuned to the interconnectivity between nutrition, agriculture and animal welfare.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Clinical Nutrition Biography:</strong>\r\n\r\nElizabeth earned a biochemistry-based Masters of Science degree in Human Clinical Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport Human Nutrition Institute and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of West Florida. In addition, she has received advanced training certifications in the field of functional medicine and nutritional biochemistry that include but are not limited to: the basis for autoimmune disease, blood chemistry analysis, neurotransmitter and brain therapeutics, optimizing endocrinology and gastrointestinal integrity, and mastering thyroid health.\r\n\r\nHer clinical certifications included the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists (CBNS) and the National Clinical Nutrition Certification Board (CNCB) as well as qualification to administer Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) services in the State of California designed to reverse chronic illness.\r\n\r\nDuring her clinical career, Elizabeth strategically combined more than thirteen years of previous advertising, marketing, public relations, on-air broadcasting experience with adept clinical nutrition knowledge when working directly with the public; and consulting with diagnostic laboratories, nutritional supplement companies, food and product manufacturers, restaurants, and hotel/resorts. She was also highly proficient in uncovering astrological and energetic influences as they pertained to mastering both mental and physical health and wellbeing for her patients.\r\n\r\nElizabeth has been an influential board member with the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR) San Diego Chapter, and a member of the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM), American College of Nutrition (ACN), International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists (IAACN), Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation (PPNF), The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','About Elizabeth Wainwright','','inherit','open','open','','2-revision-v1','','','2015-07-22 17:23:32','2015-07-22 17:23:32','',2,'http://kinga.org/2-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),