involves not only economic loss, but also the loss of both human and elephant lives. By building the community centre and updating the local elephant database – working with PhD researchers from an organisation called Bring The Elephant Home – we seek to protect both the impoverished local community and the local elephant population. Asian elephants are endangered, amid fears they will become extinct in the wild within a few decades unless drastic measures are taken. It is therefore a privilege being able to work with these amazing animals. Going on daily safaris to gather data about elephants, and seeing these gentle giants in their natural habitat has been truly breathtaking.
We also built hornbill nest boxes from scratch, working in small groups called ‘families’. We were given size specifications, and then made plans, drawing complex diagrams worthy of an architect. Our family then took measurements, split bamboo with machetes, and sawed wood, before drilling it together to create a wooden frame, supported by bamboo attached with wire. Then we dug to create a dirt pile, which we mixed with water to create mud. This mud was mixed with straw to create cob, which was used to create the nest boxes. Both hornbill species in the area are extremely picky about their nesting habits, only choosing to live in the holes of large trees. These large trees also happen to be the ones that are generally cut down for wood, meaning
that deforestation is directly contributing to hornbill habitat loss, causing a population decline. By creating an artificial nesting habitat, we hope to provide a safe place for the hornbills to raise chicks and grow their population. During my time there, I worked with the local community to improve the human-elephant co-existence and combat hornbill habitat loss. We also had daily leadership reflection sessions within our ‘families’, working in these groups of eight to 10 throughout the project. We all took turns leading our families, delivering team briefings in the morning, organising days while working, delegating tasks, and finally receiving feedback from both peers and adult staff at the end of the day. There were also workshops on
COLLEGE 2024
67
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs