As Master's level social work students from Durango & Denver to Kenya we had the opportunity to meet, Josphat. An inspiring gentleman full of insight, innovation, and quite the story I will share later. There were a few take-aways, which I highlighted in these excerpts from our discussion with Josphat. I high-lighted these phrases, because they feel very relevant to work we do and can do in our local communities. I really enjoyed the word, "champion". The approaches Josphat speaks about in addressing their issues appears to have an underlying approach of empowerment for the communities, respect, and the dignity and worth of all living things. "The more we are kind to animals the more we can be kind to other people." It makes me curious to how we approach therapeutic approaches. If we can teach children at a young age to love animals, and treat them with kindness - does this carry over to their relationships with other people as adults? And can we teach empathy to those living in our prisons through animals?
"Children who are taught to be kind to animals and to each other make good citizens."
-Eddy, 1899
"Children who are taught to love and protect dumb creatures will be kind to their fellow men when they grow up."
-Saunders, 1922
"Literature suggests that developing empathy for animals will result in caring toward other living things. Empathy is often seen as a key building block of prosocial behavior and can be defined as sharing of another person's emotions and feelings" (Komorosky & O'Neal, 2015).
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Josphat Ngonyo, Executive Director for Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW)
"People usually ask the question, 'what is the need for me or for us?' We have champions that advocate on issues that make a difference. Some of the communities we work with, we work with them because they're in a poaching area we identify. In the beginning we go out there with projects. In those communities like Kasigau, they used to do a lot of snaring and poaching. They still happen, but at a much lower scale than it was. I remember the last project we did in Kasigau we moved 418 snares, and rescued a dog in a snare so you know these communities have been involved in poaching activities.
Watta communities, they used to hunt elephants for meat, and sell it. Our teams removed many many snares. We thought that removing snares alone was not a solution. We have to provide an alternative livelihood for these people, and that's why the Watta acknowledge the university. We partnered with the University in providing this livelihood, including showcasing their culture, how they dance, and tourists would come and pay them for that they do. They're doing the beads and it creates income. This is an alternative that we are advancing. It actually comes from them for what they want to do. One of the things as an organization we have ideas, we can share them, discuss with them, but the decision is really the communities. So that's what they want to do is a cultural center. Kasigau advances the baskets, and then they make income out of that. It is that our projects are really community driven, and we are very careful to ensure that really happens."
Identify one thing as ambassadors, curious thinking about all ideas going back to the states. Do you think there are any important ideas to share with the states; the government or just with the people?
"I think looking at the issue of poaching for instance. United States is a second consumer of wildlife products and particularly ivory, 2nd to China. It's something maybe when you go back there you can champion to find a solution, this can change with ivory as long as there's a market poaching will happen, because the demand and supply process interplay here. So there is that, because one of other things you can look at as an ambassador as some of the places I think that come across may not be very good, like we had hunting - really it was pushed a great deal by organizations that are supported by the United States. Some found this was pushing these policies across, so this can change. I think involvement, and some of the the things can be done now is peoples involvement. Also the genetically modified organisms, I think those policies need to change. It should be bottom up as much as possible. Let people be involved and do this in a very informed way. New information given then people can make decisions and champion. However, there are many good things with the United States. We collaborate with many organizations. We have our sister organization, ANAW USA, and we collaborate a great deal. The Animal Welfare concept - ideally if we want animal welfare; the more we are kind to animals the more we can be kind to other people, and if we want a generation that is loving, kind and caring in the future we need to promote that, and also less criminal, because there is a connection from animals to people. We promote animal welfare because if you have happy animals, you will have happy people, because they will do more for the people. It's a great relationship between the two."
Komorosky, D., & O'Neal, K. K. (2015). The development of empathy and prosocial behavior through humane education, restorative justice, and
animal-assisted programs. Contemporary Justice Review, 18(4), 395-406.
