When I hear quotes, speeches and people talking about everyone making a difference, I usually don’t take it too much to heart. But hearing Jane Goodall point out that every single one of us has some impact on the world every single day—simply by being alive—really drove the point home.
This past weekend Kim and I, along with a few other girls living in Karatu, were fortunate enough to see the environmentalist icon and activist in Arusha after a friend found out last minute about the event.
To a fairly intimate group, Goodall told a condensed version of her life’s story and how she ended up as an advocate for human rights, social justice, environmental conservation and animal welfare.
“We can’t leave people in abject poverty, so we need to raise the standard of living for 80 percent of the world’s people, while bringing it down considerably for the 20 percent who are destroying our natural resources,” she has said.
Goodall told a story of flying over Gombe National Park in Tanzania after many, many years breaking all sorts of ground there in her pioneering work with chimpanzees. She saw how local, impoverished people with no other choice had exploited the landscape in order to survive. She realized then that conservation efforts are inextricable from human rights ones. So in order to follow her passion to better the world, she has been traveling non-stop for nearly 30 years to spread this message.
Since 1986, she hasn’t been in one place for more than three weeks. Needless to say, she was one inspiring woman to see.
Goodall sang many praises to her mother, who she said encouraged her curious, scientific mind from a young age. When it was my time to meet her, get a signature and take a picture, we had a brief exchange about the incredible excellence of a mother.
It was an amazing opportunity to see her and, I believe, gave all of us a renewed nudge to make our work here count. Back home Jess, our newest arrival, has been throwing herself into learning about the WMI loan program in the midst of very hectic preparations to issue new loans.
As Kim teaches Jess the ropes, she is getting ready to pass that baton to Jess and focus more on work with the Maasai in the conservation area. We’re meanwhile increasing our presence on the internet in hopes of gathering more donations that will allow us, among other projects, to build a new kindergarten, which will in turn give disadvantaged children a much better chance of succeeding when they reach school.
