2 weeks ago our students started jumping for elephants. This week we raised money from our sponsors. The turnout was incredible. At last count, we collected 245,000 baht. ES and MS students really stepped up with jumping and raising money! This money will be donated to OURLAND to be used to secure land to protect an important corridor allowing wild elephants and other wildlife to reach the river Kwai. Who is OURLAND? Click the link to find out. This could be a long term annual project since there is more land to buy, but our event raised more than enough to buy the first section which was our goal.
Thailand’s elephant population has dropped from over 300,000 elephants to less than 3500 wild elephants in about 100 years. While poaching for ivory and capturing elephants for entertainment are serious issues, the main reason for such a dramatic drop in wild elephants in Thailand is habitat loss. As human populations increase and more wild land is converted to farms, resorts, factories, housing, etc the elephants lose space and vital corridors to areas they need to reach. Thus protecting this corridor is crucial in helping elephants.
It is important to note that while we prefer hands on experiential learning at the site, Covid has made that very difficult and not practical right now. Ourland has also stated that funds are what they need most at the moment. Therefore, our action was this fundraiser. However, we will continue our long term relationship with Ourland for experiential service learning through Eco Trips and the Grade 7 service trip in May, 2021.
We thank all of you who participated and were a part of this solution to help keep wild elephants in the wild. If you would like to see our full presentation please click here.
Kerry Dyke
MS Service Learning Coordinator
<kerryd@isb.ac.th>