– Amanda Levine
It has been around two weeks since the internship ended and as I have eased my way back into reality I have come to some realizations of how deeply this whole internship impacted me. I come to feel more connected to nature in a way. I feel more comfortable around animals and other such creatures. As silly as this may sound coming from a suburban city-like area, nature is not always the primary influence in your life. When friends ask me how my summer was, I say that it was awesome and fantastic. I learned more than I could have imagined and a whole new dimension of our world was opened up to me. The other night I found myself sitting in bed browsing through ProTrack’s Facebook page (an anti-poaching company), and viewed a new video they created. I started tearing up because it brought the reality of what is going on in Africa cam flooding back. Even though I may not be there, there are still people working for ProTrack who are committed to stopping the rhino poaching. I could not have more respect for these people. The anger and disappointment that I feel towards this poaching epidemic is difficult for me to describe in words. But as long as there are people on the ground in Africa fighting for our wild-life I will continue to do my part to raise money for them as well as bring awareness to the situation. The individuals I have met in Africa are not only from South Africa; people have gathered from all over the world for one common purpose: to stop rhino poaching. Although from different countries, we all feel as if the rhinos belong to the world, and that borders should not define a sense of belonging.
I have a love for participating in events where people from all over the world come together. There is no other word to describe this except magical – when people from all different backgrounds and points of view can come together for a common purpose. Seeing these sorts of events make me feel inspired to take action and actually do something. None of us want to live in a world where we are massacring our animal populations, because whether we like it or not, our lack of respect for the environment is leading to the suffocation of ourselves. I now consider myself an ambassador of wildlife for life and will continue where I can to bring an end to stop rhino poaching.