Gentle Giant Summit for Stakeholders in Kerala

The Gentle Giant Summit was a huge success with at least 75 people attending the event! 

People from Kerala State Electricity Board, Police department, Forest, and Veterinary Care & Animal Husbandry participated in the event. The media coverage was quite significant ... Please find below some clippings, and here are some links to the media coverage, which pretty much also summarizes the outcome of the summit.

We've created a steering committee called - Mathanga (elephant) Maanava (people) Maithiri (Harmony) - the name is regional and it was created by the native people. I only facilitated the event! The line of speakers was phenomenal, find attached. Also find attached some images from the event!

But it hasn't been without challenges... For almost a month, since we provided a training program to mahouts at the Kottoor Elephant Rehabilitation Center the elephant lobby group has been trolling. 

Links:

• Committee Formed to End Elephant Torture
• Why Kerala Must Protect its Elephants
• A Victim of Cyber Bullying

1. Met with CWW and Trivandrum's warden to finalize the agenda
2. Met with the police chief, who has deputed 20 decision makers and frontline officers to attend
3. Visited the AMAZING venue and met with the staff, looked at the conference room, the rooms where everyone will be staying, organized 100% vegetarian menu (I tried vegan, but it's impossible in India, as the concept is still very new) and paid them their due
4. Organized banners and standies to be installed at the hotel 
5. Ordered 100% cotton tote bags with an amazingly embellished artwork created by Gary Hodges that he so kindly allowed us to use (attached below) I will share with ya'll when the bag is ready (it will be awesome)
6. Purchased stationary to put inside the tote bags - note pads, pens, elephant key chains and I'm giving them a Free DVD of Gods in Shackles
7. Organized a Student Police Cadet from our PAE101 program for a short cultural performance about elephants
8. Organized 5 beautiful girls from the PAE101 to meet and greet our guests for the event
9. Interviewed the same lad who had helped me with PAE101 - JK - who will be assisting us with paying out travel expenses etc., to those who traveled from outside TVM

None of this would've been possible without YOUR GENEROSITY AND SUPPORT!!  We're deeply indebted to you!!

Infinite Love & Profound Gratitude!  More soon... stay tuned XX

Sangita

Thank YOU so very much from the depth of my soul for your support!!  Because of your immense generosity we've met our goal. All of us at the VFAES are truly grateful for your thoughtfulness on so many levels --- sharing on FB, emailing friends, and even donating over and over again. Wow!

Here are the speakers:

• Project Elephant Director
• The Chief Wildlife Warden
• Dr. Raman Sukumar - world renowned elephant scientist
• Kerala Police Chief (this is huge because he never accepts invitations!)
• Kerala's animal husbandry chief
• A high ranking railway authority to address railway track deaths of elephants
• A high ranking authority from the energy ministry
• Kerala's fire chief

And more ... Frankly, I'm a bit nervous because this is our first time. But we're very excited because we're implementing ecological principles and symbiotic relationships to bring people together. 

So the dates are confirmed ... Please find attached the graphic (Invitation we'll be printing). It was created by Yansi, one of our sweet volunteers (Indeed I'm also a volunteer)...

Next up... Today is my Birthday --- I was born on Ganesh Chaturti - Lord Ganesha's Birthday. People say I'm the chose one, and I feel that way too. And ... I received MY BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER !! It's now official!! We're partnering with the Kerala Forest Department to PURCHASE LAND AND CREATE CORRIDORS FOR WILD ELEPHANTS!! The project just got approved by the Global Giving Foundation.

As we all know, elephant habitats are being destroyed at an unprecedented rate in India. And wild elephants are being CAPTURED due to human elephant conflict. We can AVERT CAPTIVITY ... So, my Birthday Wish is to RETURN THEIR LOST LAND!! Negotiations with the owners to sell a 58-acre plot of land inside one of the pristine forests has been completed! I invite you to become part of the legacy. YOU CAN ADOPT A PATCH OF LAND for our elephants. This has taken a couple of years of trust building.

Please CLICK HERE for THE KERALA CORRIDOR PROJECT 4 WILD ELEPHANTS

FYI ... If you scrolled down the campaign you'll have the option to create your own fundraiser, if you're inspired to do so. Collectively, we can make a huge difference in the lives of elephants!!

Rest assured, I'll be sending you the photos at the Gentle Giant Summit, as and when it unfolds, and keep you posted every step of the way!! So although we're closing the donations for this campaign, I can still send you updates :)

If you have any questions please email at support@vfaes.org

INFINITE LOVE AND GRATITUDE FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!  We really look forward to creating peaceful coexistence for elephants with your support. It will be a win-win situation.

Sincerely,

Sangita

First up a quick update on the Gentle Giant Summit...

Some prominent keynote speakers have confirmed attendance for our GROUNDBREAKING summit:

1. Mr. Noyal Thomas - Project Elephant Director, Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. His topic is going to be "Elephant Conservation in India and the Role of Government Agencies" 
2. Dr. Rajan Gurukkal - a world renowned scholar - will focus on how to apply ecosystems principles in communication and fostering cooperation
3. Hariraj Madhavan - Kerala High Court Lawyer - will elaborate on the wildlife and animal welfare laws of the land that many agencies are totally unfamiliar with
4. The Chief Wildlife Warden OR the Head of Forest Force OR  an authoritative personnel will provide an overarching view of the challenges faced by the forest department
5. Dr. Easwaran, Kerala's Chief Veterinary Officer will be focusing on the laws pertaining to veterinarians and the need to strengthen communications with the temple and forest authorities to prevent spread of zoonotic diseases
6. We've invited the Director General of Police (DGP) to discuss the challenges faced by police officers on the ground and how to enhance communicaitons between the forest and police - we are positive that there will be large representation of police officers from across the 14 districts. We do not have a confirmed person yet, but we're positive that an authoritative official will be presenting
7. India's Wildlife Crime Control Additional Director, Mrs. Tillotama Verma, has been invited and she will confirm attendance after the 15th of August. Her topic is "Strengthening cooperation to curb wildlife crime"
8. Yours truly will focus on Systems Thinking in relation to communication and cooperation - whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts ... I will also be facilitating and moderating the discussions

Four speakers will be making presentations each day, and we are expecting between 75-100 participants. The site is the Apollo DiMora conference rooms, where 50 rooms have been booked to accommodate officials traveling from various districts.  We will share with you the invitation and agenda as soon as they have been designed by our graphics designer.

Meantime, August 12th is the World Elephant Day, and The GlobalGiving Foundation's Little X Little campaign also kicks off on the same day. We are incredibly fortunate to have been selected to participate, as the campaign runs starting the 12th throughout the week. I'd LOVE for you to participate in this campaign... Take a look at how your support can MULTIPLY and help meet our goal.  CLICK HERE on the WORLD ELEPHANT DAY --- not today --- but during the entire week of August the 12th and your donation will be matched as per the attached graphic. Again, this campaign begins on the WORLD ELEPHANT DAY!!

Infinite Love and Gratitude for your unending support!!  We are now left with only $4,180 plus to raise to meet our goal and we can collectively achieve our goal next week.

Yours truly,

Sangita

Links:

• Between Aug. 12&16 Pls Click Here to Support World Elephant Day

We are delighted to report that we have consulted with the Kerala Chief Wildlife Warden and are going to jointly launch the event on November 2nd and 3rd 2019.

In June we will be hiring an event organizer in Kerala to begin the task of booking a convention center, hotel/ accommodation, catering services, contacting key decision makers, preparing invitation, creating symposium material etc. So much to do, but it's all very exciting! I will be in contact with you closer to time to provide details.

Also, VFAES is proud of partner with Future for Elephants - a German based organization - that has helped us raise $5,000 for this very worthwhile project. We still need to raise at least $7,000 + to meet our target. So, if you're inspired to spread the word and help us raise the balance of the funds we'd be immensely grateful!

On a different note, FYI we've just wrapped up a fantastic Project Asian Elephants 101 youth empowerment program for the Student Police Cadets. It was deeply inspiring to see the support of authorities - the State Police Chief attended the closing ceremony and handed out the certificate of "Elephant Ambassador" to all the attendees.

Please find attached some images from the PAE101 project - a week long experiential learning program that began on the 13th and ended on the 19th of April (inclusive). We arranged catering, bus services, gifts, certificates etc for the SPC who participated and the videos from our events have gone totally viral (attached below)

We'd like to deliver a similar, high calibre program, in relation to the Gentle Giant Summit, and we can do this with your support! Thank YOU so much from the bottom of my heart for your unbending support!! Deeply grateful to you!!

Sincerely,

Sangita

Links:

• Experiential Learning at the Kottoor Elephant Rehab Center
• Youth querying the elephant handler about shackled elephants