Tilia's Report

I am very grateful for to have received £240 from the Hatfield Trust’s Travel Award in the 2016 Epiphany term.

This funding aided personal development, especially as a Geography undergraduate student, through enabling me to travel and volunteer at an elephant sanctuary.

I undertook a four week volunteer placement at Elephants’ World, an elephant sanctuary near Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Elephants’ World is a sanctuary for elephants which are either unwell, elderly or have been rescued from a life of abusive work in an industry, the exploitive use of elephants, both illegally in the logging industry and for begging, and legally for elephant riding and trekking, is an awful animal welfare issue in Thailand.

I fully embraced Elephants’ World’s motto: “We work for the elephants and the elephants not for us”; advocating the reversed role of humans working hard in order to provide a much needed respite for the animals.

My responsibilities included various activities to do with the running of the sanctuary, for example coordinating the elephant feeding programme. I was also involved in management issues, including helping develop the fundraising campaign to purchase the land on which the land which currently donated and under threat of loss. My primary role was as a tour guide for visitors to the sanctuary; this involved both acting as an educator on Asian elephants and Elephants’ World’s work, and leading activities in which the visitors participated (for example: preparing special food for blind elephants, planting crops and bathing elephants in the river). However, a large proportion of my work was unanticipated and ranged from moving thousands of pieces of corn into shelter before a rainstorm, to picking up stones from a pathway because a blind elephant having a cut foot, and overnight shifts to change the IV drip of an unwell elephant.

Volunteering was a challenging experience, but one which enhanced some of my skills and taught me others. I had to overcome many forms of adversity including tough living conditions in basic accommodation, challenging climate and limited medical healthcare, including illness and illnesses of others, and the continuous challenge of working with wild animals which have the potential to behave dangerously around people. However, I found I was able to deal well with unexpected situations and had the ability to find alternative solutions.

Although it was heartbreakingly sad to see some elephants in various states of sickness, largely as a result of human exploitation, and especially their inability to return to their natural habitat due to lives of captivity, it was an incredible opportunity to develop a relationship with these sensitive and intelligent animals by working so closely with them and it was uplifting to see them enjoying their new lives.

Additionally, it was an incredible opportunity to experience the beautiful natural environment in which Elephants’ World is located and, through working closely with the Elephants’ World staff and mahouts (elephant caretakers), become immersed in and learn a lot about Thai culture and customs.  I would like to emphasise that I would not have been able to undertake without the generous financial support of the Gant Fund and the Hatfield Trust Travel Award for which I, and on behalf of the elephants and team at Elephants’ World, am forever grateful.