A Wonderful Animal and Cultural Experience

By Galen - 4 week intern

I found this internship opportunity because as an undergraduate animal studies major, I needed to fulfill a practicum requirement. But I wasn’t expecting to get to fulfill my other passion, and also second major, anthropology! My time here has been filled with so much fun, including many new and immersive experiences and opportunities. This is all owed to what this elephant sanctuary stands for. It’s conservation work, built around local community trust and involvement.

Working here, you get so many opportunities to interact and engage with the local community. I got to participate in and lead a lesson teaching local children English. I learned many of their names, and spent time playing games with them. As a group we ventured down into the lower village and spent time volunteering at the local school. I personally got to be with the middle aged group of kids, which I think was the best one. We taught them many games centered around English and developmental learning. I learned some Karen from them as well.

All of these experiences were totally awesome, but by far the most rewarding and educational opportunity that I got to be a part of was in my selected side project at the sanctuary. In addition to my behavioral research, I also decided to take up the task of creating biographies for the women in the village who weave clothes, and then sell their products to the guests that come visit. This business avenue is one of the many ways that the sanctuary facilitates financial opportunities for the local villagers. But it's so much more than that, and I got to learn all about it. I personally interviewed these women, and was able to get to know more about them, about weaving and about the cultural significance of the practice and how it fits into the Karen identity.

You might think it’s just a good way to provide for your family and to make your own clothing (which it is), but I was able to learn so much more. Karen traditional clothing is an integral part of daily Karen life, traditions, celebrations and ceremonies. Without it, these things cannot exist to their full extent.

This sanctuary is a true example of how any kind of conservationist, or ecological non profit organization that works in these kinds of areas should operate. It isn't only the animals that are being supported, loved or cared for, it's the people who have lived here and around them for hundreds of years too.