Moving Forward: Malawian Elephant Herd Relocation
By Tania Campbell

A controversial relocation of one of the world’s last free-ranging elephant herds from Malawi’s southern Mangochi district to the Majete Wildlife Reserve in the Chikwawa region has been resumed after the country’s high court overturned an injunction issued by disgruntled locals to halt the rescue project.

The Malawian government approached the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to relocate the animals because of ongoing conflict between humans and elephants who cohabite the densely populated lake region. Over twenty people have been killed by the roaming elephants and countless livelihoods have been destroyed as the elephants damage crops. Villagers have retaliated by harming the elephants with bullets, nails and setting snare traps.

Although it is an incredibly complex and expensive procedure to relocate the animals, conservationists insist that while the ideal scenario would be to construct a game reserve in the area, there isn’t any financing and the area would not be able to sustain them in the long term.

The relocation is being fiercely opposed by a minority of locals primarily because of the lost economic opportunities. They want to build a wildlife sanctuary of their own, and have formed a group called Friends of Phirilongwe, named after the elephants.

According to the Nyasa Times, the group has a petition with over 1,000 signatures pleading for a fence to be built in order to keep the elephants in the area and protect their habitat, which will inevitably be deforested for logging once the elephants are gone, causing a slew of other environmental problems. They also claim that there has been intimidation and death threats against their most vocal members.

Local businessman Ismail Khan told National Geographic that without the elephants, the area’s tourism infrastructure will suffer. “They [tourists] come to see animals, and this is a tourist area, Mangochi, and they are taking our elephants away. Are tourists going to come here to Mangochi? No, I doubt it.”

Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DPNW) had initially threatened to cull the elephants through “problem animal” control. However, Jason Bell-Leask, IFAW’s Country Director for Southern Africa Region believes the government of Malawi made an ethically responsible decision that is mutually beneficial for both the elephants and the human community. “There are a very small minority of interest groups opposed to the relocation. The community extension work undertaken prior to the commencement of the relocation revealed that there was overwhelming support for the move. This was used to inform the Judge’s decision in doing away with the injunction,” he told Ethical Traveler.

“This is something that is of great concern to us and hence our involvement in assisting with what we believe is the only viable win-win solution to this problem,” he added.


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Panamanian Gang Members Train to Become Tour Leaders
by Sharon Marshall

A program called Tourist Assistants, which trains former gang members to become tour guides, is receiving rave reviews in the developing country of Panama.

The program was launched in 2004 by Minister of Tourism Ruben Blades, the famous Panamanian musician now turned politician, soon after newly-elected President Martin Torrijos declared war on corruption.

The San Felipe neighborhood of Panama City was the initial testing ground for the training program. Former gang members underwent a six-month tourism course outlining the history of Panama, lessons in good manners, safety rules and basic English. During the course students received a basic monthly payment to encourage them to give up bad habits and start a better life.

Intended to last only six months, the Tourist Assistants course was so successful that it was extended indefinitely and now includes social risk groups like university students and high school graduates. Since its inception, over 100 students have completed the training, and now successfully arrange prepaid tours for visitors.

Satisfied San Felipe residents and tourists mirror the sentiments of the grateful students, who have been hired by many local tourism agencies. The program (www.visitpanama.com) has now been extended to the highlands, beaches, central provinces and the international airport of Tocumen.

Bordered by both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Panama is attracting an increasing number of tourists. The country markets the rare fauna and flora on Barro Colorado Island as a major drawcard. The country is a melting pot of Creole cultures, and a major commercial hub with the largest free trade zone in the western hemisphere.

In 2008, the number of European tourists increased by over 20 percent. Special tourism zones, created by Latin America’s most modern law for the promotion of tourism investment, host 100% exemption from income tax, real estate tax, import duties for construction materials and equipment, as well as tax holidays.

Says Andrés Beckford, a 28-year-old who has been working as a tourist assistant for two and a half years: “This program has changed my life and the life of my family. My wife was 5 months pregnant and I was unemployed when I was offered this opportunity. In that very moment I felt it was my chance to improve myself. They taught me real values and a place in society. Then, they trained me in different areas like basic English, history of the Old Quarter, communication skills, and much more.”
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Gap Years: Taking a Year Off to Change the World?
By Tori Pintar

Take a year off to travel, work or volunteer abroad? The "gap year," typically taken after high school and before university, is a long-held tradition in many European countries, and in Australia and New Zealand. But the tradition is unheard of in the United States. Author and committed traveler Rita Golden Gelman is launching a national movement to change that.

On June 20th, 2009 in Washington, D.C., Gelman held a brainstorming session with over 40 representatives of various organizations with gap year interests to discuss the formation of a national movement called Let's Get Global. The project's mission is to make the gap year experience an accepted and established tradition in the United States. Let's Get Global focuses specifically on international gap year experiences, with a goal of increasing Americans’ participation in the world community.

Let's Get Global plans to launch a public relations campaign to educate the American public about the benefits of taking a gap year. High school students and their parents will be specifically targeted. A detailed website will contain information about the programs available, the universities that support taking a gap year, testimonials of gap year alumni and their parents as well as information on funding. Integral to Let's Get Global’s vision is that gap years be available to all high school seniors regardless of financial background. Let's Get Global wants to find and create funding sources for potential “gappers.”

It appears that the Let's Get Global project has arisen in a market ripe for change. America’s elite universities from Harvard to Tufts and Princeton already support their accepted students deferring admission to take a gap year. This Fall, Princeton will launch a new program in which 20 students will spend the year in service-oriented work abroad before starting at Princeton in Fall 2010. At the high school level schools have even begun to hold gap year fairs, according to USA Today.

Gelman and Let's Get Global’s volunteers see themselves as an umbrella organization seeking to unite and intensify the gap year movement in the U.S. They believe that cross-cultural connections are the solution to decreased world conflict because those experiences develop increased respect and understanding of different cultures. “Connecting across cultures changes you, you’ll never be the same,” says Gelman. “When you sit in someone’s home, sit across the table from them and share their food, they’re no longer strangers, foreigners—you realize they’re the same as you. And you can’t drop a bomb on yourself.”

For more information, visit http://thegapyearsite.blogspot.com .
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