Unforgotten by Anita Silvey

 

“When you realize the value of all life you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.”- Dian Fossey’s last journal entry.

  Using the word “gorilla” as an insult is an act of ignorance, and it is the result of deeply ingrained prejudices. In fact, gorillas are peaceful beings who care about their most vulnerable. They form lifelong relationships, mourn the loss of their loved ones and have a sense of humor. Their diets are mostly vegetarian, though they sometimes eat insects to add protein.

  Gorillas are not violent; they only become aggressive when the safety of their families is in jeopardy.

 

 Unforgotten by Anita Silvey is a children’s book, but I recommend it to people of all ages. It is a fascinating exploration of Dian Fossey’s life story and her legacy, with amazing facts about gorillas and the quest to protect them.

  Originally from California, Dian Fossey worked as an occupational therapist in a children’s hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, where she is still remembered for her kindness and her care of children with polio.

 After a life-transforming African safari for which she used up all her savings as well as the money of a loan she obtained for this purpose, she was determined to return to Africa to spend time with gorillas. With the support and training of Dr. Louis Leakey, the anthropologist who also mentored Jane Goodall and Birute Galdikas, Dian moved to a 7- by -10 foot tent (2-by-3-m) amid the forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the year 1967. She was about to turn thirty-five years old. Due to political conflicts and persecutions in DRC, she would later settle in Rwanda to continue her work.

 Dian Fossey was the first person to hold hands with a wild gorilla. His name was Peanuts.

 Dian was on a mission to research the lives of gorillas. Every evening, she would return to her tent and typewrite her observations. Yet Dian’s research went beyond the scope of scientific findings, for she fell in love with these gentle creatures and did everything she could to save their lives.

  Thanks to Dian Fossey’s work, mountain gorillas still exist today, but they are critically endangered.

   Due to traps set by poachers, gorillas can get injured or killed in the forests. Habitat loss and climate change also threaten their survival. Colossal patches of land are destroyed to make way for roads, crops and livestock. Even National Parks are compromised by illegal woodcutting. Last but not least, wars and political instability in Congo are a threat to their safety. (Thankfully, the political situation in Rwanda is stable).

  Dian Fossey’s stay in Africa was disrupted by civil wars, poachers and traumatizing experiences, but she fought till the end to save these peaceful giants. Unfortunately, she was murdered by poachers in 1985, but there is a team that continues to work to protect gorillas; these people are endowed with the spirit of resilience she infused into her endeavors to rescue gorillas.

     Trackers in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda search and destroy poaching traps. Anita Silvey’s book explains the fascinating details on how the trackers are working together to support gorilla families. These trackers work for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund; they also study gorillas closely and educate people on how they can help.

 

Tracker Alfonsine Nakure, for example, is working on the front lines of this mission to support gorillas. Special skills and knowledge are needed to accomplish their goals.

 Unforgotten shares the same captivating style of  Untamed, which I reviewed not long ago. Reading “Unforgotten” was akin to embarking on an adventure of exploration. I could not stop turning the pages to find out what would happen next. Starting with Dian’s childhood, Silvey immerses us in the social and economic context to help us understand her better.

 

Unfortunately, gorillas are not the only endangered apes. Bonobos, chimpanzees and orangutans endure the same ordeal. Anita Silvey’s books are an invitation to help make a difference. 

  Unforgotten is published by National Geographic Kids. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is located in Rwanda. You can learn more about Dian Fossey’s Gorilla Fund here.

I will be reading Dian Fossey’s book Gorillas in the Mist, and I will write about it in a future blog post.

 Enjoy this breathtaking video to learn more:

  I am outraged by Vladimir Putin's actions. My heart and prayers are with the Ukrainian people and with those who protest the invasion and killing of people in Ukraine. 

 Thank you for reading my blog.

 

 

 

Marathon Man

  

 Confronting the health vulnerabilities of our parents is one of the great challenges of life.

  When Alan Corcoran’s father suffered a stroke at age 60, he was desperate for answers, but the future was uncertain. To make matters worse, he was not physically close to his dad when the stroke happened, which made him feel guilty. Even though he had awakened to the fragile nature of life before through the unexpected loss of young friends, he had never thought about the possibility of losing his parents. 

 Amid the turmoil, Alan opened a door of hope: he decided to revive the dream he had harbored in his mind for years; he would run the lap of Ireland, circumnavigating the whole country on foot in 35 days, and he would use this endeavor to fundraise for the Irish Heart Foundation and the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH), to support their stroke and brain injury unit. Furthermore, he would contribute ten percent of his fundraising to a peacebuilding charity that his dad, Milo Corcoran, had established: The Football Village of Hope, an organization that brought Israeli and Palestinian children together through the game.

   Alan Corcoran had pushed aside his athletic aspirations years before this incident because of an unexpected stress fracture. 

  His lack of training and experience with marathons did not scare him. His resolute attitude drove him toward his dream. He was steadfast in his plan. The preparation to be ready for this special marathon is one of the relevant aspects of the story. It happened in 2012, when Alan was busy completing his last year of college, writing his dissertation and working part-time as a hotel dish-scrubber.

 Athletic training is multidimensional, involving physical skills as well as mental and emotional resilience. Yet in this specific case it also pertained to the activity of raising funds, the logistics of which was not a minor aspect of the whole process.

   While his dad would be busy working hard on his rehabilitation, Alan would be training to accomplish a goal that would make his father proud, promote health and support their community. 

  Alan Corcoran’s vibrant personality shines through every page of the story combining humor, wisdom and patience. I appreciated the brief descriptions of the landscapes of Ireland, where he enjoyed the freedom of running in nature.

  Alan Corcoran’s book, “Marathon Man” recounts how he accomplished his feat, propelling us to pursue our own dreams, reminding us that no matter what we do, there will always be hurdles and challenges. It is imperative to accept those obstacles, and to be prepared to cope with them. 

 

 You don’t need to be an athlete to benefit from reading this book, but those who are interested in running a marathon will learn a lot from his advice and experience.

  Getting close to the end of this marathon, I could see how Alan learned to embrace the difficulties and to use them to build up resilience and determination in the face of adversity:

“More seasoned now, I’d accepted there’d be punches and life was easier if I just rolled with them. There’d be wrong turns, injuries, malfunctioning watches, missed feeds but I had to get on with things the best I could and keep the positive vibes flowing.”

 This inspiring read is also a celebration of family bonds, friendship and the power of community. His words on running epitomize his gratitude for life and for the joy and gift of aligning his talent with the wellbeing of others:

 “Whenever the haze of energy-zapping suffering lifted, mental space became available to appreciate my surroundings and my fortunate circumstances. I was outside, roaming Ireland’s landscapes, grateful for the lull in pain. I felt more than just gratitude in scenery like this. I was euphoric, deeply inhaling the countryside. I was engaged in a passion project for a meaningful cause, with my friends and family supporting me, travelling on foot through a postcard landscape. I went through an overwhelming pendulum of emotions, from cursing my Achilles and the barrage of hills to feeling like I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.”

To learn more about Alan Corcoran, you can visit his websites.

https://linktr.ee/MarathonMan1

https://www.marathonman.co/

 

 If you enjoyed this post, feel  free to check my writing on "Running for Good":

  https://juliahoneswritinglife.blogspot.com/2021/12/running-for-good-fiona-oakes-story.html

 

 

Reflections of Eden by Birute Galdikas

  

“One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human.” Loren Eiseley

  Dr. Birute Galdikas hugging orangutans in the book Untamed, by Anita Silvey, piqued my interest. I was thrilled to learn that Galdikas had written a book about her life with the orangutans: Reflections of Eden, a riveting autobiography with empowering insights and an entrancing world of adventures.

 Dr Galdikas is a keen observer of both humans and orangutans.  

 

Captivated by an orangutan’s enigmatic gaze in her early twenties, Birute decided that she would study orangutans. As a student of anthropology at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), she sent many letters and consulted several professors, but nobody believed she would be able to study orangutans in the wild. Everyone discouraged her. Impervious to their lack of cooperation, she persisted.

 One day, a famous anthropologist, Dr. Louis Leakey, came to UCLA to give a lecture. As she listened to him, she had a kind of epiphany: she saw her future in the forests of Borneo, working with orangutans.

   A meaningful conversation with Dr. Leakey gave her the chance to convince him that her interest in orangutans was genuine. She was ready to do whatever was necessary to study them. Three years later, Birute Galdikas ventured to Kalamantan in Indonesia with the support of Louis Leakey, who had helped her to obtain a grant.

 

Her purpose was to unlock the mysteries of orangutans. It was the year 1971. Little did she know about how much she would get attached to the forest, the people and the orangutans in Indonesia.

  Galdikas and her husband, Rod, sheltered in a rudimentary hut nestled in the rainforest. They had no electricity and survived on limited resources, under the threat of blood-sucking leeches.

 “To save money we had only one flashlight between us, which Rod always carried. But most days we went separate ways. If I spotted an orangutan, I would tie a white handkerchief around a tree before I left the trail, so Rod could find me. This system worked well most of the time. In the forest gloom the handkerchief stood out like a beacon, but on many days we lost track of one another.” Eventually, they bought a second flashlight: “After months of stumbling home by myself in the dark over roots and vines, I decided that buying a second flashlight would not ruin us financially. The blackness of the forest combined with the dankness of the air felt claustrophobic, like pushing my way through curtains of black velvet.”

  It took her months to gain their trust and get close to the orangutans. She was then able to follow their behaviors, interactions and relationships. This can only happen when habituation takes place, the process through which orangutans live their lives alongside humans without being influenced by their presence. Birute Galdikas named every orangutan she followed, and documented every feature of their individual personalities.

 Her work in Indonesia, however, was not limited to research goals.

  According to Indonesian laws people are not allowed to keep orangutans as pets, but Birute Galdikas soon became aware of the fact that these laws were not enforced. Therefore, it was considered normal to keep orangutans in cages, as pets, in Indonesia. Even government officials did it. For every orangutan that was kept as a pet, six had been slaughtered. After the mother was killed, the defenseless offspring was caught and traded. It was considered a profitable business, even though it was against the law. Living in cages, their lifespan did not go beyond their juvenile years.

 

Birute’s work and love for orangutans led her to do more than just research the lives of orangutans. Her determination to rescue orangutans transcended the boundaries of this cultural wrongdoing that happened in other countries as well- not just Indonesia. Over time, she was able to persuade people that keeping orangutans in captivity was not only illegal but also cruel and unethical.

  In addition to working on her research, Birute opened the cages of many captive orangutans and provided the rehabilitation they needed before they were ready to be released into the wild.

   Birute became the adoptive mother of several orangutans, and this was not a simple task. The first orangutan she rescued was Sugito, who clung to her day and night, never willing to let her go. Even going to the bathroom became a challenge for Birute after she adopted Sugito.

  Many of the unique stories of ex-captive orangutans are shared in Reflections of Eden, a book that teems with surprises and interesting revelations. Her words evince vivid memories of the rainforest and enrapture our senses:

“Even more profound than this elusive beauty is the music of the forest. It varies from hour to hour, but the underlying symphony, so pervasive that it permeates the fabric of one’s being, is the whine of the cicadas. Multifarious cicada voices, some ebbing, some flowing in crescendo, overpower other sounds. The noise of the cicadas echoes in the inner ear, penetrates the bones, and reverberates in the marrow.”

 It is not easy to survive in the rainforest. Orangutans have a special kind of intelligence to forage for foods they need to nourish their bodies. These foods include a wide variety of fruits, leaves, tree bark, insects, and honey. Orangutans are knowledgeable botanists, and they acquire their knowledge from their mothers. They spend their first eight years of their life learning from their mothers.

  Orangutans spend most of their time in the forest canopies, roaming through the treetops. The massive destruction of the rainforests is leading to their extinction. During those early years Birute and her husband found themselves fighting to preserve their forests.

 “With the destruction of the tropical forests, the orangutans are inadvertently flushed out of the forest onto the ground and into open spaces where the large red apes are easy targets.”

Orangutans are a keystone species. They play a unique role in the preservation of the rainforest. Their faeces contain hundreds of seeds, and by spreading the seeds they support the health of the forest and help it to thrive. 

Orangutans share 97 percent of their DNA with humans, so it should not come as a surprise that orangutans’ social lives are complex. Unlike chimpanzees, orangutans enjoy their solitude.

 “Orangutans can be quite social, but they also seem to be perfectly at ease being alone. They can form lasting relationships, but they do not need constant reassurance, nor do they fear being alone and lonely.” Relationships can last a lifetime. Even if they do not interact for months or years, the bond is maintained. This feature reminds me of dolphins. (I wrote about them when I reviewed Voices in the Ocean, years ago).

  Birute Galdikas unravels the layers of complexity of various situations and cultural experiences without adopting a judgmental attitude. "Reflections of Eden" exposes personal life stories and observations with honesty, creating new dimensions of understanding, as she unfolds different aspects of the book, including her childhood, youth, her family history, her research on orangutans and the idiosyncrasies of Indonesian culture.

 The gist of the book, however, is about the journey to understand orangutans, to rescue them, and to support their habitat.

  After reading Reflections of Eden I was inspired to learn more on how to support orangutans. Palm oil plantations are replacing the forests that they need to survive.

 Avoiding the consumption of palm oil, for example, is an important way to help them. Cosmetics and certain foods may contain palm oil, so checking labels is important to avoid purchasing products that contain palm oil. (For example, soaps, shampoo, chocolate and cookies may contain palm oil). You can also contact manufacturers, asking them to avoid the use of palm oil in their products. You can learn more about this from these websites:

 Dr. Galdikas is the President of the Orangutan Foundation International. Feel free to check their website:

https://orangutan.org/about/history-of-ofi/

 Birute Galdikas never abandoned the orangutans. Fifty years later, her commitment to protect orangutans and their precious forests is alive and active. Enjoy this National Geographic video with Dr. Galdikas and the orangutans.

 

 

 

Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid

 

“When the winds of change blow, some build walls; others build windmills.” Anonymous

Fascinating and diverse are the words that Thor Hanson uses to describe the responses of animals and plants to climate change. As I write this post, between 25 and 85 percent of all species are in the process of relocation. Both plants and animals have the potential to seek different conditions to survive.

 According to Gretta Pecl, a full-time University Professor of marine ecology and founder of the Global Marine Hotspot Network, “we are living through the greatest redistribution of species since the last ice age. Over thirty thousand climate-driven species range shifts have already been observed and measured.”

 “Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid” by Thor Hanson explores the specific changes that various species of plants and animals undergo to survive. With climate change, extreme weather events are more common. Anole lizards, for example, develop larger toe pads to cling to trees more effectively during hurricanes.

  There are many behavioral changes that surprise scientists. The switch experienced by butterfly fish is an example of this. Butterfly fish eat corals. As you may know, corals live in symbiosis with algae, but high temperatures cause stress in them and lead to a phenomenon called coral bleaching. This happens when corals expel the algae that live in symbiosis with them. (Heat waves are also responsible for coral disease, starvation and death).

  Coral bleaching itself wreaks havoc on the entire ecosystem, but the reason I mention coral bleaching here is to explain the behavioral changes of the butterfly fish. To gain access to the coral they need to feed on, butterfly fish act like fierce competitors. However, butterfly fish let go of their hostile behaviors in view of the bleached corals; they become “pacifists”. Bleached corals are a poor meal, so butterfly fish do not waste energy fighting for them.

  Another intriguing example is the situation with the bears in Kodiak Island, located off the Southern coast of Alaska. Everybody knows that salmon is an important component of their diet, but in Kodiak Island something unexpected happened.   When the levels of salmon in the streams began reaching a peak, the bears stopped searching for them; they simply left the fishing area.  The bears pursued the berries instead. Early warm weather had ripened the red elderberries sooner, so the bears chose the berries over the salmon. (By reducing their consumption of salmon, however, there is less available nutrition for scavengers in the surrounding woods).

 

Thor Hanson’s book contains various photographs and illustrations that complement the read. “Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid” kindles our curiosity, as it expounds some of the strategies that plants and animals use to adjust to the challenges of climate change.

  Finally, Thor Hanson poses a crucial question:

What are the human responses to climate change?

  “Seen through the lens of climate change biology, human activities often echo the responses of plants and animals in the wild—moving, adapting, taking refuge. Such parallels are not surprising, because in spite of the complexity of our societies, and the technologies we surround ourselves with, in the end we’re just one more species in a changing world, facing the same climate challenges, and drawing on the same basic toolbox of potential solutions. With one notable difference. Unlike any other organisms on the planet, people have the ability to do more than simply react to climate change. If we so choose, we can alter the behaviors that are causing it to happen.”

  Climate change contributes to food insecurity, starvation, and social conflicts. This is the aspect that is often left out of the conversations:

https://www.sei.org/perspectives/climate-change-amplifies-risks-violent-conflicts-africa/

 

 Here’s a thought-provoking  video:

 

Feel free to visit Thor Hanson’s website to learn more about his works and background:

https://thorhanson.net/

 Kudos to France for banning plastic packaging for nearly all fruits and vegetables:

https://earth.org/france-to-ban-plastic-packaging-for-fruit-and-vegetables-2022/

 

Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard

 

“But man is part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” Rachel Carson

   Working in the logging industry, Suzanne Simard introduced the concept of cooperation among trees; it was based on a discovery for which she was mocked and shunned. Her finding had the potential to turn forest practices upside down. 

  Policies and practices in forestry had been established on the basis of competition as the key to the survival of trees.

  Decades ago, Suzanne Simard’s discovery on the way birch trees support the health of the fir trees was the beginning of an ongoing journey that would study the kind of interaction the field of forestry had ignored for so long: cooperation among trees.

 

You may wonder how trees cooperate with each other when all you’ve heard in school was about competition.

 Just as Albert Frank was fiercely criticized when he introduced the concept of symbiosis, Suzanne Simard was dismissed when she explained the need to let birch trees coexist with fir trees to support the health of the desired fir trees. Birch trees were considered “weeds”; therefore, policies to spray and kill those trees had always been in place.

 Thankfully, Simard found another job at the University of British Columbia and she continued to work hard on her path of research, asking questions that challenged the blindsided system and paved the way to comprehend how trees communicate with each other.

 

Suzanne Simard’s research showed that trees connect underground with the roots of other trees through an intricate network of fungi (the mycorrhizae), and their health and resilience depend on this complex web.

  In her book Finding the Mother Tree, Simard details the story of her research and threads into it her own life experiences, delving into her childhood, youth, family relationships, motherhood, and other relevant matters, like her cancer diagnosis and treatment.

 I appreciate how she was able to integrate so many subjects into a thought-provoking book, and I could empathize with her on every aspect of her journey.  

 “I have come full circle to stumble onto some of the indigenous ideals: Diversity matters. And everything in the universe is connected—between the forests and the prairies, the land and the water, the sky and the soil, the spirits and the living, the people and all other creatures.”

  

Suzanne Simard also focuses on the role of Mother trees. These are the oldest trees in a forest, and they are pivotal to the survival of young seedlings and various other trees, for they provide nourishment, making the forest strong and resilient. Mother trees are the foundation that underpins the integrity of a forest, and they are vital to the diversity of the woods.

  Simard reveals the power of her scientific observations by adding poetical reflections:

  “Imagine the flow of energy from the Mother Trees as powerful as the ocean tide, as strong as the sun’s rays, as irrepressible as the wind in the mountains, as unstoppable as a mother protecting her child. I knew that power in myself even before I’d uncovered these forest conversations. I’d felt it in the energy of the maple in my yard, flowing into me as I contemplated Dr. Malpass’s wisdom about embracing the mystery of life, sensing that magical emergent phenomena when we work together, the synergy that reductionist science so often misses, leading us to mistakenly simplify our societies and ecosystems.”

  After she survived her breast cancer treatment, she asked for some kind of reassurance to get on with her life, but all she encountered was the mystery of life, so she used her knowledge and passion for trees to create The Mother Tree Project. 

 “Our goal is to further develop an emergent philosophy: complexity science. Based on embracing collaboration in addition to competition—indeed, working with all the interactions that make up the forest—complexity science can transform forestry practices into what is adaptive and holistic and away from what has been overly authoritarian and simplistic.”

 Perhaps this book will confirm what your intuition perceives in your own interactions with trees and forests; or it may offer you a new window of contemplation, immersed in a deeper understanding of the trees, inviting you to cherish those moments of communion.

 “There is no moment too small in the world. Nothing should be lost. Everything has a purpose, and everything is in need of care. This is my creed. Let us embrace it. We can watch it rise.”

  Feel free to visit The Mother Tree Project:

https://mothertreeproject.org

 To keep marveling at the ways trees communicate, check this video by Suzanne Simard:

 

You may want to read my writing on Entangled Life if you haven't had a chance to read it yet:

https://juliahoneswritinglife.blogspot.com/2021/12/entangled-life.html

 

Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall

   

“Knowledge is the only sword that can cut through harm being done in ignorance.” Sara Dykman, author of Bicycling with Butterflies.

  Jane Goodall was the first person to discover that chimpanzees make tools and use them; when she later wrote about their emotions, personalities and intelligence, she was criticized. Just like humans, chimps have emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, frustration and grief. 

 Thanks to her childhood teacher-- her family dog, Rusty—Jane Goodall had learned at a very early age that animals have individual personalities.  

 

Jane Goodall loved animals since she was little. She spent hours watching them and learning about them. Her connection with animals was deep.

  

One day in winter, when she was lying sick in bed, a British robin came to her windowsill; to encourage his visits, she left crumbs every day for the robin. In the spring the robin returned with a mate, and the birds made a nest in a bookshelf in her bedroom.

   Anita Silvey wrote Untamed for children, but it turned out to be a mesmerizing read for people of all ages. In an engaging conversational style she provides details about Jane Goodall’s life story, anecdotes, facts, maps and delightful photos. It is a book that can be shared and celebrated with an entire family, because it connects generations of people through experiences from the past, which are linked to historical events.  

 Untamed also contains an uplifting foreword by Jane Goodall, opening the minds of children to new perspectives and hopeful horizons.

  Jane empowers children to make a difference in the world.

  Anita Silvey’s book recounts how and why Jane Goodall traveled to Africa in her twenties, and how she got in touch with the mentor who would support her work through her years in Africa. His name was Louis Leakey.

  When Jane first settled in Gombe, Africa, to explore the lives of the chimps, her mother was with her. In a secluded place in a forest, away from people, where they had to dig a hole for a latrine, Jane found the magical site she had dreamed of in her childhood. Jane’s description of the place was idyllic; she wrote to her family about it:

 “It is so beautiful, with the crystal clear blue lake, the tiny white pebbles on the beach, the sparkling ice cold mountain stream, the palm nut trees, the comical baboons.”

  Anita Silvey explains the risks, dangers, and discoveries of Jane's adventures, making the book intriguing and unique. Untamed also details how the study of animals has evolved over the years, including amazing information about the challenges Jane encountered back then.

 “She devoted more hours to observation and recording than anyone in the area of chimpanzee research. And she did so through illnesses such as malaria, horrible weather, and rough living conditions.”

  

I did not know that chimps draw and paint, but some of them do. This is a photo of chimp Congo. He began to draw when he was two years old, and two years later he completed more than 200 abstract compositions.

    

Jane Goodall continues to work tirelessly to protect forests, prairies, oceans and the lives of animals and people. She also inspires children and people of all ages to do the same.

 Jane’s organizations include Roots and Shoots, Jane Goodall’s Institute and TACARE.

Feel free to check these sites:

https://www.rootsandshoots.org/

https://www.janegoodall.org/

https://tacare.org/about-us/

 I am humbled by Jane Goodall’s wisdom and courage; here’s an interview with Jane Goodall.

 Here’s another thought-provoking conversation with Jane Goodall published by Vox.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22585935/jane-goodall-chimpanzees-animal-intelligence-human-nature

To learn more about Anita Silvey’s works, you can visit her website:

https://www.anitasilvey.com/

National Geographic Kids is the publisher of “Untamed”:

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

Running for Good: the Fiona Oakes Story

 

 

  When Fiona Oakes decided to run competitively, no coach wanted to take her on. She had no money to buy magazines about running, no time to spend on blogs. With over 400 animals under her care, she relied on her determination, strong work ethic and discipline to compete. She did not have a coach to support her goals, but she did have a purpose that compelled her to do her best.

 The lack of a knee cap never deterred her from running either.

  Fiona Oakes has competed and won in several places, including the North Pole, Antarctica and the Sahara Desert. “Running for Good” is a book I could not put down. I was spellbound by Fiona’s adventures of running marathons under extreme conditions; her humility and compassion are at the heart of every experience.

 “It hasn’t been easy. I’ve got no coach, nobody to tell me what to do or what not to do. I have to truly believe that whatever effort I’m putting in on any given day, there is going to be a reward for it on race day. I’m short of time; it’s horrible weather, and I’m tired, but I’ve got to believe that by going and doing that run, that training, it is going to make a difference on that race day, somewhere in the future. That belief has been one of my greatest strengths, and underlying that belief is the motivation that allows me to do it all. I am not doing it for myself. I don’t want anything for myself that badly that would drive me that hard and make me that determined.”

 Fiona Oakes saves lives in different settings: as a firefighter, as a caregiver in her animal sanctuary, and even as a runner, at the marathons, when she has the chance to support her competitors in need.

  Fiona Oakes is vegan, and she runs to stand up for her beliefs. She competes to bring attention to the brutality of factory farms, places where animals are exploited and tortured from the day they are born to the day they die. Everything is connected, so it makes sense to point out that the cruelty of factory farms has domino effects on human animals too, and this is a good time to highlight a relevant fact that the mainstream media ignore: Factory farms are breeding grounds for new pandemics. (Feel free to check the articles at the bottom of this post to learn more).

   The first time the BBC contacted Fiona Oakes for an interview, after she won a competition in the North Pole, they made a special request: they asked her to avoid mentioning that she was vegan. Why would they want to censor that about her? However, when she was asked what compelled her to run, she had the chance to state her purpose and she emphasized her veganism. The reporter ignored her comment.

  Overlooking the central aspect of her running is no longer feasible, because it has always been the driving force of her career.

  Fiona does not run to celebrate awards and medals. She does it for the sake of others.

  “I sometimes feel embarrassed when I say that what drives me on is the suffering of animals in the factory farming industries and the cruelty that’s going on in the world today. For example, take the Marathon des Sables: It is a tough race, it’s a brutal race. Indescribably hot. It never goes below 50 degrees. You’ve got sandstorms, you’ve got a marathon to do a day, one day you’ve got an 80 K, you’ve got jebels to climb, you’ve got sand to deal with. You’ve got all sorts of problems, but I say I feel embarrassed because the caveat to all this is that at any point I can put my hand up and say, ‘Actually, I’ve had enough and I want to go home now.’ You can. The animals can’t, so what I’m doing is just a drop in the ocean, and because I’m doing it for a purpose, failing is a disaster for me. It’s not something that I’ve got written in my agenda that I’m going to fail.”

 Unlike other runners, Fiona does not have much time to recover. She needs to look after the animals in the sanctuary that she founded: the Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary. The sanctuary is her priority. Running is secondary.

 “Every penny we’ve got has always gone into the sanctuary,” she says.

  I hope her own words will help to explain the authenticity of her love and humility, and to illuminate the darkest corners of this world:

                                                                            “People ask what sort of animals we take in. Let me tell you, people don’t ask you to take in young, healthy, fit, well-trained dogs. And people don’t come to you and say, ‘I’m really looking for something elderly, something on expensive medication, and preferably we’d like it to be incontinent.”

 

Her connection with the animals has always been deep. She has a special understanding of them.  I hope that she will write a book about her relationships and experiences with the animals at the sanctuary. I will be happy to read it and will write about it on this blog.

  Thank you so much for everything you do, Fiona. You are an inspiration to many people, and those who support you are also an inspiration. Keep up the ripples of love and hope.

Happy New Year.

 To learn more about her Sanctuary and how you can help, visit the Sanctuary site.

https://www.towerhillstables.org/founder

You can learn more about Fiona Oakes from this interview:

https://www.plantstrongpodcast.com/blog/fiona-oakes

 

Articles about how factory farms are breeding grounds for future pandemics:

https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2021/02/02/Scientists-warn-factory-farming-raises-future-pandemic-risk-COVID-19-could-be-a-dress-rehearsal

https://ffacoalition.org/factory-farming-pandemics/

https://brocku.ca/brock-news/2021/06/u-k-brock-research-shows-people-resist-factory-farming-as-contributor-to-disease-outbreaks/

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-11-30/minks-covid-pandemic-factory-farms

https://earthfirstjournal.news/2022/02/01/prosecutors-silence-evidence-of-cruel-factory-farm-practices-in-animal-rights-cases/

This is an insightful conversation about this.