Hey, I'm john. And I'm Becky. And this is the we are for good podcast.
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So let's get started. Hi, Becky.
most epic day ever.
It's pretty epic. And I want to say it was two in the morning when we first discovered our guests. Right?
It was two in the morning. I feel like a lot of our stories come in when it's like where it's the middle of the night and all of a sudden the email pings. And we get an email and it's from this incredible human being from Australia. Hi, Ivanka. asking, do we know a storyteller? Can Can we hook him up with a digital storyteller? We're talking with him for? I don't know, an hour back and forth, we come to find out he is a volunteer who's been working a year, pro bono for this incredible organization of which we are meeting the founder today, who is I have to say it an international badass and what he is doing to protect our environment to save our precious animals to work toward conservation. by equipping women. I hope you all are buckled up because I am so excited to introduce Damien mandar. He is the founder of international anti poaching foundation. And I don't even know which way to go with describing Damien one. He He is an Iraq War veteran who served as a naval clearance diver and Special Operations sniper for the Australian Defence Force. So if you have an image of him in your head, that is exactly what he looks like right now. So he's the most intimidating person in the room with the kindest heart. And so here, Damian's dying that I'm going through this story. But I have clearly researched and love stories.
I get the sniper blushing.
It's never happened. It's so great. Okay, so one day in 2009, Damien was traveling through Africa. And he was so inspired by the work of Rangers in the plight of wildlife. And so he liquidated his life savings. And he established the international anti poaching foundation to be the last line of defense for nature. And if that is not one of those incredible audacious goals of someone actually jumping and going for it, john,
I don't know where he where your heart is, and oh, my gosh,
every single layer of putting skin in the game. And so for the past decade, he has scaled to train and support Rangers, which now helped protect over 4 million Hector's of African wilderness. And we he has these women, the aka shingu, we're going to dive into the story of the aka shingu and bring your claim x as we do, which is women who have been trained almost like Navy SEALs to go out and be the protectors of this war of this wildlife. And Damian is just taking their heart and their compassion and their need to protect and he has put it on steroids. And they are changing the landscape in Zimbabwe and all and I think it's having a ripple effect in Africa. So final thing and then I'll be quiet and I will let Damien talk. He is the winner of the 2019 when some constants kindness, gold medal, which is this prestigious international recognition for service to animals, and to humanity. And you might know a couple of the recipients. Sir David Attenborough, Dr. Jane Goodall,
who's on our dream list, she
is on our ungettable get list. We're just going to put that out there for you Damien, because we love Dr. Goodall. And then he was featured and you know, a little newly released James Cameron documentary and is working with James Cameron and National Geographic about his work. But please Friends, welcome our friend all the way from Zimbabwe. Hi, Damien. Welcome to the weird for good podcast.
Yeah, beautiful guys. Thanks very much for having me on. Good to be here. Good to be back in the States after 18 months of not being able to fly in. And thanks for the listeners for tuning in.
We're so delighted that you were here and I mean, we just need to dive straight into your story and we would like to know just a little bit about you and tell us about where you grew up how you got into, you know, becoming a sniper. And and talk to us about your love of nature and of these precious animals and where this all started.
Yeah, well, for those mothers out there, I was never led to touch guns growing up. So you know, you become a sniper. So I mean, I grew up in the east coast of Australia. I spent more time in the water Then out of the water, diving, snorkeling free diving. That all started at a very young age, you know, just kind of I mean, we we lived on the beach as kids. And then I think I was about 13 I started, had gone sell fishing lures back to the fishermen on the local, the local Wolf, they'd lost them fishing for calamari overnight. And I dive down and click these lures and, and swim back up to the surface, they drop a $5 note in the water, I'd stuffing in my wetsuit, and I'd throw the lure up to these guys. And then of course, any kid has spent their life diving. The ultimate end dream job is to be a Navy Diver. And that's sort of how it all started.
The entrepreneurial spirit, the level of innovation, like just from an early age is really fascinating.
Yeah, with a streak of naughtiness,
which is servo,
I was gonna say is, is like being a little bit fearless. And I mean, even Henri allows you to be a disruptive, creative thinker. And your mission is so primed, and almost an embracing of that, and it thrives in that. So, I mean, we're so curious, and we want you to introduce the international anti poaching foundation to our listeners, give us an overview of the mission and kind of set the scene for the current state of poaching in our world today.
Yeah, I'll just speak back to that comment you made there about being fearless. And I say, you know, it's probably probably something we should all embrace. And that's, you know, the there's very rarely been a moment where there wasn't an element of fear or uncertainty. But it's never stopped me from doing something, you know, even I mean, in Iraq, when running our missions, you know, human being, you know, me and the guys are scared to going out there, you know, that there's a very good chance that, you know, some of you might be coming home that day, when you go into a new country trying to set up when you get taken away by police to be interrogated. You know, this, this is, you know, you can be marched on. So it's not scary, but the reality is, it is scary sometimes. And, you know, it's how we deal with that fear and manage risk, I suppose that creates the opportunities for us doing nothing and living a life of safety is that's the scary thing for me, you know, the most scary thing for me. But yeah, so the IPF, I left Iraq, I did, did a bunch of tours over there. And then were three about spent about three years in total, doing doing various roles. One was training Iraqi paramilitary forces, I later moved into a management role within that program, and then working alongside the US Army Corps of Engineers, as a present private contractor for what was called program matrix, based out of Baghdad. So we were running, you know, sometimes four or five missions a day, working with the Corps doing doing reconnaissance operations with them on major infrastructure that have been destroyed their schools, hospitals, power plants, the I left Iraq, spent a year in South America, and I suppose, you know, if you know, this, really, you know, something of deep personal impact, particularly when I'm here in the US, we're 22 us veterans a day commit suicide, I went to South America, and what was it turned at the beginning a self deserved break or a holiday or a reward for having survived or having done well financially for having served in some of the most elite military units that are and then, you know, certainly among humans, a masters at creating excuses that suit up conveniences, and it just became a very slippery slope for me, drugs and alcohol became less of a reward and more of an escape, turn into an 11 month, you know, downward spiral. You know, I say this as someone that, that, you know, it's not, it's not too uncommon to wake up to, you know, a Facebook post or an email or a phone message about, you know, another brother that's, that's committed suicide taking their own life because, I mean, you want to train someone up to to be able to shoot someone from a mile away or go and live, you know, for extended periods in the middle of a war zone in a foreign country in a different hemisphere. And they're not pick up the pieces of those kids that go out and fight the arguments of old men. When these kids come home, and you know, once somebody's got to flip a burger at hungry Jack's are driving Uber and you know, they're actually trained to work as part of it a tight knit small, niche unit, doing shit that most people couldn't even do on a PlayStation. And, you know, it's it's hard, you know, it's hard to reintegrate back into society and I was one of the lucky ones when I hit rock bottom, I bounced. And you know, there's a lot of people that weren't that fortunate. I I ended up on a I'd heard about anti poaching sounded like an adventure. Again, I would say, selfish angle that I was always Taking or fulfilling it was about, you know, the next adventure for Damian, just like Iraq had been, just like the military had been, it wasn't necessarily about serving my country or a higher purpose it was, it was about serving myself really.
And, and that's how that's how anti poaching for me started wandering around the southern part of of the African continent after landing landing there with a one on one way ticket and carry on luggage only. And that's when things really started to change for me both internally as who I am. And I've seen enough people that have gone through significant transformational change in their lives and become different people. And, you know, I suppose at that time where there was a lot of negative things that had happened in my life that could have made me take different forks in the road. And I was fortunate enough, I suppose, with the grounding that I've been given by my parents growing up, the friend and support network that I had in the drive have naturally been been gifted to be able to turn all those negatives into into a positive force. And that's the positive force was pushed forward by seeing what was happening with ranges. So this this, this group of people that have dedicated their lives to protecting nature, at the very last lines of defense for these animals, that these trees, these forests, these waters, and then animals themselves, what was happening to a group of species that historically exploited, you know, if you drop me in Africa a decade before and said, can't can't do this, you know, you wouldn't have got the same outcome, because I wasn't, I hadn't been, you know, we're all a product of our past. We're all human beings, you know, we all have funner abilities. And, and it's, it's the scars in life, I suppose that that build up the build up the mindset, and the ability to take the next steps. And hopefully, those next steps are in the right direction. As fortunately, you know, things just worked out, didn't sit there and make, you know, grand map and say this is this is where we're going for the next 10 years, it's been our say, and maybe I'm sure you guys hear this a lot, but doing good is infectious. And in a selfish way, the more good that we did as an organization, the better I felt, as opposed to try and do things that were self fulfilling, doing things for others and for animals and doing the right thing. It just sort of grew and grew and grew and got us where we are where we are today.
Holy smokes. Yeah, I
mean, you're one of the most engaging, and deep storytellers we've had on the podcast. And I think it comes from such a deep place within you that I appreciate your vulnerability of your journey. And just kind of speaking to how your experience has shaped you and really prepared you for this. I mean, something we talk about a lot is just how each of us ended up in this in a backwards kind of way, you know, we kind of end up in these causes, that we never really price sat out on the onset. I think that's so much part of your story. It's like fighting this battle to go fight, you know, after you had been in a battle and figuring out how to take all of your skills, all of your strategy, and channel it into something that just called you and gave you such purpose. And I just love that I love hearing that and hearing kind of your redemptive story in that, too, is just incredibly inspiring. And now you're providing that for other people to say, thank you so much for going there with us. No, thanks.
I wonder if you could give our listeners a little bit of background on the issue of poaching. What are the statistics on that I have seen some of your videos. And I mean, if you have any heart at all, for animals, it is a really hard to watch some of these videos. But this is reality. And I think this is the part what that you're kind of teasing. And what you're saying is you can either look away or you can lean into it and say I want to do something different. And we we want to get people not only educated on this podcast about what is the state of it now? And how are you combating this issue? And how can they be a part of it?
Yeah, so I mean, poaching is part of a much larger narrative that we're all aware of. And, and we're all, I think, hearing more and more about and that's this destruction of nature and the spin offs from that, you know, whether you're talking about the climate crisis, whether you're talking about species going extinct, or human civilization or to its knees, by pandemics, it all relates back to that one sort of, I would say parasitic, you know, influence that we're having over this planet, over nature as a single species, and the one species that has the power and potential to overtake every other species that is out there. And, you know, the reality is if we don't acknowledge that we are not the main act, this planet has been spinning for over 5 billion years, and it's survived a lot worse than human beings. And we'll continue to do so if we don't realize that we're not the main act, we're part of a much bigger, intricate system, then whether you're dangered one, so now our future as a civilization is dependent on our willingness to preserve biodiversity and nature. So we be very short sighted. And I mean, poaching is definitely one function of that, and that us as an organization, as an individual, within that organization, this is it. This is our dance space. This is, you know, we've picked out battle and this is us in terms of how we can have the biggest impact in protecting as much nature and biodiversity as possible. You know, when I say that people can often be just overwhelmed and daunted with with a task that we have in front of us. But it's, it's just pick something and make that your thing. And you may not pick the right thing to begin with. But but it only took us It took us a bunch of years to actually figure out where the most impact we could have as an organization was, and we've refined that down to two projects now, which I'll go into later. But it's just picks, you know, pick something and you know, don't try and do everything will be overwhelmed with everything, just find something that you can make a difference in. Don't be poaching as an industry is one of the largest criminal industries in the world, behind drugs, guns, human trafficking, and counterfeiting. So you're talking a multi billion dollar industry that's responsible for the destruction of forests, the decimation of species. Reports vary on how many elephants you know, as an indicator are lost each year. But, you know, somewhere in the realm of 35,000 elephants each year kill for their ivory. We're looking at populations of black rhino, or rhinoceros now listed as critically endangered. With with as little as 1% remaining of what they once were several 100 years ago on the continent. Many species are going extinct every day, often, we only hear about the sexy ones. The truth is, and we started as a species specific organization, predominantly elephant Rhino, because they were the ones that were being targeted by militarized tactics. And that's where we felt we can have the greatest impact because of this skill set that we we bought to the industry and to the areas we chose when we first started off. Over time with growth and maturity, we've we've acknowledged that it is not just species that need protecting, it's the areas that they live in. And they're beyond just looking at at the preservation of an area, we started looking at landscapes, big, wide open landscapes, and how they fit together as you imagine a landscape like something like the Zambezi Valley, which is made up of a number of different national parks. But there's also a number of different other areas in there that are held under different structures, or communal land trusts or areas that were previously used for trophy hunting, or some areas that are still used for trophy hunting. Collectively, these, these, these different parks and areas make up a whole jigsaw puzzle. And if we start losing the pieces of those jigsaw puzzle, then we have these these pockets of isolation, and then you start losing the richness of that biodiversity. And so, so we started, we stopped looking at parks as a standalone entity to protect. And we started looking at these wide open landscapes. And it was a big shift for us, you know, last line of defense for animals to be in is community driven conservation solution for wide open wilderness landscapes supported with indigenous leadership capacity building through our lead Ranger training program. And of course, a model for conservation being Aqua shingu nature protected by winning,
okay, what you have outlined here, I mean, we need to all go back and re listen to this, because how you've threaded together this movement, you're so subscribed to the bigger picture here. And I love that, you know, you say we're, we're committed to this part of it, but we realize it's a it's gonna take a community. And that's been your approach with every one of your programs. I love that that is the banner that you wave. It's how you activate women, specifically through academia. And I would love to take some time and unpack that one specifically. But I think just your mindset of approaching the problem by saying we need a community wide solution that activates the people living right here, we're not sending just aid, we're not saying it's not the Savior ism, show up take care of the problem. It's actually engaged the community around this solution. So it's profitable for them to you talk about that,
you know, there was a paper that came out recently and you know, one of the one of the faults they highlighted with the programs, you know, this still is what foreign guy coming over and doing this work. And yeah, my initial response is well, yeah, he you know, cares what color I am and where I come from. The fact is we're doing it as an organization and the fact is, it wasn't being done before in these areas. We've been lost to agriculture and as human settlements, so you know, I think I think we need to step back a little bit from from the who, you know, I'm part of a much bigger organization and a team, you know, an amazing team of people. We've got You know, pushing towards 300 staff now, of which three of foreigners in Africa working on the ground. So you know, the rest being people from local communities 95% of our law enforcement staff in our projects come from within 14 miles of the boundary of the area, we protect that this is a this is a primarily community driven program. So I mean, aka shingu, as a model was born out of out of, I would say, a level of desperation and frustration. And we've been running programs that were extremely effective, but but fairly militarized in their approach. And we, you know, we were essentially having this ongoing battle being waged against the local community where these poaching elements were coming from. And we, in our own, I would say, no mindedness grouped up, all the communities being fed, because that's where the purchase came from. And so then, you know, drew a line in the sand, we put up the fences, and we defended those, those lines in the sand with guns. And if you know, we're spending all this money having an ongoing war with, with the local community, it just wasn't sustainable. There's going to be 2 billion people on this continent by by 2040. And finding community based community led community driven local solutions is a key to conservation in Africa. So we were just, you know, fortunate enough to to be able to refine a model that seems to become become the intersection for for women's empowerment, conservation, community development, healthcare, education, water, roads, rural development. And, you know, it's I mean, it's grown, we started with one reserve nature reserve. With 16 women, we've now scout officially has around 240 staff as part of that program, protecting eight, eight nature reserves a land area are almost 1.5 million acres, this is this is land that would otherwise have been lost to human settlement or agriculture. And so you know, we're proud of that. By 2026, we hope to have a workforce of 1000 that have that have reclaimed 20 areas, 20, former trophy hunting areas that would otherwise have been lost, or absorbed into into humanity. It hasn't, it hasn't been easy. There's been a lot of mistakes along the way. But these mistakes, like I think, have been more than more as lessons as school fees, then, then then something that would would, would set us back with us. It's always just been constantly pushing forward and being willing to make mistakes, but be willing to learn from them. You know, I'm extremely proud of what everyone's been able to achieve, and not only achieve internally and as an organization within our projects, but the example in the best practices that were driving through industry now and other other organizations, other governments, other countries are now replicating. Putting women at the center of the conservation strategy gives the greatest traction and community development and conservation becomes a natural byproduct of complete 180 degree shift in the way that we look at wildlife conservation.
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I'll tell you, you've got to see the documentary film. I mean, like, you know, what you've described here is the infrastructure behind it and it is so locked solid. This is the right way to solve a problem like this. It's the right way to get people engaged. But what I love the documentary does is it takes it to this human level. And it shows you I can picture you yelling and not really yelling but coaching in saying some of you are going to die Goodwood coaching. In just the fear you're looking in these women's eyes that are there that are struggling, that are looking for hope that or I would say it's similar to your story like trying to find the mission to plug into just trying to take care of their family trying to you know make right and you are challenging them and giving them these tools and empowering them and their humanity in their group. In their badassery, if that's a word to go in, and take care of this problem like it is, it's truly remarkable. Oh,
you guys, this is a 13 minute documentary for anyone who loves documentaries. It's It is one of the finest documentaries that I felt profoundly changed by and I have sent it to probably 20 people in the last month, that is how much it's affected me. And I want to talk about aka shingu. This is the brave ones, these are women who have overcome abuse, trauma, marginalization, they've lost jobs, they could be single mothers. And Damien has taken them. And he is empowered them to protect themselves and these beautiful animals that are under constant threat. And it's like, all of a sudden, you see a woman, like, like a phoenix rise up out of their situation to become the most incredible defender of conservation. And I want you to talk about the aka shingu. And how did you come up with that? And in talk about how that has changed not only these women, their families, but how it's changed you and impacted this organization?
Yeah, I mean, that's very interesting that you asked that, how it's changed me, and it's, in many ways, I've become the student. There's so many positive spin offs that have come from this program. That was unintentional. And as I said before, in regards to the organization, it was the same with this project, we've been there and, and write out a roadmap forward and say, This is exactly what's going to happen and where it's going to go. We just, we just took a leap. And, and a lot of things have, have just fallen into place and things, you know, just things completely unexpected, which which I'll talk about but, you know, we were just having this, this ongoing battles with communities and looking for a way to de escalate tension, and bring to wind things back from the militarization of conservation that to be honest us as an organization, and had beaten the drum possibly the loudest. over the previous decade, it was a combination of things. One, I mean, one was seeing other industries getting ahead by getting more women into management positions, looking internally at at our own in the industry, where women are outnumbered in frontline roles at a ratio of about 100 to one. So that reduces the opportunity for women to gain the experience they need to become leaders to move into management, because you need field based experience to be able to make tough decisions when things go south. And people's lives are in your hands. And without that exposure. You just you just constantly be held down or suppressed and seeing the US military putting putting women through through their training programs. In particular, the US Army Rangers an article I read in the New York Times about, about women go through Ranger training with the army. And, you know, a decade before reading that article, we are on a mission in Baghdad and blown up and surrounded by the anti aircraft guns pointed at my head. And yeah, so this is this is it big fella. This is how it all ends. And it was the US Army Rangers that came and got us out of there alive. So seeing the input women through through their training cycle, okay, well, if the US military is now putting women into frontline roles, and why why aren't we Why? Why are we as an industry pretending to like we're putting uniforms on them and putting putting a weapon in their hand or whatever, or betraying that they're doing, doing the full job, but they're actually not the they're being held back from doing it. And they've been used as a marketing tool. So, you know, we just we went spoke with the local chief and a local Councillor and, and asked for, you know, so this is what we want to do, we had an abandoned area, almost, I mean, the initial pilot areas almost at 90,000 acres, so it's a massive area, and most of the animals have been poached down. The community had nothing to lose, but still we had to fight. We really had to fight, you know, push hard against this very patriarchal mindset to give us a chance to do the selection program with these women. And you know, that's that's the only question I had in my head by that stage. Can women be trained to do this job? And if they could, then Okay, let's, let's just push forward, full steam ahead. And so we eventually we negotiated a three day window to be able to do a selection training. And we put the word out in the communities. Again, not a great deal of thought went into into the process. It was just okay, well, is this sort of that that underdog mindset, always battling for the underdog? And so we thought, Well, you know, if this program works out and the women that graduate from it, get a job, then why not? Why not create that opportunity for the ones that needed the most and that's why the criteria was says survivors of serious sexual assault, domestic violence aids often single mothers and abandoned wives. We put them through I mean, they were ridiculed on a way to training a child to go home, go back to the fields, get back to the family, this is a man's job, he taking our jobs, you don't belong here. You know, they just put their heads down, and I came and we sat down, we listen to each and every story during the pre selection process. Each of those stories was backed up by the Chief and the sybok the village heads. So it's not like the women had the opportunity to come in and you know, create some story about you know, bad life to try and get it get a job this with genuine stories and an accounts of of their life to date. And having been a person that's built a career across three continents in training men for frontline combat.
And only we're working exclusively with men and being part of Special Forces units, the ultimate boys club and wanting to keep keep things that way. You know, I was ashamed to have been part of a culture that had kept women suppressed. You know, there was some of the toughest stories that you could ever, ever imagine. Each one of those women had a horrific story to listen to. There's some of the toughest two days in my life listening to those stories. Yeah, so anyway, we added the 87 women that came down which first 3636 started selection. And yeah, I mean, the the toughness that we got in the criteria that we said, we didn't expect, whoever these women were tougher than anything I'd seen. And in their own their own special way. And anything we thought we could throw at them in terms of Special Forces selection and all that. The reality was, it was nothing compared to what they come from, or they stood to go back to. And then that was, that was the beginning of it, we just, we step back to our job as instructors, the women had nothing left to prove at that stage. Our job is to prepare them for from our deployments.
I think the thing that struck me so much when I saw this documentary, which, by the way, is produced by National Geographic directed by James Cameron, so it's at that level, but they did such a great job of showing the brokenness of the woman coming in. And I felt her heaviness her head down, her not looking people in the eye, there was some emptiness there. And it's like, as your are leading them through the four pillars of misery, that you all talk about hunger, exhaustion, cold and wet. And going through the special training, you're seeing this armor Come on them. And by the end of it, the level of confidence, the level of how connected they are to each other, like the way that they were built in community, and fighting for something bigger than themselves. I felt like you watch them come alive. And the thing that struck me the most at the end was, you know, a lot of people would think you equipped them because you gave them a gun, you know, a gun of which they're working to arrest poachers without even firing a single shot. But the armor to me is the confidence they had. And the end the ability that they felt like they could, they found their truth. And they knew exactly why they were there. And they were ready to take the ultimate sacrifice, even if it meant their own giving their own life, to protect these animals. And you knew that because you said in one of these videos, you are hardwired as a woman, you have an instinct to protect. And you honed in on that, and you made it their superpower. And I just think it is one of the most inspiring movements that I have ever seen in nonprofit. And to think of like a founder and executive director here in the States, we think about like training volunteers. This is another level of training and what you were doing to go into marginalized populations. And that is what we do in nonprofit we find we solve problems we find people who are suffering and Damien has in the team has taken this marginalized voiceless population of nature of animals. And they have given them these protectors who are also marginalized at one point. And yet, this can be the strongest infrastructure that I've ever seen in a base. So I just clearly am so geeked out, I want everybody to go watch this documentary, I want you to get familiar with IPFW. Because this organization is doing not only massive things to protect the environment that I hope has a ripple effect beyond Africa, but it is about looking at your community, and figuring out how to equip them in a way that is empowering and leads to systemic change. So my hat is off to you. Thank you very much.
And I just got to say as a marketer, thank you for making that film because you're right in prep. This interview, I mean, the piece on your website that talks about the program, I read that and I'm like, Man, this is cutting edge type program is beautiful how it's described. But it's it's just one dimension, going the human level, taking the time and care to make something of that, I hope will awaken a nation about this, you know, because I think it has that power. And so thank you for stepping into that. I think it just speaks to the power of storytelling and humanity. So thank you for doing that.
Thank you guys. So amazingly kind words. Just to be honest, these women were given nothing but but you know, the slightest of opportunities, and they're the ones that have done the work, we had to make the selection standards harder, because in the eyes of everyone that had more to prove, these women were given no concessions. So they, they are the genuine heroes in this story. And you know, to see what they do with their lives, the empowerment of their salary, or their position in communities, the way they carry themselves, the effect that that had that has a ripple effect throughout the communities. You know, that's, that's the reward. And then the byproduct again, of all that is our initial intention. That's conservation, we just, we just managed to take a whole bunch of boxes along the way.
And I have to tell you, I am so emotionally invested in petronella. And who is sort of like the central figure that is taught is the woman who is leading sort of this charge. And I'm, and I have to ask you, because you're sitting here, How's she doing? How are women doing? Like, how are they How are they doing? And COVID? Like, I can't, it's funny because you start to care about them. And I just want to know, how's it going over there? Is there anything we can do to help them
already doing an amazing, amazing job of helping by telling, giving us a platform to tell our story and getting the word out there and that's, that's so important, not only for funding, but for for people to understand a different way of looking at looking at solving problems. petronella is the badass Yeah, you know, I'm a retired that is one of one of many that's see to my weapons of choice these days is a steering wheel and a keyboard. Giuliana, who they completed our lead Ranger training program in Kenya, where we take some of the most promising indigenous leaders on the continent, we put them through our instructors training course, they graduated that both of them at the top of their class going up against some some ranges that have been working as ranges for as much as two decades, these women started that program, after two and a half years of working as a Ranger, and they've both ducks their class, both from a fitness and an academic standpoint. And that just gives you an idea of of, of how bad our state they both are. They're over in a place called songo, in the bingo district of Zimbabwe, and they are leading a training program there for a whole new group of platoons of women that have been deployed as part of 75 new Rangers that are that are coming through training for us right now. For the new areas that we've got, they just did an endurance match the other day. For you, for you, people out there that want to know, just I mean, how tough they are, they did it 24 hours straight March did 18 miles in 24 hours, that's like three back to back marathons. The GPS showed that in 24 hours, they spent 45 minutes on brakes stops, like getting water or getting food, otherwise, you know, 23 hours and 15 minutes out of 24 hours non stop. And that's, you know, a bit sore afterwards. But you know, they mean, they still add fuel in the tank. And so they're, they're amazing. They, they really are. And he each one of the women is amazing in their own way. You know, either with the stories that they've got the hardships they've overcome the place that they're in, in their life. Now, you know, most of our women within 18 months of coming through the program have bought their own land and build their own house. And for many of them, that means getting their families back together, getting their kids back in school, getting driver's licenses, we things we take for granted. Being able to give basic health care, you know, so many people die and some of these rural areas because they don't have five litres of fuel to put into a vehicle to drive to a clinic and get a get a $10 malarial treatment. You know, so just just the small things mean so much in these communities, and it's the same with with donations, people think, you know, how's my 10 bucks gonna make a difference? How's me? How's me making this change in my life gonna make a difference. And the reality is, lots of small efforts do equal something big. And it's definitely the case on the ground, the projects we do and externally as a global community. Wow.
Yeah. And now say, I mean, when we ask those questions, Damian just lights up. I mean, this is what this is all about. And I think You've said earlier that good is infectious. And I think it's just true. And it's true to your story to just see how this program is just a snowball that's growing a snowball in Africa. There you go. Think one
time, every time these
things do come true. Well, Damien, we we believe in the power of philanthropy, I can see this in your story, is there a specific moment that philanthropy has stuck with you over your career journey that you've been sharing with us?
I mean, that this is a I mean, I look back on my life and sort of now it's down to a handful of really defining moments, you know, where things could have gone one way or the other, you know, should have been dead a whole bunch of times. So everything, everything from here is extra, you know, so just making the most of that, but I mean, I suppose the real turning point for me is you guys said you'd watched a bunch of the videos and that you know that TEDx talk at the Sydney Opera House they're talking about yesterday you're looking into the eyes that that buffalo that had been caught in a why snare? And who should rip their own pelvis apart? Trying to get out of there and just go with that leg stuck in that trap and having to euthanize her and her giving birth to a stillborn calf. Yeah, it doesn't matter how bad is you? Are we are We come from that, for me that bought everything into perspective and just stop being about me instead of being about you know, what can be done with the skills I have in the money I've saved. And that's, I suppose that definitely is probably the biggest defining or turning point in my life and what really projected, projected us to correct you down the path of philanthropy and establishment of the International anti poaching foundation.
I love that. And I just I just love that it started with your own gift, and that you set the tone for how this was going to be unpacked and unfolded. And I love that you said what can my $10 due because I mean, you first of all, your website as a marketer is gorgeous. It's such a beautiful, it does such a beautiful job of storytelling, there is an incredible call to action that even $10 can make a difference because your gifts are keeping Rangers on patrol. And so I will definitely link that up. We have a lot of listeners that, you know, they feel compelled by hearing these mission stories and they want to come in as a monthly donor. This is an incredible organization, if you have aligned with anything that Damien said, this could be something I think that will compound and give more richness to your life, the more that you give to it. But Damien we always ask our guests final question, what is your one good thing? This can be a secret to success, a good habit or a piece of advice? What What kind of advice would you give to our listeners? As your one good thing?
Yeah, I suppose at the moment, I'm just I'm in a space where, you know, whenever you ask people about their life, you know, what do people want, they want to be happy. And being happy is having a good time. And it doesn't matter what you're doing, whether you're doing philanthropy, whether you're trying to be a mom, or a dad, or a teacher, or a scientist or an astronaut, biologist, bricklayer, you know, when we're doing it, right, we're having a good time. And I think for the, the lesson of living life and having a good time, the only other rule to that is, is just just be kind in the process. You know, everyone, everyone has the opportunity to lead a good life and to be successful in whatever it is they choose. It's just, it's just having that kindness and not stepping on other people and other things and building your empire on the broken backs of others on nature. And as humans we don't have, we don't have billions of years, we've got a handful of decades at best, and just being able to cut away the bits that don't work, keep the bits to move forward. And I suppose with us as not only as an organization, but as an individual. That's, that's really the sort of mindset I go out with every day and just be kind. And, you know, be humble. And yeah, it's, it's a learning process. You can't get it right from day one. And that's the whole journey is a three exciting part.
Well, I feel like you absolutely embody that. And I and I have to give one good thing, which I do occasionally, just because I just feel so inspired by this conversation. And I also want to just share my gratitude with you. But my one good thing is, I want to thank you for starting this organization. I have two daughters, young, they're seven and 11. And they're very big environmentalist, and they love animals. And I sat them down and I had them watch the aka shingu video and they were so bought in to what you were doing, and to see this modeled and for my children to see, you know what life is like, what people are going through on the other part of the world to get outside of their tiny little narrow world hear of privilege and to see what's happening and how they can be a light to others. I just encourage anyone if you regardless of whether you have daughters or kids Share this video with someone We all have things that are buried deep within us. You know, what is your cause? How do you rise up and fight for the thing that matters for you, as you're planting seeds with your children, let them see these things. Let them find the things that awaken passion inside them. So I want to thank you for that. And that would be also my one good thing. Awesome. Thank you so much. Well, Damien,
how can people our listeners best connect with you the international anti poaching foundation? What's the best way to find y'all?
Yeah, just through our website, jump ipf.org. Just if people forget that the international anti poaching Foundation, or just type in anti poaching, and you'll see us come up there is also a bunch of cool media things that have been done. There's a few 60 minutes shows BBC, of course, the James Cameron natgeo, daco. Just learn about conservation, learn about nature, and about our struggles. Doing doing, doing doing a bunch of good things, doesn't give us credits to do bad things, you know. So it's like, making a reading about how we can make changes in our lives that will impact the lives of others in nature. And, yeah, people want to support us through our website. That's, that's fantastic. We're extremely grateful. That's how we function. That's how we roll. So yeah, thank you. And just a quick shout out to Ivanka is the demand behind that website you saw connecting us today, but also, I suppose in in a very tough time for philanthropy, helping us shift, you know, a lot of our trajectory into digital marketing. And as I said at the beginning, I normally be in the us a lot more and speaking with people face to face, and we haven't had that opportunity. So being back here now to complement what the bunker is put together with the rest of the teams is great. So thank you guys.
It's been an incredible honor. Thank you so much.
I'm just so happy to know you are in the world doing the work that you're doing. I'm so happy to know petronella is in the world, the Ivanka that I mean, it's just a global effort, and we're just rooting for you. You're awesome. Thank you so much, guys.
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