Let’s talk about elephants!
I’m a music-loving, meditating, book-devouring, part-time animal rescuer when I’m not on the road talking about elephants. I was raised in the small farm town of Hubbard, Oregon by a border collie named Jake and a rabbit named Petie.
I went back to school at the age of thirty-five to follow my passion and become an elephant scientist. Since I started with a fifth-grade math education it took me six years to get a degree that takes most people only four.
That’s why I’m so passionate about education. I know first-hand how much hard work following your dream takes; the humility, the army of tutors, and the drive to keep going even when the walls stacked before me seemed too steep to look over…let alone climb.
The elephants I follow today are the very same ones who inspired me when I was eight years old. I not only share their remarkable, heart-warming, compassionate stories but every last fascinating elephant fact I can find.
The truth is…that it is entirely up to us whether we let elephants go extinct and that is why I am so enthusiastic about educating everyone I can about the magic of this incredible species.
For the elephants …
Debbie Ethell is the former executive director and founder of The KOTA Foundation for Elephants. Her blogs and articles have been featured in both national and international publications including Grapevine, Mother Nature Network, and Africa Geographic, as well as several scientific research publications.
Previously Debbie worked as a consultant on the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) elephant case and on the board of Project It Takes a Village (PiTaV) which supports educational opportunities for youth in Zimbabwe.
Debbie is most passionate about teaching and does so in the US and Kenya because you can’t save elephants if you don’t help the people.
To date, she has (through her work at The KOTA Foundation for Elephants) raised enough money for nearly 900 students across six schools in rural Kakamega to have a seat at a desk, off the wet, muddy floor. She personally hired local Kenyans to source the materials, construct desks to fit two or three children, painters, cooks to provide lunches for the staff as well as educational materials on the importance of elephants for more than 300 children. It was important that work be done in Kenya by Kenyans as a way to support the entire community as a whole.
Debbie is the author of two books. She is currently working on the second in The Will of Heaven series. When not traveling, speaking, researching, writing, or roving around Africa, Debbie lives in Portland, Oregon.
Photo by Dave Lutz
Dave Lutz Photography