Shannon H.

Environmental & Wildlife Conservation Volunteer

Dar es Salaam and Arusha, Tanzania

When I was in elementary school, I fell in love with the history, culture, and wildlife of Africa. I decided then that I would spend my life educating others about the natural history of this amazing, and seemingly distant, continent. As a child, I truly listened when Jane Goodall said, “You can change the world.” I aspired to do just that, to dedicate my life to promoting understanding and appreciation of all aspects of nature and societies. As a Master’s student in an Environmental Science program, I have been fortunate in gaining the necessary knowledge base that will allow me to become a more productive global citizen and an effective contributor in the conservation field. However, I still enjoy a desire to learn more about environmental issues in Africa, with the hopes of turning my passion into a career working for a non-profit organization that addresses international issues.

In the fall of 2007, thanks to the financial support of the InterExchange Foundation’s Christianson Grant, I was able to live in East Africa doing exactly what I had dreamed: I was accepted to be an international volunteer in Tanzania with the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program for four months. Roots & Shoots is a global environmental program for youth, with about 8,000 groups worldwide in 100 countries. Youth who belong to a Roots & Shoots group share a concern for the environment, animals, and the human community, and are able to be directly involved in solving problems facing these issues by working at the local level. The projects conducted by most groups are service oriented, hands-on, and provide youth a great way to network with others like them all over the world.

Volunteering in africaOne of the most unique aspects of the Roots & Shoots International Volunteer Program is its location. Dr. Jane Goodall’s landmark chimpanzee studies began in 1960 in western Tanzania and about 30 years later she started Roots & Shoots after a meeting with several concerned local students at her house in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. To this day, that same house still serves as the base for the Dar es Salaam Roots & Shoots groups and the international volunteers who travel to Tanzania to be a part of this amazing organization. With around 600 clubs across Tanzania, there is never a shortage of activities for volunteers to be involved with. Some of the typical responsibilities of the volunteers include creating educational presentations, helping design and implement projects, and teaching workshops to help develop a support system for local groups.

I was originally based in Dar es Salaam where I had the opportunity to meet and work with not only the Tanzanian Roots & Shoots staff, but also many Jane Goodall Institute staff. One of my first tasks was to participate in the International Day of Peace downtown march with several local Roots & Shoots groups who flew giant peace dove banners throughout the day. However, most of my time at this placement was dedicated to planning a huge World Animal Week event in conjunction with the World Society for the Protection of Animals. During the week, the activities included a march through downtown with 400 Roots & Shoots members from 20 different schools, a domestic animal vaccination clinic, birdwatching, and a visit to a cattle market. Many people from several organizations, including the local government and national and international non-profits, were needed to make the event successful, teaching me the importance of cooperation. Tanzanian Roots & Shoots groups have recently adopted the slogan “pamoja tunaweza” or “together we can,” and World Animal Week exposed many youth to the importance and truth of this statement.

Soon after World Animal Week, I was lucky enough to move to Mbeya, a small town in the mountains of southern Tanzania with few very active Roots & Shoots groups. I learned quickly that many of the students there had more to teach me than I had to teach them. Most students in Tanzania attend schools with no textbooks and no teachers with a science background, but a lifestyle of relying on the land has given students in more rural areas an innate ability to recognize important changes happening to the environment around them. Therefore, a few of the activities I helped coordinate were hikes, a national park trip, a grant writing session, and distributing information to the groups on how to plan tree nurseries and animal welfare projects. With each project, I tried to involve students from as many Roots & Shoots clubs as possible so that they could network and learn more about the importance of working together to make a change in their community.

My personal learning experience continued in Mbeya by living with the director of an orphanage that is home to about 70 children and who also founded the non-profit organization, The Olive Branch for Children. I, along with everyone who visits the center, was tremendously impressed by the positive atmosphere that has been created by all of the staff and children. Having the opportunity to visit the center and even volunteer with a few events allowed me to continue to learn about the common bonds people all over the world share. Americans typically learn about the negative aspects of African societies such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, and poor health care. However, this orphanage reminded me that really we all want the same things such as happiness, friendship, and a sense of family, no matter what circumstances our lives might be in.

The final weeks of my volunteer placement were spent in Arusha, northern Tanzania’s safari capital, where Roots & Shoots is fairly new but nonetheless extremely productive. An amazing conservation education field site had recently been established on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro and I had the privilege of visiting the site a few times to evaluate its progress. The site is yet another example of how Roots & Shoots manages to bring not just youth together to act towards positive change, but also community leaders and members. From the cooperative effort of so many people, the site now has several native tree nurseries, a village fishpond, beehives for harvesting honey, and demonstration stations for sustainable stoves.

Any experience abroad will likely be an adventure, teaching the traveler a little more about life and the idiosyncrasies of different cultures. My time in Tanzania was full of opposing yet complementary lessons, like learning how to be independent in a totally foreign country but then realizing that all societies function on partnerships, seeing that a child with no parents is not necessarily without a family, and being shown that just one person’s knowledge can inspire compassion and action among many. The great things that can happen worldwide when people collaborate for a common goal continues to amaze me and volunteering in a developing country where this rule holds true made that realization even more remarkable. I am proud to say I served as a volunteer with Roots & Shoots and want to extend my sincerest thanks to InterExchange for supporting me and allowing me to have such an enlightening and humbling experience.