I have been fortunate enough to be accepted on the Volunteer Eco Students Abroad Programme. I will be travelling to Southeast Asia in June 2018 to take part in an important sustainable community development and Elephant rehabilitation project. I will be working in conjunction with the Elephant Conservation Centre in Sayaboury and in the local schools teaching English, basic hygiene, nutrition, recycling, and waste management.

Approximately 50% of the elephant population in Laos is domesticated. This is an old tradition and elephants are primarily used for the logging industry. These domesticated elephants are overworked and exhausted and therefore cannot reproduce, resulting in the elephant population moving towards extinction. Furthermore, these elephants grow up in isolation and are deprived of the socialization that wild elephants would get from their herd.

Some of the ECC’s missions are:

Elephant Rescue : Taking elephants out of the logging industry and offering them a safe haven to rest, feed and breed

Encourage elephant natality : Breeding programmes aimed at increasing the number of elephant births in Laos

Re-herding programme : Re-create social bonds within the elephant group at the 'Socialisation Area'.

Your donation will help to facilitate the means for implementing a major community development project which will encompass construction in addition to educating the community on matters of conservation, sustainability, health/hygiene and more.

For more information on the programme please visit www.vesabroad.com or https://www.elephantconservationcenter.com/