“Tell us what you need:” Basic NGO mentality

“Tell us what you need:” Basic NGO mentality

Wendy Hapgood is a 2017 graduate of Columbia University Master of Sustainability Management program. While there, Hapgood helped expose the illegal ivory trade in New York City through a survey report on her international media science writing course.Her work helps the authorities and Confiscated and destroyed illegal ivory worth 4.5 million US dollars -The biggest depression in New York State’s history.

Hapgood and her husband John Steward co-founded and directed Wild Tomorrow Fund (WTF) Located in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This New York City-based non-governmental organization (NGO) strategically acquired 3,200 acres of land between two very large, pre-existing animal sanctuaries. This piece of land provides access to the two parks for local wildlife and was recently designated as a nature reserve, which is the highest protection provided by South Africa.

We talked recently in her New York apartment. Below is an edited and condensed version of our conversation.

As a New Yorker, what attracted you to carry out conservation work in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa?

This is really because of my husband John, with whom I co-founded this project.

Until 2015, he worked in the advertising industry and I worked in the financial industry, but we were all getting rid of that kind of life. I am redistributing my time and energy to the climate crisis, and John volunteered to participate in the KwaZulu-Natal NGO Wildlife Act.

We started dating during this transitional period of life; I started studying for a master’s degree in Colombia, and at the same time we started WTF to provide John’s rangers working in KwaZulu-Natal with the basic necessities: boots, rifles, uniforms And vehicle tires.

WTF has purchased and protected large tracts of land in South Africa, and you are currently rewilding these lands. How did you get it?

We bought the land we are cooperating with from a lady whose family used to cultivate the land. We are competing with others who want to turn it into a pineapple farm. We approached the lady and explained to her that we were a charity and did not have the total amount she requested, but we wanted to redevelop the area-bringing back the original plants and animals.

She must agree with our goal because we have made a plan that can be paid off within five years. At this time we are only providing basic forest ranger needs, so this is a big deal, but when we saw this piece of land with our own eyes, we knew that it must be saved and protected.

WTF has since acquired a second piece of land, and we have established a nature reserve in cooperation with other conservation-conscious private landowners to expand the wildlife space. There was news just last week that all the lands we have been recovering are now declared by the government as nature reserves. This provides it with the highest level of protection that South Africa must provide.

WTF now has this reserve?

Do not. We hope that any land acquired will be owned by the South African organization, so we established the South African Wild Tomorrow Fund, which is an affiliate of WTF and an officially registered charity in South Africa, and purchased land through it.

In other conversations, you refer to the land acquired by WTF as the “Wildlife Corridor.” Can you explain it?

Wild animals need wild space. We take up most of their space through farming, development and other types of land use.

From the perspective of biodiversity, what animals leave behind are “islands” of habitat, which is not feasible in the long run. If genetically isolated, wild animals will not survive, so the corridor connects these separate and larger wildlife areas together again.

Giraffes in Ucuvila. Photo courtesy of Wild Tomorrow Fund.

So, can we call it the “natural bridge” between these established protected wild spaces?

Yes, but not always. For birds, the corridor may be just a row of trees on the edge of the developed land. That is their corridor or green highway from one area to another.

What needs to be clear is, is the corridor a mechanism for wild animals to move between different wild spaces?

Yes, but it is not necessarily physical. We help relocate elephants in the Itala Wildlife Sanctuary. This just means that the number of their big images has become too large and unsustainable. We helped them relocate the elephants to a park in Mozambique, where the elephants were poached.

I like to think of it as a “virtual” corridor, but this only works if the destination is now safe for the animal.

WTF’s corridor project is the Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve. How did you get involved in this work?

Yes! There is a lot of discussion about it, which is great because there is a vision. I am truly proud that we are indeed doing this. It is very expensive, and I think part of our advantage lies in our fundraising activities in New York City.

Our corridor is located between approximately 800,000 acres of iSimangaliso Wetland Park and 80,000 acres of Fanta Private Game Reserve on the other side. Our land is only 3,200 acres, about four central parks.

The Great Ukulhuela Nature Reserve connects the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the Fanta Private Game Reserve. The map is provided by the Wild Tomorrow Fund.

800,000 acres are about the size of Yosemite National Park. That is huge.

Yes, linking these two reserves together is so powerful. We know in history that wildebeest once migrated in this area. This corridor will allow large animals to move freely from the mountains of the Fanta Game Reserve to the coast of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

In recent years, the work done by rich white people in developed countries in developing countries has attracted much attention, mainly because of the “white savior complex.” How would you identify this problem and how is WTF different?

I have seen terrible stories of white saviours about a person’s self and how they save their children, or no matter why they raise funds, this will definitely happen. I do ask: “Is it me?”

Are you worried that you are exploiting the rangers or locals who work in these parks?

I am very confident that we do not fit this description, because when we started WTF, it was very important based on demand. We tell people, “Tell us what you need.” We provide what they ask for, and we don’t ask for anything in return.

Ranger Sam Dladla takes part in a bird survey in Ukuwela. Photo: Nadja Rutkowski, provided by Wild Tomorrow Fund.

We are a large team, and we are bringing in funds from the United States to help people involved in conservation efforts in South Africa. But this is not to be their savior, but to empower those who work with us. I don’t expect South Africa to save rhinos by itself. These species are important to the planet. This is about altruism.

John and I did not really benefit from all the work we did. I really want to live in a hut in the reserve. I look out the window every morning and see a giraffe, and really experience more of what we’re saving, but our work is in the United States. Here we bring people to tell us about why we rewild. These lands are very important stories. We live in New York, in the concrete jungle, because that is where we need to go.

Ukuwela ranger, Zamani Sibusiso Zisongo at the front desk. Photo courtesy of Wild Tomorrow Fund.

How do you help people living near the reserve?

We are hiring local people. In a sense, this is job creation, and I think this is very different from trying to “save” them by giving them something. It creates opportunities for people to help themselves.

We also do community work, which has been challenging due to COVID-19, but we help the local orphanage to provide meals on Saturdays-children eat one meal a day at school and the church serves one meal on Sunday.

How is the “experience journey” that WTF has done for its donors different from that done by some other organizations?

Our protection experience is a two-week trip that allows people in the corporate world to go deep behind the scenes and truly participate in the actual protection work. We organize them 100%, and after paying for their travel expenses, every penny is spent on the protection work they participate in.

We focus on conservation experience, education and exploration of the natural world in the region. Some activities include: wildlife surveys, camera traps and pulling out exotic plants in the reserve. For children in our city, it is fun to go out and play with a machete.

We also organized a large-scale wildlife management event, and now it is usually rhino dehorning-which helps to protect the safety of rhinos-this is the largest sum of money they have raised. This is a very emotional day, seeing someone use a chainsaw to remove the horns of rhinos, but it is effective and protects them from poaching.

Other large-scale activities may include helping to collar elephants or monitoring wild dogs. It is also important to do some interesting activities. These activities are usually to explore the surrounding natural world, such as taking a boat tour of hippos and crocodiles in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

Zebra is released in Ukuwela. Photo courtesy of Wild Tomorrow Fund.

Does WTF cooperate with other organizations?

Yes. We are often asked such questions, and I was initially confused by them. “You don’t think it is competitive,” or, “Are you competing with other NGOs?”

We have been very cooperative. An example last year was World Ranger Day. We asked about the needs of all these protected areas, and the amount requested was three times the amount we could do. I feel sorry for this. Especially because of COVID-19, they needed support last year more than ever.

I contacted other organizations and discovered that the Shannon Elizabeth Foundation also has a ranger relief fund. They can match our supply, so its impact on our region has doubled. I also inquired about the Thin Green Line Foundation in Australia because they specifically support wildlife rangers. They can help us provide supplies to the under-resourced rangers working in protected areas near us. We can’t do all this alone, but we asked for help and it worked well.

What is the next goal of WTF?

We started WTF in KwaZulu-Natal, but I have been telling John that if one day we can carry out rewilding projects in other countries (including the United States), it would be great, and I think it is equally important.

Thinus Venter is a current student of the Master of Science in Sustainable Development program.