Author: davidgies100

In conjunction with Colorado Gives Day, ANAW-USA is holding a virtual event on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, at 5:00 PM Mountain time. The event is scheduled for 90 minutes. This promises to be an interesting and informative event motivated by those of us in the United States committed to sharing insights and partnering with advocates in East Africa, notably Kenya and the Africa Network for Animal Welfare.

The event organizers are keying off the theme of One Health and the notion that all life is linked in ways that affect each other. This has relevance to Kenya because bushmeat consumption has increased due to the pandemic. The pandemic is linked to China and the consumption of wildlife meat. China, Kenya, and the United States, indeed the total global community are linked in the economic downturn resulting from COVID-19.

So what exactly is meant by “animal welfare” and how does this matter to a grassroots organization, ANAW in Nairobi, and volunteers and advocates living in the U.S., ANAW-USA.

Please join us. Registration is open and the event is free.

Stay home and stay safe.

David Gies, for ANAW-USA

If you are interested in a distraction from our country’s Democratic Debates and the Washington D.C. drama check this out from our friends in Kenya.

Kahindi Lekalhaile and Josphat Ngonyo continue to educate the public about the brutal and destructive emergence of donkey skin trade in Kenya and the broader continent of Africa. Beasts of burden are important for fetching water, firewood, and all sort of chores necessary to live in rural Africa. As recently as 2015 there are as many as 1.4 million donkeys in Kenya. Changes in the law now allow the use of Donkeys for food, for human consumption. Donkey meat can be sold in the grocery store as a source of animal protein. The sale and consumption of donkey meat is bring about a shortage of donkeys as well as the growing a black market to supply four butcheries in Kenya.

The loss of donkeys through rustling and thievery is becoming critical. This recent interview on Kenya television is worth the preview if you are curious or interested in how many people in Africa get on with and without in their day-to-day lives.

Thank you ANAW for the interview bringing this message to a broader audience.

On my Facebook Page, I promised to share the September 2018 Newsletter written by the Africa Network for Animal Welfare staff in Nairobi.  Here is the link below.

I am grateful for the contributions made to ANAW during this holiday season.  The campaign is still open.  Also, I want to say “thank you” to all who participated to support the employment of the young people in East Africa and their accomplishments for animal welfare, conservation, and habitat.

ANAW_Newsletter_September_2018

Mike Coffman lost his bid for re-election to the congressional district where I live.  He was “my congressman”.  I have heard Mike speak on many occasions and appreciate his efforts for finding solutions to health care and veteran services.  This work isn’t easy.

I also appreciate his setting himself apart from the national leadership.  Distance from Donald Trump, in Colorado anyway, was a required strategic move.  Regrettable, even this tactic didn’t work to save the election for Mike Coffman.  It was indeed a referendum against President Trump.  

Mike Coffman deserve a big “thank you” from the constituents in Colorado.  You sought to create middle ground.  Unfortunately, there was none.  It is disheartening that the Republican Party pulled financial support from your campaign in the last lap of the campaign.  It made it more difficult to win.  Perhaps they saw the handwriting on the wall.  It is now obvious Coloradoans don’t like the direction Trump is taking the country.

I wish Mike Coffman could have avoided the negative sentiment that has spilled over into his political career.  He deserves better.  So for one, thank you for your service.

Congressional District 6 was lost not because Mike Coffman failed to serve but because the Republican Party has failed to do its job.  We can only hope for better from the Democrats.  For now, it feels like our politics is broken, dark and leaderless.  The country deserves better.

Congratulations to Jason Crow.  We are all in this together.

Last week Esmond’s Martin was killed in his home in Nairobi Kenya.  The incident is being called a robbery turned violent.  I met Esmond and interviewed him at his home in 2015.  His death is tragic news.  He was a great contributor to efforts saving elephants in East Africa and the world over.

Besides a conservationist, Edmonds was a pen and ink artist.  I remember his exhibit showcased at the Denver Art Museum a few years back.  It is a small world.  A kind and gentle man was Edmonds.  I’m sorry for his loss and the extended family’s sorrow.  Condolences to his wife. He was married to a sister of a Denver philanthropist.  Sad to lose him to the dust of Nairobi.

Credit for this photo and the full article goes to Planet Experts.

As many of you might know, I have a deep respect and admiration for the animal welfare work taking place in Africa.  I am privileged to know and work in Nairobi and all through Kenya with Josphat Ngonyo and the board and staff of the Africa Network for Animal Welfare.  The comments of President Trump are disheartening and grossly troubling for me personally.

It brings me to write this.

I am appalled at president Trump’s characterization of African nations as “shithole countries”. Over the last eleven years, I have worked with Kenyan’s traveling to Kenya three times annually, over 25 trips in total. I know people there working diligently to feed their families, raise their children, striving for a better life. I know people who daily use a trench latrine.

For those of us who believe in marketplace efficiencies and capitalism, Trump’s elitist actions and now expressions of racism and hatred toward Africa and Haiti are more than frustrating. It makes me sick. Our president is a disgusting man. He demonstrates extreme views that should not be spoken outside the confines of his trophy-golf-course-properties. He should not be in a position to represent the United States of America. It is shameful.

Many Americans volunteer around the world as part of our Judeo-Christian ethic and/or simple humanitarianism to bring about peace and share prosperity. Trump disrespects America’s goodwill toward men. He disrespects people. He is not a president that should be enabled. He is intoxicated with power, his past sins only amplified as president of the United States.

This is a democracy. What can be done now? In my opinion, failure to unleash  immediate action toward this scourge on our goodwill is un-American and negligent. We cannot wait until 2020 to remove this mean-spirited president from office. He is sadly unbalanced, uncaring, lacks compassion and understanding for others. We have an obligation to fix this. He is dangerous. His real estate deal making paradigm is not a template for formulating foreign policy. He is unwilling to learn.

I write to my Congresspeople.  I encourage us all to do the same until there can be an uprising, a clamor of voices to register the frustration of the masses sufficient to move Republican leadership to action.