Episode 72: Kindness Is Loving Sirga the Lioness

Valentin Gruener achieved his childhood goal to live in Africa and work with wildlife, and not just any wildlife. Val has spent the past twelve years raising, caring and loving Sirga, a lioness who came into his life when she was around ten days old.

Val talks about sharing his life with a wild lion, including some heart-warming stories. He also talks about the reasons for the devastating decline in the wild lion population, his conservation initiative—the Modisa Wildlife Project, and so much more.

A very special and important conversation about a man, a lioness and how together they are raising awareness to protect wildlife.

To learn more about Val, Sirga and the Modisa Wildlife Project, check out the following links:

https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/

https://www.instagram.com/sirgathelioness/

https://www.instagram.com/modisawildlifeproject/

You can support Val and Sirga and all they are doing here:

www.patreon.com/sirga

As a thank you to Val for sharing his story, Anitha donated to the Kalahari Research and Conservation (KRC). Kalahari is a unique and fragile ecosystem with a rich diversity of plants and animals. This organization works to understand and conserve Kalahari’s distinctive landscape in the face of increasing challenges.

To learn about KRC please click on the following link: https://www.krcbots.org/

To listen to the episode, click here:

Episode 32: Kindness Is Saying ‘Bye Bye Plastic Bags’

In 2013, twelve-year old Melati Wijsen and her ten-year old sister, Isabel were inspired by a lesson they had in school about significant people such as Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi.

Melati and Isabel decided they too wanted to do something to make a difference, and from this desire was born BYE BYE PLASTIC BAGS.

The organization has grown within Bali and across the world.

Anitha was delighted to speak with Raina Hwong and Dara Ginthing who are part of this amazing organization.

Raina and Dara spoke about the goals of Bye Bye Plastic Bags and some of the projects they are involved with, from Mountain Mamas to reaching out to schools and young people all over the world.

To learn more about Bye Bye Plastic Bags and all the incredible work they do, please check out their website: http://www.byebyeplasticbags.org/

As a thank you for sharing their stories, Anitha donated to Sungai Watch—a community river clean-up organization with the mission to protect waterways starting in Indonesia. To learn more about Sungai Watch, check out their website: https://makeachange.world/sungaiwatch