Background, Cont.
Now picture this: When I was a little kid, a very small traveling circus came to the “big” town (about 400 people) near us, and for the first time I got to see elephants, three of them. Not only that but I got to ride one! I was the first one in line to climb up the steps to the platform where I slid off onto her neck, right behind her head. With those big ears coming back over my legs. I still remember the feeling of that sparse, stiff hair on her head. After the circus closed, my family and I were privileged to talk with the elephant handler and I got to pet that elephant for a long time. For that little kid, growing up on a remote ranch, light-years from Africa, or even a city zoo, what a thrill that was! I was ready to trade off my saddle horse for an elephant. And that was the start of my fascination with elephants.
And now there I was, traveling down a dirt track in the African bush, my world-class opportunity to see an elephant, and who knows what else, in the wild. I could hardly contain myself! I had my digital camera in hand and it was turned on. Boy was I ready. And do you know what I got to see?!.......Nothing! Not a single wild animal of any kind. Zilch. Nada. I might as well have been on the backside of the moon. I can’t find words to describe how I felt.
At that point Mack and I both felt compelled to make a very significant contribution to stopping the human atrocities in Africa and the unchecked slaughter of elephants for the illegal international ivory trade. So what did we do? We spent a very large part of the next four years trying to find a group or organization that we could partner with. What is the saying? “Good things come to those who wait.”
Then in May of 2013, through one of Mack’s longtime friends in the Central African Republic (CAR), we were introduced to Mr. Antonio PELOSI, the Coordinator for ECOFAUNE Project (now retired), a European Union financed, anti-poaching organization operating in the northern part of the Central African Republic (CAR) since April 2012.
In April 2017 we spent nearly a month in Central African Republic. Much of that time was spent traveling by aircraft, in vehicles, on motorcycles, and on foot, through Ecofaune's Area of Operations (AO) located deep in rebel held territory in the northern part of the country. We met with their Rangers and other personnel, and negotiated with Mr. Pelosi on guidelines for a contract.
We were returned home to raise funds to build a new Piper PA-18 Super Cub (airplane). During the build process (which was completed in 2020) Mr. EPLOSI retired from Ecofaune, and the counter poaching operations was turned over a different group, ACS. We repeatedly sent many emails to ACS’s president and their CAR Country Director, offering our air support services to them free of charge. However, we never once received a response of any kind! (Eventually) it became very obvious to us that they do not want our help, which seems a bit odd.
Still determined to return the CAR on a similar mission we are now negotiating directly with the CAR government, in a different part of the country, where poaching and abductions are still running rampant.
There has been, and continues to be, many more little kids kidnapped every week in the Central African Republic by the LRA and other terrorist groups to use and sell as sex slaves and child soldiers.
"To sin by silence makes cowards out of men." Ella Wheeler Wilcox
With all the sincerity and urgency that I can possibly express, I urge you to do these three things immediately...like right now:
First: Make a donation right now. Partnering with us means a great deal to the children, the elephants, and to us!
Second: Get the word out. Send a link to this website to everyone in your address book, and before long the vast majority of people will know about this. Let's you and me make this go viral and we can save kids and elephants.
Third: Please grab a cup of coffee and take the time to read the rest of this web site so that you can be well informed.
May God Bless you and yours,
Randy