What’s Your Empathy Coefficient?

Imagine a scenario when the person who is supposed to be your protector becomes your biggest threat. This was the devastating reality for 14-yr old Kiyra* after her school closed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Her older brother negotiated for her marriage without her consent to a total stranger, an older man in a neighboring village in exchange for two goats. Kiyra’s teacher reported the case to police, but her brother insisted that his sister was fine and just went to visit her aunt in a nearby district. One year later, Kiyra gave birth to her first child, a little girl, just days after she turned 15. Scared, overwhelmed, and isolated from her family, Kiyra is already expecting another child with her husband, virtually destroying her dreams of ever going back to school and completing her education. Kiyra already worries about what her baby daughter’s future holds.

In Uganda, girls have been the most negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cases of forced marriages continued to be reported in most rural communities during the lockdown. Like Kiyra, many of these young girls have been married off forcefully and without consent in exchange for livestock, money, and other tangible materials.  

Uganda is one of the countries with the highest incidences of early and forced marriage. According to UNICEF, 10% of girls are married off before the age of 15 and 40% of girls are married off before their 18^th birthday, despite the law establishing 18 as the legal age of marriage.

Throughout the pandemic, the rise in teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions in Uganda has also been alarming, worsened by the closure of schools. Early marriage often results in decreased levels of education and life skills, increased vulnerability to domestic abuse and poor health, and often a lifetime of poverty. Girls that enter families as child brides often become domestic slaves for their in-laws, as abuse is sometimes perpetrated by the husband’s family as well. Like Kiyra, many of these girls don’t have the necessary support to protect themselves. 

In most rural Ugandan households, when girls are not educated and women are not economically equipped and enabled to become breadwinners, they often pay the price with their bodies. When women and girls are empowered, teenage pregnancies and child marriages reduce significantly, giving rise to opportunities for girls and a new generation of healthy, strong, independent female leaders.

*name changed to protect identity

Indonesia is the second-largest contributor in the world to plastic waste in the oceans, producing 6.8 million tons of plastic waste per year, resulting in 625,000 tons of annual plastic waste ending up in the ocean. (1) The plastic pollution crisis has now reached a grievous moment of truth as for the first time in human history, babies are now being born with microplastics in their tiny bodies. (2)

On the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, Anak Alam Learning House, an eco-education and permaculture center has employed a creative solution to Indonesia’s plastic crisis by having students provide an ecobrick in exchange for compassionate education.

An ecobrick is a PET bottle packed solid with clean and dry used plastic. Ecobricks are made to create reusable building blocks that isolate plastic. The types of plastic waste can vary, ranging from beverage packaging, single-use plastic bags, to food wrappers. A bottle with a volume of 600ml should hold about 200gm of dry clean plastic. It’s simple to make, is a very sturdy material and can be used just like a normal brick. Ecobricks give individuals and communities an hands-on experience of regenerative living inspiring the use of other regenerative technologies, such as earth building and permaculture.

At Anak Alam, all students “pay” with one ecobrick for every class they attend. Their journey started with just 3 students studying in a simple bamboo house. They soon realized their concept worked and was much needed and wanted by their own community. When the local public school closed down during COVID-19, some local children came to Dewi, a local community mentor and asked for help so they could continue to learn.

Now, with six classes a week, 20+ regular students, and over 75 students registered, imagine the amount of plastic rescued from the local river that would end up in the ocean! These collected ecobricks have been used to help build the new “schoolhouse” and deposits are made every day to their “ecobrick bank”, ready to support new projects at Anak Alam, like their vegan café.

It’s all about love, empathy, and kindness at Anak Alam. Biology is taught with empathy, Geography is learned with love, and World Religions are understood with kindness. This rural Pacific island community is ready for the amazing changes that are about to come, as they continue to build empathy for one another and our beautiful planet.

For decades, the world’s loneliest elephant entertained crowds from a tiny, barren patch of land in an Islamabad zoo. Visitors would call out as he ‘saluted’ them with his trunk, poked with nailed bullhooks by handlers to make him perform for money. Captivity can drive animals like Kaavan insane. Zoos do not just force animals into a life of loneliness and misery, they also often cause these animals to develop neurotic and self-harming behaviors.

In the early 1990s, a female elephant, Saheli was brought in to be a companion for Kaavan. Elephants are highly intelligent and sentient creatures that have emotions similar to humans. With a lifespan of 60-70 years in the wild, elephants have a deep need for companionship and form strong family bonds. They also grieve. When Saheli died in 2012 of suspected sepsis, Kaavan spiraled into loneliness and despair, psychosis and obesity. His wounds also became infected, with the chains around his legs leaving permanent scars.

For years, it seemed that no one cared about Kavaan, until 2015 when an American veterinarian, Dr. Samar Khan, visited the zoo and was disturbed by Kaavan’s condition and environment. The petition she started to plead for Kaavan’s release to an elephant sanctuary received more than 400,000 signatures and caught the attention of Cher, singer, actress, activist and co-founder of Free The Wild. Cher started a legal campaign to free Kavaan and have him relocated to a sanctuary. A 2017 news report highlighted the dire condition in which Kaavan was living and a second petition requesting Kaavan’s release gathered another 200,000 signatures. After a widespread global campaign supported by several non-profit organizations, including Umano, and a lengthy and expensive court battle, on May 21st, 2020, the Islamabad High Court finally ruled that Kaavan should be freed and the zoo closed.

With the dedication and expertise of veterinarian Dr. Amir Khalil, head of the organization Four Paws International, a plan was devised to fly Kaavan to Cambodia, where he could live out the rest of his years in a sanctuary. The problem was that Kaavan was an angry, 35-year-old, overweight elephant, making the idea of a journey to Cambodia seemingly impossible. Under Dr. Khalil’s compassionate care, Kaavan was soon eating out of his hands, hugging him with his trunk as he bathed at the pond, and listening while his new friend sang to him. In December 2020, this once-aggressive elephant happily followed Dr. Khalil and his colleagues into the crate which had been specially designed to carry his five-and-a-half tonne weight on the eight-hour flight to Cambodia.

Empathy for Kaavan and recognizing him as a sentient being is what finally led to his release. Kaavan is now enjoying a life of freedom in his spacious new home at the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary. Sadly, there are too many Kaavans still in captivity living in inhumane conditions around the world. We must begin to think critically and with empathy about human relationships with our fellow animals to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering as endured by Kaavan. Not all stories have a happy ending.