Through My Eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2014-05-23

I really love my jobI am sure you have read it here many times but I am repeating it again. I love my job, not only because it allows me to live an interesting existence but it also gives me the opportunity to meet amazing people.

One of my most favourite and awe inspiring individuals is Kingsley Holgate. For almost two decades he has been a constant stimulus and a compass of how life should be lived.

Over the years Kingsley evolved from Modern day Explorer to an Anthropologist a Serious International activist and a champion of Human and Wildlife Rights with international awards to prove it. His relief projects have taken him around the globe and have helped to save thousands of lives.

Sitting around the fire with Kingsley takes one to another dimension, on a journey of selfless exploration to aid humanity. From "Mashozi's Right to Sight" campaign, providing hundreds of thousands of spectacles and cataract operations to the remote villages in Africa, to his famous mosquito net distribution and spraying of malaria stricken areas protecting mothers and children on our continent.

Kingsley never ceases to amaze me - I am ashamed to admit that I am a total groupie, but so be it. I cannot get enough of the legend's tales of characters that form the tales of Kingsley's adventures. Like the tale of Panos the Greek lion hunter from Tanzania to the Rhino Poaching Awareness scouts which Kingsley helped to bring together. Giving three hundred KZN youths the tools to spread the message of Rhino conservation to rural schools.

Kingsley's selfless determination to be the change that he wants to see in his lifetime makes him my hero. With just a few hours of sleep each day, Kingsley campaigns to save our planet from destruction - I mean this literally - Kingsley's network of aid workers, fans, supporters and funders are truly making fundamental differences in so many aspects of what is wrong with our planet today.

"We have such a long way to go." Kingsley told me, "Until we can get our governments to stand united on the Rhino poaching crises nothing will change. Did you know that because of the Swazi King's hard-core stand against the poachers, Swaziland has seen three rhinos poached in the last twenty three years, we have lost three hundred and thirty rhino this year."

Kingsley's stories of rhino slaughter shook me to the core. He describes the scenes of carnage left by the poachers after they are finished. The poachers are no longer satisfied with just a rhino's horn they cut deep into the base of the horn which is suppose to hold most of the potent 'muthi' leaving the majestic beast bleeding to death in excruciating agony.

Kingsley's graphic storytelling is mythical - everything he does, he ensures that a legacy is put in place and that awareness is raised. Kingsley tells me how through his Anti Rhino Poaching Campaign he became an activist. "It became so bad, that I was having trouble sleeping." He admits. "My son Ross said to me that I must take it easy, it got so bad Kasia that I wanted to go out there and shoot people!"

There are a few people who care this much about the future of our planet - Kingsley Holgate is a perfect example of a modern day superhero - giving his time and energy to make a better world for our children's children.

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