2023-July-17
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Making a Positive Impact While Having a Rhino of a Time
BY HELEN GALL
1 MINUTE READ · 2 MINUTE LISTEN
In May of 2023, 12 Cisco employees and friends traveled to the Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservancy in Zimbabwe to spend a week volunteering using Time2Give.
They arrived with suitcases filled with metal water bottles, clothing for the local children, calculators, reading glasses, and more to spend a week in the wild, supporting the conservancy by installing and painting fences while also moving rocks to build a bridge.
At Cisco, we’re known for building bridges. This team tracked and fed rhinos and cleaned out the elephant bomas (enclosures).
They also immersed themselves in the local community.
One of the groups they met was a women’s community support group who makes reusable sanitary pads for girls who don’t have access to any period products and therefore don’t go to school one week every month. The packages consist of reusable sanitary pads, soap, and underwear.
This has removed one of the barriers to girls attending school and improves their chances of getting a much-needed education in a country where girls are seen as second-class citizens.
On their last day, they were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience — breakfast with the elephants. The team used their Time2Give to volunteer their time for Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservation and fundraised over $3,000 to help continue their amazing work.
They left with an incredibly strong team bond, a renewed sense of appreciation for the planet, and a new, use-only-what-you-need mentality.
Employees who took part: Andrea Witzke, Anna Kuwik, Diane Leigh, Jess Macleod, Nilz Parmar, Nish Parkar, Philipp Schulte, Sam Moylan-Heydt, Thomas Becker.
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