Fifteen years ago, 7NEWS Spotlight reporter Liam Bartlett met former special commando Damien Mander when he had just returned from the Iraq War with a dream of fighting a different battle: combating endemic poachers.
This Sunday, Liam goes deep into the African wilderness to reunite with the Aussie veteran who is saving the continent’s critically endangered wildlife with an all-female army of rangers.
Damien sold up everything he owned to establish the International Anti-Poaching Foundation, and his unconventional journey has led him to recruit a ground-breaking all-female unit of rangers known as Akashinga, meaning “The Brave Ones” in Zimbabwe’s Shona dialect.
The heavily armed local women, often mothers, patrol areas the size of small countries to catch the poachers and stop illegal operations. Not only do these women protect wildlife, they also change the trajectory of their communities by passing on 90% of their earnings to their families.
Damien, who is eliminating the community’s reliance on money from trophy hunting and illegal poaching with the support of his rangers, said: “When we started [the Foundation], we thought if it actually works, let’s create opportunities for those who need it the most. Many of them were survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, single mothers and abandoned wives.
“What we didn’t realise is that we were getting the toughest in society. Anything we threw at them was nothing compared to what they came from or most importantly stood to go back to.”
Also, this week, 7NEWS Spotlight reveals why parts of San Francisco have become a no-go zone. The iconic city is overrun by homeless people and violent crime, fuelled by a deadly drug addiction.
On assignment for 7NEWS Spotlight, 7NEWS US Bureau Chief David Woiwod meets the unlikely Australians in the middle of the turmoil who say what they are witnessing should serve as a dire warning for us all back home.
