Love for Animals Leads ESU Junior to Volunteer in Thailand

Sweat running down her face, Renee Joyal struggled to sleep her first night in Thailand. Used to the comfort of her air-conditioned home, she found herself sleeping beneath a mosquito net in a room over 8,000 miles away from her family and all the comforts her home provides.

“I had never been to a developing country,” she said. “It was the most difficult thing I have ever done and I can’t wait to do it again.”

It has been two weeks since Joyal returned to the United States after spending two weeks of her winter break volunteering for the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand (WFFT), a rescue home to over 500 wild animals who have been maltreated and/or neglected. As she settles in to her final semester at East Stroudsburg University, Joyal remembers every detail of a trip that changed her life.

Her days always began at 6 a.m. with 16 elephants waiting for their breakfast. Among 50 volunteers, Joyal made banana balls and cut watermelon and pineapples for the elephants to eat. The volunteers would then walk and bathe the elephants or work on special projects, which often involved a “not fun” clean-up activity. Every day of work lasted about 11 hours, beginning at 6 a.m. and ending roughly around 5 p.m.

“The elephants all have such different personalities,” she said. “Some are suffering from severe anxiety from abuse they have endured during their lives, while others are more carefree.”

One elephant who was known as “the male” was separated from all of the other elephants. “The male” had his own enclosure with only one other female elephant. If anyone got too close he would pull them in with his trunk to attack them. He would pick up rocks and throw them at anyone working around his enclosure. In order to make sure he was getting enough nutrients to survive, the elephant had to be distracted so an individual could throw food in his enclosure.

“He hated everyone and everything,” Joyal said. “It just makes you think: what has this animal gone through to be that frightened of his surroundings?”

Despite the daily challenges presented by “the male,” Joyal spent hours during each 11-hour shift laughing and enjoying her time with these extraordinary animals.

Another elephant, Boonmee, loved people. She loved the attention. Joyal spent a lot of her time walking her and giving her baths. Joyal also shared stories about the sweet baby elephant that also crossed her path. Pin, which means princess, is 2 years old.

“Pin was such a princess,” she said. “She would always run around and steal her mother’s food.”

Joyal admits that the elephants were by far the best part of her trip.

Her interest in elephants developed when she was a little girl. Growing up on a farm in Damascus, Pa. While Joyal grew up loving all animals, she began learning about elephants in school she was fascinated with their size and character traits.

She spent every year thinking of ways she could work with elephants. So when a google search for volunteer opportunities brought her to WFFT’s webpage, she did not hesitate to sign up and book her trip to Thailand.

Joyal spent six days a week with the elephants and had one day off to explore Thailand.

“Traveling to Thailand was eye-opening,” she said. “I see things so differently now.”

In her two weeks overseas, Joyal worried about the quality of her drinking water for the first time in her life. She was not allowed to put ice cubes in her drink and her showers were cold.

“Experiencing true poverty made me realize how much we take for granted,” she said. “I came back a different person from this experience.”

Joyal feels driven. She feels like she is ready to take on the world. Joyal has been spreading the stories of her experience to classmates and her sisters of Lambda Iota. She hopes through her stories she can educate others about wildlife and volunteer opportunities.

Set to graduate from ESU in May 2017 as a recreation services management major, Joyal hopes to spend her life working with animals in any way possible.

Search

Recent Posts