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Saving Elephants

A bilingual storybook for children raises awareness of elephant conservation in provincial Cambodia.

James Walters of Queanbeyan NSW, was properly ambitious when he was selected to go to Cambodia as an Australian Youth Ambassador in 2002.

He would use his special skills in graphic design and communications to help the people of his host country. One of 108 young men and women assigned to 15 different countries in the March 2002 intake of AusAID youth ambassadors, James was attached to the Phnom Penh-based non-government organisation, Save Cambodia's Wildlife.

His new assignment was to provide James with a unique challenge that seemed tailor-made for his specialised talents - and his desire to help Cambodians. Could he write and design a book in support of the campaign to preserve Cambodia's fast dwindling population of elephants?

By December 2002 The Little White Elephant was rolling off the presses. A bilingual (Khmer and English) children's book, James's creation was an important component of a broad wildlife conservation strategy, targeted at children in remote areas, especially those of farming and hunting families.

The Little White Elephant proved an instant success because it manages beautifully to weave some weighty issues into a concise narrative with a strong appeal to children.

In tackling the two main threats to Cambodia's elephant population - hunting and the killing of animals encroaching on farmland - the adventures, and tragic end, of a little white elephant convincingly questions the perception of elephants as pests and instead demonstrates their ecological and cultural value.

James Walters has a double degree in communications and graphic design. Before signing on as a youth ambassador he had embarked on a career in Australia's advertising industry. But the success of The Little White Elephant has put those plans on hold, at least for the time being.

The former youth ambassador is now back in Cambodia working on a new children's book.

For further information about the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) Program see www.ausaid.gov.au/youtham

Photo: James Walters

2003

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