Hathi Sathi Foundation

Up here in Naxalbari, things are a bit different than the big cities. We are based out of the Nuxalbari Tea Company office, which is a place most people around here know pretty well. Hathi Sathi Foundation started because we live so close to the forests and the tea gardens where elephants always pass through. It is part of life here, seeing them cross the roads or come into the fields. Sometimes it causes trouble for the farmers and sometimes the animals get hurt too. We aren't some big group from far away. We are just local people who see these things happening every day right outside our doors. The office is simple, tucked away in the tea estate area where the air smells like wet leaves and earth. We spend a lot of our days just walking around, talking to the workers in the gardens and the people living near the forest edge. We don't have a big fancy plan or anything. It is more about just being there when something happens and trying to make sure both the people and the elephants stay safe. Sometimes we stay up late if there is an elephant moving near the village. It is quiet work and mostly we just do it because we live here and it needs to be done. We don't use big words to describe it. We just live alongside the nature that is all around us in this part of North Bengal.