Letting My Heart Guide Me

By Roxanne Kremer

My childhood was spent on the 4,000-acre farm in Wisconsin that my grandfather bought when he came to the United States from Germany. It contained many acres of rich marshland and some pristine hill land that was a burial ground for a tribe of the Black Hawk Indians. Growing up in the farm country of Wisconsin gave me an understanding of the connection between Mother Earth and all plant and animal life.

One day Grandfather said to me: “This farm is going to come into your hands someday – as your inheritance. I know you will do with it what your heart tells you to do.” About 30 years later that day did come.

After studying zoology, I worked at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Later I traveled to Rwanda, Africa, where I helped the African Wildlife Foundation promote the protection of mountain gorillas and also helped other nonprofit groups raise awareness of global ecological projects.

When my grandfather passed, I was offered $500,000 for the farm by a contractor who wanted to build tract houses on the land. Even though that was a lot of money, my answer was no. My first concern was for the Indian burial grounds. I could not bear to think of that holy ground being disturbed.

Trying to find a way to protect the burial grounds, I called Wisconsin state officials and suggested that the land be set aside as a watershed. Since the magnificent hills on the land sloped down toward the Wisconsin River, they agreed and paid me $21,000 for that land.

Now that the burial grounds were saved, I was able to turn my efforts toward a new cause. With money I received from the sale, I bought 3,750 acres in Peru, for I hoped in some way to help the Indians of South America too. I also planned to use my training as a zoologist to spearhead a new project: field research on the Amazon River dolphins.

When I traveled to Peru in 1982, I was eager to see the rare pink dolphins that lived in the waters of the Amazon River Basin and some of its tributaries. I had been warned not to even put my hands in these waters, because of the danger of a sudden and violent piranha attack. The adventuresome spirit of my childhood took hold. When I saw the dolphins, I felt as if they were trying to communicate with me, and I plunged into the water to swim with them.

When I saw a fin protruding from the water, I thought a gray dolphin was swimming toward me. I didn't have a clue that it was a bull shark. Suddenly four pink dolphins started pushing me back to the boat and away from harm's way. Safe in the boat, I watched as a tremendous splashing took place: the dolphins were attacking the shark by butting it with their heads.

The pink dolphins had saved my life, and I made a commitment to do all I could to protect them. That commitment evolved into Dolphin Corners lodge for ecological and educational trips, and in 1986 I founded the International Society for the Preservation of the Tropical Rainforest, a nonprofit organization for the protection of all life in the rainforest and its fragile ecosystem.

... I face each day and any challenges with hope, remembering what my mother always told me: “If you don't have dreams, how can you make them come true?”
 

Roxanne Kremer is executive director and founder of the International Society for the Preservation of the Tropical Rainforest and its first globally known project, the Preservation of the Amazonian River Dolphin. For her work, Kremer became the first North American to receive the Institutional Insignia and Honour Diploma from the Pro Marina Association of Peru. She is a public speaker and coordinates excursions to Dolphin Corners on the Yarapa River in Peru. For more information, visit www.isptr-pard.org.

This excerpt appeared in Daily Word.

For other articles like this one, download Unity's recent booklet: Earth Blessings: Prayers for Our Planet. This green-friendly publication features prayers and affirmations to honor the relationship between all living beings and our amazing planet. Stunning photography and inspirational quotes are included throughout.