Wisdom of the Elders: Lessons in Harmony and Coexistence

Image taken at Hearth Summit Malaysia 2024

This post is from a series of reflections from the Regional Hearth Summit in Malaysia. To read the first one please click here

I'll be honest - before this summit, my understanding of conservation was not great. If I was going to use words to talk about conservation they might have included… protect, manage, defend. Then I heard Nelson Ole Reiyia speak, and everything shifted.

Harmony...

Nelson Ole Reiyia is a Maasai elder from Kenya, and he talked about Nashulai - a place of harmony where community and wildlife live in balance with mutual benefit.  

Traditionally, conservation in Kenya has been a top-down, tourism-driven model that displaces indigenous people and restricts wildlife, creating artificial boundaries that serve neither humans nor animals.

Nashulai does something extraordinary: they've torn down the fences. Literally and metaphorically. Here, indigenous people take the lead, wildlife roams freely, and community and nature are not in competition, but in collaboration. 

Stories of coexistence...

Mindahi Crescencio Bastida, another elder, spoke about three simple principles: love, reciprocity, and nature. A way of living, of understanding our place in the world.

Tan Sri Mazlan Othmanan, an Astrophysicist, reminding us that we're not separate from nature - we're part of it. We are, quite literally, made of stardust.

Lara Ariffin made a clear call to action… find what you are good at and use it to make a difference. Lara is a film artist and uses these skills to make documentary films to help save the Malayan Tiger. 

All of the speakers presentations were punctuated with incredible creative and artistic performances. I could talk about them all, but unfortunately I don’t know the names of all the artists. Diabolution - an incredible light diabolo performance; Shariha Khalid performing a dance piece called ‘Just a minute’ and this from Zharif Afandi ‘Eye of the beholder’ - which particularly resonated with me. 

Although this was all big stuff it felt so real. Small changes, community changes, connected changes - relationship over regulation. 

Do you have any stories about coexistence?

This is the second in a series of posts about my experience at the Hearth Summit, Malaysia. You can return to the first post here.