Jane Goodall, Rick Asselta and Tanzanian miracles

Most people have heard of Jane Goodall, the British woman who has done extensive research on chimpanzees in Tanzania. Usually when I talk about Jane, I get, "oh, you mean the gorilla lady?" No, that was Dian Fossey, who was mysteriously killed and had a movie made about her. Jane's life work has been the chimps at Gombe in Tanzania.

Several years ago, Jane realized that she could have a much deeper and far reaching impact on the world if she left the jungle and started lecturing, meeting and talking to politicians, and working towards saving the environment. She knew that to accomplish this, the younger generations needed to understand their impact on the planet, and for them to become invested in its healing and survival. Out of this came the Roots and Shoots programs.

I'm not entirely sure of the evolution of Rick Asselta getting involved with Roots & Shoots and Jane, but I'm sure that his lifelong dedication to education, the environment, tolerance and multiculturalism played a large part. Rick is a retired public school teacher here in Connecticut and has taught at Western Connecticut State University for many years as well. This is where I met him. I instantly fell in love with his humanity and took pretty much every class he taught. Rick is one of those people that you're drawn to and feel honored to know. He's also one of the most humble people I've ever met. This could be due to the fact that he's got one of the cheesiest senses of humor known to humankind. His wife, Nelly, is just as amazing and wonderful and we feel blessed and honored to call them friends.

Rick and I have many things in common, one of them being disability. Rick's dedication to human equality and his connections to Tanzania led him to meet several people and together they founded the National Sports Day for the Disabled in Tanzania in 1998. Roots & Shoots members continue to raise money to build wheelchairs for people in Africa. Here, a starter wheelchair costs upwards of $1,500. They can build one over there for $100 using parts that can be easily repaired or replaced as needed. If everyone who reads this donates $10, or if you get a group together and raise the funds, one more person can go to school, work, be a part of their community, live.