Donor Spotlight: Asli Han Gedik

This past December Ms. Asli Gedik wrote to us and expressed her heartfelt desire to help the orangutans. Asli has been an animal rights activist for many years both in her native Turkey and in Germany where she lives and works. We discussed with her the different ways she could get involved to help orangutans and she decided that she wanted to come volunteer with us in 2011-- but that she didn't want to wait. She wanted to help us NOW! She adopted our babies and immediately fell in love with them. She hung photos of them up at her desk at work and couldn't stop thinking about Pingky and Luna... She wanted to do more, though, so she decided to set up a birthday wish for us on our Facebook Cause. This method of raising awareness and funds has been gaining momentum over the past year or so-- and Asli was able to raise a truly awesome $1760 for Orangutan Outreach.

Asli is a truly amazing example of how someone can make a difference! We were so impressed that we asked her to tell us her story...

Frankfurt,  February 15, 2011

I was born in December 1974 in Turkey. My father has a PhD in economics and is working as an academic at the University of Galatasaray in Istanbul. My mother, economist and former diplomat as most of the members of the family (followed by architects and a famous writer), passed away in 2003. Along with my twin sister, I have a BA degree in Banking & Finance from the University of Bilkent in Ankara as an honor list student. I grew up in a family promoting human, nature, environment and animal rights. I learned in my very early age that respecting others as much as ourselves was essential in life-- and not limited to other human beings.

I started my career in the late 90s as Treasurer in a local bank and then moved to international banking institutions, allowing me to carry on my life in many European capital cities, as it used to be before due to my mother’s profession. I am currently working in Oyak-Anker Bank – a Turkish-German partnership established in Frankfurt – as Assistant General Manager responsible for Treasury and Financial Institutions. In addition to Turkish, my mother tongue, I speak French, English, Dutch and a little Spanish.

Along with my professional career, I am the coordinator of HAYTAP (Animal Right Federation – Turkey) responsible for Wildlife, Animal Testing and Fur commissions, administrator of Stop Monkey Business and Gatewaytohell, a Member of the Animal Rights Party of the Netherlands and a Member of the International Committee of the Monte Carlo Summer Charity Ball. I also try to support local organizations whenever and wherever needed. I recently traveled to Malawi to take part in a Wildlife action project in defense of the elephants trapped and murdered for ivory tusks. Then I went in Zimbabwe for another Wildlife Project aiming to protect African lions being hunted, trapped and slaughtered for their body parts-- mostly to serve superstitious beliefs. These kinds of primitive exertions are tragically meaningless in the 21st century, where science has evolved to such a degree that innocent animals do not need to be experimented on for medical purposes-- which is another heartbreaking paradox!

That is the reason why as Stop Monkey Business and Gatewaytohell, we won the battle in Lele Region (Nepal), as a result of hard work and a lot of personal sacrifice. In Lele, there was a farm providing primates for research centers in the USA. Several undercover studies and camera shots proved that these research centers are abusing animals to such an extent that 2 employees actually conducted an autopsy on a live monkey for fun! In 2009, the tribunal decided in our favor and 450 monkeys were rescued from being sent to the US for experiments. This is the greatest worldwide success ever regarding animal-testing issues.

Working to protect all primates around the world from vivisection, abuses, neglect and trade, it was only a matter of time for me to fall in love with the work of Orangutan Outreach. I am a huge supporter of their work and one of their closest followers. They are taking the lead on fabulous campaigns to protect and save the orangutans and the forest which is so important for the entire global ecosystem.

Thanks to Orangutan Outreach, I have adopted 5 orphaned orangutans-- and I hope to widen my family soon! I am very much in love with orangutans and I will be continuing to support them in every way I can. It is one of my biggest dreams to be close to them and I hope my dream will be realized soon. Having pretty much all I need in my life, I am dedicating my birthday wishes for a cause on Facebook in order to help and support every single organization working for the welfare of the animals. This year, I dedicated mine for the red apes.

Many people ask me why I am helping nature and animals while there are so many human in need. This is a statement that is annoying me a lot. First of all it makes me sad to see people criticizing so much others that they do not even know in person. I am not involving myself in any discussion based on which living being is more important than the other one. I am not God or not a creature that can favor a live on another one. Secondly, I do also help human in need and was on site digging lives in the 2 major Turkish earthquakes. Thirdly I believe in the right of living and coexisting for every single human and non human life on the planet.

And finally, over the years, I came to realize that people who say first come man tend to believe that actually they as a person is coming first. They priority is not human in general but themselves as person. I have never seen them helping anything or anyone. They are more interested in the amount of money they make and on what they are going to spend that money, cars, houses, holidays, jewelries etc and remain far remote from the planet sufferance. They will never care if they are destroying any part of the planet or forests or a live of orangutan by eating a bar of candy... this part of universe is far away from their comfortable home anyway.

This is sad but true... People who say Human First are generally saying ME First. I cannot and will not decide which living creature is more precious and has more right to live than the other one and no one should ever make that decision. All creatures have equal right to live and share the planet.

My last note is that all creatures on the planet have a purpose, even flies. They are cleaning the bugs and dirt on the elephant skins. What is man's purpose? Our fellow human beings often do nothing more than consume the resources that this earth has given us. I believe in giving back some of the resources we keep on consuming, by helping an animal in need, by helping nature or a person... by any means helping, giving. In the speed we are consuming, they will be nothing left to consume in the future.

I am totally disinterested in holidays spent on boats or beaches or on new phones I can buy, or new laptops or anything. I am interested in giving back to nature. I want my life to have that meaning. I want to spend my earnings in healing the planet. I want to spend all my holidays working on site in Africa or Asia... for animals, for nature. I am giving a hand of help and trying to get out of the consuming circle. Because I know now that for every single mobile phone we are purchasing, we are actually harming the lands of the gorillas. I am trying not to buy anything that I actually do not need. I am trying to make nature breath a little.

God created trees out of his love for birds, man created cages...