Strange Classrooms - Throwing in the Towel

Meeting up with a member of my last APU mission got me thinking.

After 5 years of fighting to save the rhino, any way I could, I surprised many people by throwing in the towel, including myself. This is a very brief summery (and not nearly all) of  what happened  and why I walked away.
Writing articles to make the world aware.
In this I believe is the only place  I was successful, when few knew about the problem and less could imagine how bad it was to become. 5 years ago a hundred rhino were killed, IN A YEAR. One of my very first posts

Rhino Wars -How to end the Rhino Poaching

still has the highest hit rate on the blog. Then a series of articles I wrote about Pro Trade, had the owner of more rhinos than anyone in the world, making all sorts of insults and threats.


Volunteering for APU work.
My first mission and most likely the most dangerous one, not from the poachers but from the people that pretended to be rhino saving activists. The dear lady I exposed for what she was tried to take out a hit on me! Fortunately, I am who I am, found out about it and took the necessary precautions , hid away and exposed her further.  Same lady reported me to the Hawks as a poacher and I had to hide from the police until that shit was sorted out. All the while dead broke and having to depend on friends to help.

Starting an APU.
Well, tried to but the financial guy ran away with the money…. after putting it all over the internet that I had stolen the cash! At this stage I was living hand to mouth and went to bed hungry more often than not, even ended up having to spend some time in a Homeless Shelter. Stealing donated money, I was not.  He too was exposed for what he was.
Joining a nonexistent APU.
All looked good in cyberspace, packed my kit an travelled three hundred odd km to join up with the head of the APU. Got there to find out she had run away from her husband, and I was not welcome on his farm. Stranded with not a cent to my name. Managed to beg my estranged uncle to bail me out.

Signed up for another APU job, finally with pay.
The last mission was the last straw.  And a long story I have yet to tell, but cannot at the moment, for the safety of the rhino and the poor buggers still trying to guard them.

The rest of the stories are written and you can find them hidden in, The Chronicles of the Mexican Horse Thief.

I believe that I went over and above the call of duty with the rhino poaching, but.
Enough is/was  enough, no hell, it was more than enough, it was too much.
For all those people that helped me over the years, financially and with moral support, I can never thank you enough.  Without you I would have bloody starved before any poacher got me.
We tried.