Wild work

Book focusses on activities of Arabian Leopard Trust

It was a natural choice. When the Arabian Leopard Trust (ALT) decided to document all its activities in a book, founder member Marijcke Jongbloed was obviously the best person to attempt the task. Not only was she the founder member and ALT co-ordinator for six years, Jongbloed also has a number of natural history books to her credit.

Aided by an extensive archive, Jongbloed went about putting together the significant events, turning points, the sad and happy memories, the fund-raisers and the other activities which the ALT had undertaken in its nine-and-a-half years of existence. Placing on record what a few dedicated people can achieve in their battle for wildlife conservation.

It took Jongbloed two months to write Working for Wildlife, all the while leafing through the archival material to pick out the right items to feature. Memories nestling by her side always. She says: "It was a difficult choice, really. I've managed to put in all the textual records except for the minor ones. But I could just squeeze in one-third of our photograph collection, which was unfortunate."

More so, to avoid making it read like a litany of ALT activities, Jongbloed added pieces from members' memories and poems sent to them by children. "I had to make it readable too. It was tricky. My task was mainly to paste things together but I did not want to sound fragmented and boring. I added letters from children and special moments experienced by members."