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Author: Amgattari

Anne Marie Gattari is a communications professional with an extensive career as in corporate public relations and newspaper journalist. A proven crisis communications manager, she has a solid track record of leading cross-functional teams to improve internal and external communications and deliver corporate objectives. She worked as a newspaper reporter for the Detroit News, Macomb Daily, Royal Oak Tribune in Michigan and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas. Later, she made the transition to public relations for Ford Motor Company. In between, she spent 18 months in Florence, Italy, as a freelance journalist and English language instructor. After caring for her elderly parents, Anne Marie left communications for senior home care. She purchased a new franchise and built it from the ground up into a viable agency, creating hundreds of jobs and caring for innumerable elderly at the end of their lives. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Michigan State University and conducted graduate studies in political science at the University of Texas, Arlington. Anne Marie is the mother of two adult daughters and grand daughter. She lives in Detroit, Michigan. www.linkedin.com">LinkedIn Profile
They Never Expected This

They Never Expected This

September 03, 2021 By Anne Marie Gattari For Zawadisha.com In July, Zawadisha did something that no one expected. We opened a retail shop in the available space adjacent to our office in Maungu, located on the main dirt road that is the artery into all of the villages that pepper Taita Taveta County. In a matter of days, the team cleaned, painted and stocked the shelves. Flyers circulated among the surrounding villages, and on the morning of the first day a…

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The Pride of Ownership

The Pride of Ownership

November 16, 2021 By Anne Marie Gattari Zawadisha.com It’s a rare and wonderful thing when a mother in Maungu, Kenya, can send her child to school. It’s even rarer and equally wonderful when she can go herself. As an employee of Zawadisha for the past five years, Margaret Mtuku has had the means to do exactly that. She is continuing her studies in accounting and computer science, and her five-year-old son attends a private elementary school. “In Kenya, education is a must,”…

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Going Home

Going Home

When I arrived in Africa in mid-January, I wrote to my friend Oliver that I felt a strange familiarity, a sense of calm and gratitude that I hadn’t felt in previous travels, even to the land of my grandparents. “I feel more at home here than I did at times in Sicily,” I wrote. “You are walking on the birthplace of humanity,” Oliver replied. “You are home.“ Every morning and every night, at Siyanfunda Endangered Species Reserve in South Africa,…

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The Bushveld

The Bushveld

My time at Siyafunda Endangered Species Reserve has come to a close. And my final hours were as amazing as my first. On the game drive the night before my departure, we returned to the scene of the dead kudu (a woodland antelope) in a tree discovered earlier that day. A leopard had made the kill, pulled the kudu up a tree and left it dangling over a branch. We knew she’d be back. But when? As the sun began…

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Going to the Elephants, A Family Reunion

Going to the Elephants, A Family Reunion

There’s a family reunion at Jackelberry Dam. We humans weren’t invited, so we didn’t know. When I decided to skip the afternoon game drive, I knew I was taking a chance of missing something big. Staying behind, as peaceful and relaxing as it is, always comes with risk. And, indeed, I missed the elephant family reunion where three herds came together on a hot afternoon right after the heavy rains to play in the water. However, due to the detailed…

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Wild Sage

Wild Sage

Driving over bush yesterday morning to find the lions, we all catch the exquisite scent in the air. Our new friend from Zurich, Adrian, sweeps the air into his nose. “It’s wild sage,” says Emma, our ranger. She is matter of fact while I’m thinking, ‘Wait, I want some of that for my next pot of spaghetti sauce.’ Don’t know when that will be. But still. Emma stops the jeep. We all get out, grab a handful and nibble. It…

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Nyala of South Africa

Nyala of South Africa

Nyalas are the deer of South Africa. But a bit more exotic, as you’d expect from a spiral-horned antelope native to this wondrous country. Still, they come to our camp, help themselves to our grass, drink from out pool. They don’t care who’s watching. Or do they? Just when we’ve started taking them for granted, they remind us of their specialness. Two brothers (I’m making an assumption here), were practicing yesterday morning how to be tough guys. Then this…

The King of the Pride

The King of the Pride

Dedicated to my brother, Dennis Biondo, who would have turned 68 today. We arrived at 6 a.m. just as the pride seemed to be finishing up its meal. Before I go on, perhaps a warning is in order: this blog will be real, which means graphic. As the comedian Michelle Wolf says, this is no time to be cute. Lions kill. They eat what they kill. They eat on the spot. And the biggest ones eat the most and when…

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Roar

Roar

There are few words to describe the warning roar of an adult male lion about to hunt. So I won’t even try. Instead, I will tell you what’s going on in each picture and video below. And if you have words to describe what you hear, please share: Earlier in the day, we found them taking a late afternoon nap. Elandri stopped the jeep and we sat and waited for them to wake up. Eventually they did. After a few…

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The Elusive Leopard

The Elusive Leopard

I saw her. And that makes five. The Big Five. Elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo and, finally, the leopard. On the way back to camp last night, at 7:30 p.m. Felipe scanned the bush with the spotlight when Charlotte spotted her. Much excitement ensued in our jeep. Then I saw her. Just her hind quarter, spotted and muscular. Her head was down, hidden by the scrubby woodland as she moved beside us, going in the opposite direction. Elandri, our field ranger…

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