News
If you have had the chance to visit the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation’s (MWF) head office in Vacoas, you would have been welcomed by our Receptionist/Telephone operator, Reshma Gokhool, 39 years old. With a permanent smiling face and an innate sense of hospitality, Reshma will try to make your visit as pleasant as possible and she will make sure your questions or requests are attended to. On International Women’s Day, celebrated today 8th March, we are pleased to invite you into the world of this very friendly woman who has been working at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation for 15 years.
“I am very proud of the woman that I am today”, these words proudly pronounced by Reshma Gokhool tell us exactly what kind of person she is. She strives to be as simple, kind, helpful, and as friendly as she can to put people around her at ease. But, most importantly, Reshma has always made a point to be true to herself whether it is in her work or her personal life. Passionate about everything she initiates, she will take all necessary steps to make it as close to perfection as possible. This is exactly what she has been doing during the past 15 years, establishing herself as an important part of the NGO, even happily doing function overshoot, by helping in other departments. Something she is proud of.
Another source of pride is the breadth of things she has learned about conservation along her journey with MWF. Today, she can give information about MWF’s projects or on matters that relate to our work without needing assistance. When she cannot, she knows exactly which staff member or department she must direct requests to. “I know how to guide people needing assistance and I can help them at my level very often. For example, if someone calls us and says his fruit trees are visited by fruit bats, I will advise them to look into installing nets on their trees. I will even be able to tell them where to get those nets and the process.”
Being at MWF for 15 years has been a blessing for her as she has found there her “second family, something I had not been able to find in other places where I have worked. It is something I take pride in.” A feeling which makes her very happy to come to work every day, often arriving early and leaving after working hours. If MWF is her second home, it is also a school where she was able to discover a whole new world. “I remember when I started working here, I was so fascinated when I was hearing the scientists and my other colleagues talk about the conservation work that was being done in the field.” She was particularly attracted to the fauna as she is a big animal lover. She says she considers her dog as a member of her family.
Little did she know that she would be even more captivated once she got the chance to go into the field to witness the conservation work. “I had the chance to visit Ile aux Aigrettes and see for the first time skinks and other animals, I have seen the Mauritius Kestrel in front of me for the first time in the Black River Gorges National Park, I have discovered how supplementary feeding of endemic birds was organised, I have been overwhelmed visiting the aviaries and I have had the chance to see how some monitoring sites were difficult to access. All this changed my perspectives of the conservation works done by the MWF field staff. I did not suspect how absorbing it could be.”
When she chose to change her working field from data entry operation in her previous job to receptionist at MWF, Reshma did not know that she would be realising a teenage dream. Indeed, MWF had been in her mind since her school days at Eden College and then Bhujoharry College. She recalls saying to herself that one day she would work for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation when she was walking past the head office while going to tuition near Granum Road. “I was asking people in my family what they knew about MWF. I was studying science and it was making sense in my mind that I would be working for MWF one day.”
Over and above all, Reshma takes life as simply as possible, sharing kindness and love all along. “I am a very simple person who takes grace from simple things and shares love with people and nature. Life is a present and I embrace it every day.”
Reshma is the first staff a visitor sees when visiting the head office in Vacoas, and the first person to respond to a phone call. As such, she is our first ambassador! We are proud to celebrate International Women’s Day through Reshma and extend to all the wonderful and talented women who work at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation!
