Kate Rigby (Cologne, Germany), Queen Elizabeth Hare (Mwamba, Kenya) & Dorothea Seeger (Bremen, Germany)
November 23, 2023 | 17.45 – 19.15 | online | to register, please contact Saskia Maassen: smaasse3@uni-koeln.de
In this online public lecture, MESH Director Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Environmental Humanities Kate Rigby, a researcher in the field of religion and ecology (among others), will be in conversation with Queen Elizabeth Hare, a former environmental education officer with A Rocha Kenya, and Dorothea Seeger, a marine biologist and co-founder of ‘Hope for People and Nature’ (Friends of A Rocha Germany), about the work of the international interdenominational Christian conservation NGO, A Rocha, in Africa and Europe.
Queen Elizabeth Hare is a Kenyan woman from the Giriama ethnic community who lives within the buffer zone of Watamu Marine Protected areas and Arabuko Sokoke Forest (a remnant of the forest that used to stretch from Mozambique to Somalia). She has a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from Machakos University and worked with A Rocha Kenya as an environmental education officer between 2020 and 2023. She enjoyed igniting childrens’ interest in, and care, for God’s creation and encouraging fishermen and women to engage with sustainable alternative livelihoods and environmental conservation. Queen is a nominated UNESCO Man and Biosphere youth from the Malindi-Watamu-Arabuko Sokoke Man and Biosphere Reserve.
Dorothea Seeger is a German woman who lives in Bremen where she works in the Marine Protection Office of BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany). She has a scientific background in coastal ecology and ecophysiology of seagrass and macroalgae. For her PhD she studied the photophysiology of intertidal seagrasses in the German Wadden Sea and the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. Her studies and work also led her to the rocky coasts of Helgoland (Germany) and Norway and (as a volunteer at A Rocha Kenya) to Watamu. In early 2022 she co-founded “Hope for People and Nature” with the goal to build up an A Rocha presence in Germany. She loves to share her passion for the oceans and their protection.