Who am I? - Marleen le Febvre

I was born in December 1950 in Port-Vila, The New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), on the other side of the world on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where my father was in charge of a coprah plantation. Before reaching the age of two, our family returned to Holland where I went to playschool, primary school and high school in Amsterdam.

An education at the Academy of Social Studies resulted in a job at the crisis center of the "Burgerweeshuis" and was followed by schooling in the medical field.

From an early age, I was concerned with the troubles of the world and was often found at anti Vietnam war demonstrations in the sixties. In 1978 I was involved in starting up the Greenpeace office at the Damrak in Amsterdam. In 1981 I became crew member of the former Greenpeace flagship "The Rainbow Warrior" and went to the Northern ice fields near Canada to protest against the slaughter of baby seals.

In 1982 my son was born and soon after that I started my studies for Natural Healing in Arnhem. I started up my own practice and after a while the human patients were joined by dogs and cats. When our horse became very ill and completely lame due to intoxication after having accidentely ingested fertiliser pellets, I treated her and not only did she not need surgery but after 6 months was completely recovered and free of toxins. That was the start of my specialisation in horses.

When Daphne Sheldrick asked me to help treat an orphaned elephant toddler of just under two years of age, KORA (you can read his story under the Elephant Patients) I didn't hesitate but embarked on an adventure that has changed my life completely. This treatment from a distance was an experiment, and although occassional testing solely on the basis of a urine / saliva sample had been done before, I had never before based a complete treatment upon it. Both Daphne and I wanted to give it a try and the Elephant Patients project was born.

in June 2006 two more elephants started treatment and in October a researchprogram was started to investigate the high rate of infant deaths among the baby elephants.All new arrivals in the nursery are tested and treated in order to try and stabilise them as soon as possible after their trauma. This way they are better protected against illnesses so many of the little ele's before them did not survive, see the Baby Elephant Research Program. Follow their stories on the Elephant Updates.