OUR STORY
“The place where you are called is where
your deepest joy meets the world’s greatest hunger.”
Frederick Buechner
Jean-Marie Ghislain
The world is hungry for love in so many places. When I asked myself where my deepest joy lay, it was clearly in the Oceans with the dolphins and the whales. Without them, I would not be here today.
When I was 14, I underwent a profound depression. A life turning experience, it became the opportunity for rebirth. And as I was blessed with the gift of an amazing teacher on land, so did the dolphins play a similar role in the oceans, guiding me on my journey of spiritual renewal.
How and where could I put my joy in service to the world?
It is when I started to ponder these questions that I heard about the Cove in Taiji over ten years ago.
As a Japanese person who has grown up overseas, I have been continuously confronted by my European and American peers about my view on the plight of the cetaceans in Japan. Witnessing this from the outside, I have always felt called to “do something” about it but unsure of how.
When life (and Covid) brought my family and I to Japan in 2020 and we made the choice to settle there against all odds, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get involved.
As cliche as it may sound, dolphins have saved my life. And I simply wanted to give back.
I launched “Project Anima” in 2022 with a crowdfunding campaign for our first grass boat ceremony in Taiji in collaboration with Japanese artists. The campaign was a success, opening the way for a second ceremony in 2023 with new partnerships and a growing number of supporters.
Project Anima is now a Japan based organization, with a small but mighty team. Our goal is to grow into a Foundation or a Trust in the near future as we lay the groundwork for our next beautiful challenge, the creation of an authentic Rescue and Rehabilitation Sanctuary for Dolphins and Small Whales.
Leina Sato, founder