This spring, the children around the world will see their very own eagle nest. It will be raw and uncensored, just as this past year's nest was seen, it will still be live and interactive. There will however, be a huge difference this year - GOALS.
In July 2006 I found myself quite unexpectedly under an eagle's nest, filming from dawn to dusk, in the rain and during storms. I slept in the back of my truck with little food to eat and no time to go get the food, since we didn't want to miss that moment, "The Fledge!"
Millions of us were joined daily around our monitors to watch and interact with one another. There were few countries that were not represented. This came about due to our love, respect and concern of these magnificent raptors, the eagles. Friendships were made and kindred spirits met worldwide and flourish to this very day. Today we meet again, but this time we also find ourselves around the watering holes of South Africa. In doing so we have once again identified the urgent need to help.
We can achieve this act of HELP through awareness, education and media exposure. The Internet as most of us realize, is a powerful resource. Last year's eagle season saw in excess of over 400 million hits by the world's pc users. If used constructively: to educate and inform, mountains can be moved and goals and objectives of many conservation and humanitarian groups around the world can be met.
Many countries are faced with poverty and AIDS, they have no schools, teachers or books, their wildlife is in peril, oceans are being destroyed, mercury poisoning etc. It's all there, and they all deserve our help and our immediate attention. It is not the mandate of KITNES to tell anyone what to do, but rather to show you what you can do if you so choose. What choices does anyone have to help; it can come in the form of volunteering, teaching and especially donations. Still, there was in my opinion, something amiss. In April of 2006 I was invited to attend the grand opening of the Sto-lo Sto:lo Community Futures Development Corporation's grand opening of the new Sto:lo Business & Artisan Centre. What I saw, heard and felt, caused me to stop, reflect, and to ask myself, "why is it I didn't know all this was right here in my own community?" I witnessed the Sto:lo native children perform many dances, Elder's blessed the new facility, brushing the centre and the artworks with cedar bows, and I listened to some very wise and well-informed elders of the Sto-lo Nations.
We watched three of the most hypnotic nests: Hornby Island, Saanich and the Maine nest for over 4 months. Here I sat, right before these magnificent raptors and floods of memories of that experience I had just had months earlier at the Sto:lo Business & Artisan Centre came flooding over me. It was a moment I still have difficulty putting into words.
So many questions from the children, yet we had few answers because we were not prepared. We were literally caught off-guard. Questions such as: Why didn't the eggs hatch in the Hornby nest. Questions about air pollution, human encroachment, bilge oil dumping in our oceans, cutting down Eagle nest trees and disturbing the ecosystems worldwide in that process, gas guzzler cars, recycling, conservation of our planet. All this now must be addressed... why? Because the children ask! 
Now it was I who was asking the questions. What did these eagles mean to the Aboriginal people worldwide. Why did I feel like I should not be there and why were the natives of this province, and the world, not asked to participate in this great adventure? What is it that the Sto:lo Nation peoples can teach our children and us about what these eagles represent? What do those beliefs have to do with nature and the environment, yes, the questions just came pouring out, and I began to get the answers.
One thing that struck me this year, and yes-saddened me, was the lack of any involvement of our Aboriginal people here in British Columbia, Canada as well as the Aboriginal people around the world. The very people whose culture and beliefs hinged on, not only the eagle, but also, all the animals of this planet and the planet itself. The Aboriginals have so much to teach us and we have much we could have learned from them, and yet, they were not asked to participate. Their beliefs and awareness of how everything on this planet interacts with each other, is an intricate knowledge base and for the most part, remains untapped. For the sake of our children, their future there education and the life of our planet and all who inhabit it, we are hoping to change that through the full involvement of the Aboriginal people, along with the rest of our dedicated team. You will see and hear native storytellers, Chiefs and their elders, and other experts speak of their beliefs, faiths and life experiences. This will be accomplished through live video, as well as in the many classrooms we plan to bring together online around the world.
Our cultural, religious or political differences have no part of our coming together and sharing this incredible experience. We come together as ONE.
This time we are more prepared. KITNES (Kids in the Nest Educational Society) has organized an incredible team of experts, volunteers, moderators, environmental groups, archeologist, government officials, wildlife biologists, ornithologists, photographers, certified avian specialist, scientists, veterinarians and educators from around the world.
Dr David Suzuki Canada's renowned scientist, Dr Jane Goodall, world renowned primatologist, WiTS, Wildlife Tree Stewardship Program and many other well informed and established conservation groups, links were sent world wide to whom ever asked what they could do to help, and what could they the teachers share with their students.
When I left my meeting with Chief Willie Charlie, and subsequent meetings with many of the Elders of the Sto:lo First Nations, I left with a feeling of hope. I felt the same way after a lengthy discussion with Campbell Scott the head of Africam in South Africa, and the heads of WiTS. Then I met with the mayor of Chilliwack, Mayor Clint Hames, and again he too left me with the same feeling: hope! The same feelings I get when I work with our incredible team of volunteers who have come together as one in the KITNES. 
The issues of this planet can seem monumental at times, and they certainly are a task far to big for any one person or even one group, to take on or change. It is the belief of the KITNES if we can come together as ONE around an eagle's nest worldwide, or meet each day at a waterhole in South Africa, we can come together as one, worldwide to make this planet a much better and cleaner place for all that inhabit it. One day at a time, one child at a time, through education and awareness.
Ms. Charlie Lee Hilliard,
President
Kids In The Nest Educational Society