In the villages of Mozambique, we weren't treated as outsiders. Families opened their doors, shared their meals, and made space for us in their daily lives. It's easy, from a distance, to imagine people in faraway places as somehow different from us. In fact, we are different in culture, but we share the same rhythms, the same struggles, and the same love for family. What we learned most of all is that without seeing local communities as partners, without honoring their needs and listening to their voices, no effort to protect wildlife can ever truly succeed.