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Cleaning day: Everybody do your share!
With no real infrastructure to manage waste, residents of many rural towns are neither motivated nor educated about why they shouldn’t litter. As a result, many towns, like our neighboring town of Maungu, are overburdened by noncompostable trash thrown in the streets. Part of Wildlife Works’ community education initiative focuses on teaching students how to reuse and recycle plastic items. On Oct 27th, duty called upon the residents of Maungu to join hands and remove all the polythene paper bags and plastic containers that constantly build up around the town. Wildlife Works and Marungu Hill Conservancy organize an event each year to ensure that the town is clean, and all…
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Working side by side with SOKO-Kenya
A new addition has come to the Wildlife Works Export Processing Zone (EPZ): SOKO! SOKO Kenya is a clothing production workshop for the export market that aims to create sustainable, fair employment and offer training and skills to some of Kenya’s poorest people. SOKO promotes community-driven, ethical, environmental, fashion-driven garments to the international fashion industry. SOKO first began producing women’s fashion for the European, U.S. and South African markets in 2009. Set up by Founder and Managing Director Joanna Maiden, the factory had been operating from Ukunda, Coast Providence. With increasing production orders, construction of the new factory at the Wildlife Works EPZ started earlier this year and Joanna’s team…
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Kasim the gardener creates works of living art
Kasim has been a gardener at the Wildlife Works Rukinga Sanctuary Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project for only a few months, but already his work speaks volumes. Kasim is a true artist, blessed with an innate sense of beauty that allows him to create imaginative landscaping including fun, natural signage that create a warm welcome for staff members and visitors to the sanctuary. The 47-year-old father of seven never got to finish his studies, due to lack of funds to pay school fees. He managed to get by, working security jobs at various institutions until he began working for Wildlife Works. Kasim doesn’t let his lack of formal schooling interfere with…
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Madam Colleta: Caring for the future of the community
One of the greatest comforts to a working mother is knowing that your child is safe and happy while you are away. No matter which corner of the globe you’re in, there is a constant need for affordable and reliable childcare. For Wildlife Works staff members in Rukinga, the free on-site preschool has been a blessing. Madam Colleta leads the team of 2 dedicated teachers who spend their days entertaining and educating 21 children aged 2-5 . Madam Colleta has been with the Wildlife Works preschool since it opened in January, 2012. The widowed mother of three spends her days teaching and feeding young children, while simultaneously providing for her…
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Save the kale: How one leafy green is changing lives
For some of us, eating vegetables is a chore. For others, it is a means of survival. In Kenya, kale is referred to as “Sukuma wiki” which means “to stretch the week” in Swahili. The green leafy plant serves as a staple of the average person’s diet, especially for those living on less than a dollar per day. During periods of drought, the demand for water becomes crucial for plant, animal and human use. Water shortages can cause food to become scarce, and what does reach the markets is priced exorbitantly high. The inflated prices leave families without enough food to feed everyone. In these desperate times, the youngest children…
