Forest Communities
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Scholarship Student Dreams of Medical School
“The greatest danger facing modern society today is not of dying without achieving your dreams but dying without dreaming at all.” This is the motto by which Sophia Tsenge lives. Sophia comes from a humble background in a family of seven, in Sasenyi Village in Taita Taveta County, Kenya, and is one of Wildlife Works education bursary beneficiaries. One of the core ways in which Wildlife Works supports local development is through distributing the profit made from carbon credits back into conservation project’s communities we serve. Much of the funding programs go towards supporting community groups who submit needs proposals for committee approval. Another major funding funnel is our education…
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Wildlife Works On-Site Nursery School Gets a Makeover
No matter where you are in the world, playtime at nursery school sounds the same – delighted shrieking and shouting erupts from tiny voices as soon as the kids are let free. There is no difference here at Wildlife Works’ on-site nursery school, except that recently the chorus has been extra loud (if that’s possible!) because the school has just had a makeover. Wildlife Works nursery school on site in Kenya Since January 2012, Wildlife Works has provided a nursery school free of charge for our employee’s children aged 2-5 at our Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya. This helps kids get an early start in their education and provides…
- About, Adventures in REDD+, Biodiversity, Conservation, Education, Forest Communities, Health, Wildlife, Women
Changing Kenya’s Landscape for Wildlife and Jobseekers
Changing Kenya’s Landscape for Wildlife and Jobseekers Published in the The Opinion Pages on NY Times By Amy Yee JUNE 8, 2016 RUKINGA SANCTUARY, Kenya — Twenty years ago, this wildlife corridor in southern Kenya was in jeopardy. A scarcity of jobs in this impoverished, arid landscape meant people were hunting wild giraffe and antelope for meat, and chopping down trees to make charcoal. With fewer trees, desertification loomed. Water was so precious that local cattle herders lit fires at water holes to keep giraffes and zebras from drinking. The animals had less vegetation to eat and less forest cover. Cutting down trees combined with poaching decimated wildlife in this…
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Violet: Weaving Herself a More Sustainable Future
A good life is like weaving; energy is created in the tension. The struggle, each pull and tug builds on the next to create the perfect basket. Weaving baskets is a tradition in native Taita culture, a tribe of people living in the hills in South Eastern Kenya. Violet Simba is part of the Basket Weaver Women Group in Jora, a village in the shadow of Mount Kasigau that is within the Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ project area. Violet is one of 30 weavers in the Jora group who have turned to weaving Sisal baskets in order to be less dependent on subsistence agriculture. Violet Simba, a traditional basket…
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Wildlife Works Speaks at World Menstrual Hygiene Day
‘Menstruation matters to everyone, everywhere’ was the slogan for the 2016 celebration of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, held each year on the 28th May. It is aimed at breaking taboos and raising awareness about the importance of good menstrual hygiene management for women and adolescent girls worldwide. Lack of sanitary pads is a common concern for girls and women living in poverty in developing nations. In dire circumstances, they are forced to improvise by using rags, tissue, leaves and other unhygienic materials, or vulnerable girls are conned into sexual relationships in exchange for feminine hygiene products. These humiliating practices can lead to infections and unwanted pregnancy. Research has also shown…
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Miasenyi Secondary School Gets Conservation Education Tour and Safari
Part of Wildlife Works community empowerment strategy includes ensuring that underprivileged students get the chance to view their beautiful ecosystem and see wildlife in its natural habitat. Since March 2015, the Wildlife Works Community Relations Department at our Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya has been running an education program for local students to tour the Wildlife Works diverse operations, learn about conservation at our Tsavo Discovery Center and experience wildlife firsthand. Since the program started just over a year ago, over 25 schools have participated, bringing over 750 students through our curriculum. The aim is to eventually reach 80 schools in the area. On 20th May 2016, Wildlife Works…
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ASOS Foundation Continues to Fund Wildlife Work’s Community
Wildlife Works partners with ASOS, a large online retailer in Europe that produces with our affiliate factory SOKO, to implement ASOS Foundation funded initiatives in Kenya. Two local development projects that have recently been completed by this partnership are the construction of a water pipeline and the making of lockers and chairs for Buguta Secondary School in Taita Taveta County, Kenya. The ASOS Foundation has funded the construction of 5.7 km of pipeline to supply clean drinking water for domestic and human consumption to 150 households in the town of Mackinnon Road. The water originates from Mzima Springs in Tsavo National Park West, Kenya. The water pipeline project is managed by…
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Multi-Story Farming Conserves Land and Water
Wildlife Works uses Multi-Story Farming as a Conservation Method Wildlife Works is located in Taita Taveta County, Kenya, a hot and dry coastal region where the average annual rainfall is less than 16 inches per year. These arid conditions are very unfriendly for agriculture, and in an rural area where there is no substantial industry and high poverty rates, these communities have to exploit their surrounding natural resources to survive. With just over 400 employees, we are the second largest employer in the area. Harmful yet income generating activities that many people resort to include cutting down trees for the illegal charcoal industry and poaching wildlife for bush meat and…
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Enterprising Women Empower Change
Tumaini Environmental Women’s Group’s Founder Mama Mercy Drive Change in Her Community Women’s groups provide essential and powerful support systems for the poorest communities in developing counties. By supporting these organizations in the communities we serve, Wildlife Works has seen tremendous growth in the financial and general health of these communities. The Tumaini Environmental Women’s Group and its founder Mama Mercy is a shining example of how women can drive change. In the village of Itinyi, Mercy Ngaruiya, known as Mama Mercy in the community, has been helping women in her community out of the cycle of poverty for decades. She is known as one of the community’s most enterprising women! Because of this, we have hosted her to speak…
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Disability is not and Inability: Buguta Disabled Group
Wildlife Works Partners with the Buguta Disabled Group “Disability is not and Inability” is the motto of the Buguta Disable Group and they prove it to be true with every stitch they make while creating products that are sold to customers all over the world. Since 2011, Wildlife Works has been working with the Buguta Disabled Group, a group of 30 members who work to support eachother and their families, emotionally and financially. Membership is not limited to those who are disabled; family members of disabled people can also join, because as caretakers need just as much support! Lea Mvumba, known as Mama Lea in the community, the chairwoman, and her husband, Jacob, started…