Women
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Reproductive Health Education and Support for Wildlife Works Communities
Within the captivating yet isolated hills of Sagalla, Taita Taveta County, Kenya, 20 women and two men came together to form a self-help group with the objective of improving reproductive health. Rauka Reproductive Health Group meets at the Sagalla Health Centre under the auspices of the Sagalla community health unit. Members of Reproductive Health Group Hygiene is a common concern for people living in poverty in developing nations. Rauka Reproductive Health Group felt the need to address issues that are related to reproductive hygiene, especially menstruation hygiene, to assist women and girls in the area. With this initiative, the group has been able to reduce traditional birth deliveries where now…
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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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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…
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The Strength of One Woman
“Dreams do come true,” that is probably the first thing that Vicky Kimuhu will tell you if you asked her to narrate her life story. Vicky, a single mother of one child, is enthusiastic about the team work involved in shipping finished goods from the Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project EPZ factory to their final destination abroad. She’s been with Wildlife Works for just over two years now. “Handling shipping successfully, which is a new thing to me, excites me a lot! Though I am an enthusiastic professional and versatile designer with extensive experience in garment production from the raw material to the end product, I am happy to…
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Meet Rehema, a Student Who Never Gave Up On Her Education
Born in 1990 in Kale village in the Marungu area, Rehema never knew what her future held. At the very best, she was certain that she would end up growing old in her rural village. Rehema Mwaka is the second born in a family of four. Her parents are both subsistence farmers in Kale village. She joined Kale primary school in 1997 but because of the extreme poverty in her family, she was forced to dropped out for 2 terms due to of lack of school uniforms and tuition funds. However, she went back to school in the 3rd term and managed to maintain top position in her class and…