Born Free

Category: Born Free, Born Free Kenya | Date: Aug 31 2008 | By: bornfree

My name is David Manoa, and I am a field project co-ordinator with Born Free in Kenya.  I’m currently based in Olmoti Primary School just outside Amboseli National Park where we’re building 4 new classrooms and a boys dorm to add to the kitchen, hall and girls dorm that we completed in 2006. 
 
For the first time in history, Ol moti primary school community organized an end of term closing ceremony. Parents and guardians as far as Oloitokitok (about 80 km away) and Kimana (about 50 km away), were all in attendance. Some ‘privileged’ parents arrived in style on their motorbikes while others simply walked to the school from the near by manyattas.

About 60 parents/guardians and 250 children convened in the schools airy multipurpose hall that was built by BFF with the help of Martin Clunes funds. After introductions, came the prize giving sessions where students in position one, two and three were honoured by heavy applaud. It was encouraging to see girls competing fairly well with the boys. The big shock to many was in class three, with all the top three positions being scooped by girls.

Toward, the end of the celebrations, the master of ceremony (the head master) invited various parent representatives, school chairman and myself to talk to the gathering. I must say, I was really impressed with the whole ceremony set up. The speeches were brief and to the point. The speakers from the community encouraged the children to work hard and reminded parents to help the children to realize their dreams. A renowned parent representative said, ‘the greatest prize one can give their children is education’. Some parents even vowed to campaign against the outdated cultural practices such as Female Circumcision or FGM as it is now more commonly known, which undermines the education and general development of the masaai communities. And in their closing remarks, the headmaster and the school chairman thanked BFF for their continued support to uplift the lives of the Ol moti community and promised to take care of the provided facilities.

All these happenings are a notch high, contrary to what I used to see in the past years. I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel and I can’t wait to witness yet another purposeful event!

Manoa David

Tags: Born Free, Born Free Kenya, community, Ol Moti, school

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Category: Born Free Kenya | Date: Aug 18 2008 | By: bornfree

Hello readers of Wildlife Direct’s Born Free blog,

My name is Alice Owen, and I am the East African Regional Representative for Born Free Foundation, managing projects across East Africa as well as the Born Free Kenya office.

There are many aspects to Born Free’s work in Kenya, our small team of seven works from an office in Nairobi. Wildlife protection is crucial and we support the removal of animal snares through partner organisations such as the Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust and Youth for Conservation. For this work the fleet of vehicles generously donated by Land Rover is invaluable. 

One of the biggest challenges to conservation of wildlife and habitat in Africa is poor communities living inside or adjacent to wildlife areas.  But without the support of these communities, safeguarding wildlife becomes impossible.  That’s the paradox of conservation in developing countries and why Born Free in Kenya has established a programme that works directly with these communities.  We call it “Global Friends”.

 
Let’s start in Amboseli.  Born Free has supported elephant research and conservation here for many years.  But adjacent to Amboseli National Park lies the Olmoti community.  This is a predominantly Maasai region.  Maasai are pastoralists and move their herds of cattle, goats and donkeys seasonally to find grazing and water.  With expanding populations they have less and less land every year and are forced to become more sedentary.  They are also keener on getting their children educated now, to open up new opportunities in salaried jobs.  It is estimated that only 1 in 10 Maasai is literate. Responding to the growing population, the increasing permanence of settlements and the interest in education, Global Friends decided to focus on supporting education within this community.
 
Two years ago, we found a tiny school at Olmoti with only 74 children and 3 teachers. But there were numerous additional children at home doing chores such as fetching water, herding goats or taking care of siblings.  We wanted to get these children to school too.  This took a year of negotiation with local leaders and parents and we eventually brokered an agreement that if we built a boarding school, the children would attend.  The boarding facility was important, as in a remote area with wildlife about and no public transport, some children can’t get to school as day pupils for fear of encountering elephants and lion along the way. 

By the beginning of 2007 a girls’ dorm was completed and when the school opened that term we started to see the enrolment going up.  By the end of March there were 120 children.  It was like a dream - every day there was a new enrolment or two.  Children simply starting streaming in, some with permission from their parents and some without.  There have been cases where children herding livestock, having seen their friends start to enjoy school, simply ran off and left their goats in the bush.

Now there are over 240 children attending Olmoti and half of them are full-time boarders, 60 boys and 50 girls.  With that encouraging result we sought further support to raise money for a boys’ dorm and more classrooms.  In April 2008, we started the construction of 4 new classrooms and a boys’ dorm thanks to Born Free supporters in the UK, Jack Froggatt and Laurence Bloom.  We’re in the final stages of construction now and will be having an opening ceremony in November 2008!

The joy of working with rural communities is when you see the faces of the children.  It’s just the best thing in the world.  I have two children of my own who are more privileged than the children of Olmoti, but if they all get an education, the future may hold equal opportunities for them all. Alice Owen

Tags: Born Free Kenya, community, Kenya, Ol Moti, school

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Category: Born Free, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Jul 07 2008 | By: bornfree

The Lilongwe wildlife Centre is a new and exciting project for Malawi based in the Capital City, Lilongwe.  In only its second year it is already rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing its orphans back to the wild….there is no facility of its kind in Malawi.  Watch the Centre grow over the coming months and years and follow the stories of some of the animals that are confiscated from illegal traders, injured or orphaned in the wild.  Follow our dedicated team (both local and international) in their weekly routines, experience our successes, and share in our disappointments.  Watch us grow into what we all believe will be a model on which other facilities around the world should be modelled.  Let us meet some of the team first -

Hi, my name is Lee Stewart, the Operations Manager of the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre…  I have spent this morning darting a young male duiker (a small antelope -similar to a European deer but with horns not antlers) who needed to be moved to a new enclosure from the vervet monkey’s enclosure, where he was being kept temporarily.  Antelope are usually darted with a drug called M99 which is an opiod derivative that is extremely dangerous to its users (although extremely affective in game capture).  With M99 unavailable, we tried something different, using a Zoletil and Xylazine combination. Micky has he is affectionally known at the Centre is a feisty young character having been brought to us as a sub-adult. He was hand raised by an expatriate living within Lilongwe having been orphaned as a youngster. He had become a little too dangerous for the family and had injured a young girl with his horns, so it was time for him to move on. This is fairly typical situation with wild animals reared in a human household.

 
Micky was extremely wary of the situation as I had darted him two days earlier with a different combination…a combination that failed miserably!  Eventually the drugs were administered and two hours later he had made a full recovery and was ready to enjoy his new enclosure…and his new female Christie!!  A successful morning by all accounts…and the start of a beautiful relationship. 

Both duikers will be released as a pair, back to the wild, later on in the year where they will be monitored by our team…at least until we are confident that are ready to be left alone.

My name is Tracey and I am the new Marketing Manager for the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre. I arrived in Lilongwe in January this year, having previously lived in Romania, Ukraine, UK and South Africa. I have always wanted to work with animals and this is a brilliant opportunity for me to finally do a job I can see the point of – helping the wildlife of Malawi. So much better than your normal 9 -5, that’s for sure! My job is to raise awareness of the Wildlife Centre locally and internationally and the work we do for the animals, and at the same time to raise much needed funds for the Centre via donations (Please see our donation page as well as the Wildlife Direct donation option to the right!), corporate sponsorships, individual sponsorships, our adoption scheme and our Friends of the Wildlife Centre scheme

For more information on Lilongwe Wildlife Centre and the People and Wildlife Centre pilot visit http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/paw-centres/lilongwe-wildlife-centre/

Tags: community, conservation, duiker, Malawi, monkey, People & Wildlife, wildlife rescue

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Category: Sea Sense | Date: Jul 02 2008 | By: bornfree

I am Catharine Muir, Director of Sea Sense, a Tanzanian community-based NGO that I set up in 2001. Sea Sense helps to protect endangered marine life including turtles and dugongs with a view to improving the lives of local people and protecting biodiversity. My job is essentially to coordinate our dedicated team which is comprised of 3 in the office and a network of 65 local Conservation Officers who collect data and raise awareness along the coast.

 The kinds of activities Sea Sense is involved in include: protecting nesting turtles and their eggs; tagging; monitoring sightings and strandings of turtles, dugongs, dolphins, whales and whale sharks; conducting socio-economic and biological surveys to collect information on values, beliefs, perceptions and trends; and raising awareness through village meetings, competitions and distribution of educational materials. Aside from the field work, I am also responsible for fund-raising and report writing and dissemination of our work through local and international media and publications.

I work closely with John Mbugani the Education / Field Officer who is Tanzanian and who graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam in 2007 with a BSc in Marine Biology from the Faculty of Aquatic Sciences & Technology. John spends the majority of his time in the field, either in villages raising awareness, training Conservation Officers and organizing campaigns or on the beaches or at sea monitoring turtle nests, reports of dead marine animals or illegal activities.

We have just completed a dynamic primary schools’ competition centered around dugongs for World Environment Day and have many more exciting activities planned for the rest of 2008!

Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be reporting on the work of Sea Sense, I hope you enjoy reading about the work which we are so passionate about!!

Tags: community, dugong, marine, poaching, Sea Sense, Tanzania, turtles, whale, whale shark

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