Tag Archive for: wildlife warrior program
Late last month, six children from Ololomei Primary School near Elephant Pepper Camp were delighted to win last term’s Wildlife Warrior Program Poster competition. The six drew a very creative and impressive poster that captured the theme ‘Living with Wildlife’, and presented the poster as a team, discussing the many themes of human-wildlife conflict from the unique perspective of young people living on the border of a wildlife-rich conservation area. All of the students produced wonderful posters, of course, and the winning team were proud to have been chosen from such a high standard of selections.
The winning students were awarded with a game drive to Mara North Conservancy and a brief tour of Elephant Pepper Camp.They were accompanied by two of their teachers and by the look of things they really had a really grand time! A special ‘Thank you’ to Patrick and Sophie for organising this outing for our warriors!
Christmas is here and, in keeping with the season, I want to share a story packed with hope and good news. And I hope you’ll make more stories like this come true.
Elosy is 15 years old. She lives with her mother and younger sister in a small village near Elsa’s Kopje neighboring the Meru National Park. Her father was killed by robbers 8 years ago and now her mum is the sole provider.
Her mother runs a simple grocery shop but what she earns barely pays for rent and food. This story is all too common in rural communities across Kenya.
Elosy dreams of being an electrical engineer. With the help of her school, she’s working hard to make her dream come true. She knows it’s only with hard work and determination that she can live a better life.
It’s rare that families can afford to give their children the chance of a life that we take for granted. Education in Kenya is out of reach of most rural communities, meaning a life of poverty and hardship for so many children.
But you can help children like Elosy. So far, the Land & Life Foundation has given 19 youngsters the chance to fulfill their dreams through our Wildlife Warrior Scholarship program. We still have 8 more children who desperately need funding and next year, we’re hoping to change even more futures.
Remember a time when someone helped your wish come true? This Christmas, make that person be you.
Here’s how you can do it:
- $100 will just about cover a family trip to the cinema, but that same amount will send a pupil on conservation training, vital to their education
- $200 might buy you a dinner for two, but it can pay for a child to receive tuition for a whole term
- $600 gets you a scuba diving trip, but it also pays for someone like Elosy to attend school for an entire year
Please show your gratitude this Christmas and join us today to grant youngsters like Elosy their wish and a promising future.
The theme for this year’s World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is “it’s your story – don’t lose it”. We’ve found the perfect way to promote the day as part of our Wildlife Warrior Program.
In partnership with local schools, the Wildlife Warrior Program gives community leaders of tomorrow, the skills and experience to work in harmony with the environment and wildlife, protecting them for generations to come. By educating students today, we hope to build a bright and sustainable future.
We have recently introduced the use of conservation videos in our program. This has given us the opportunity to teach conservation themes in a more practical and exciting way to the students. And the more we can engage the students, the more they are likely to excel at their studies.
In the recent past, we have shown conservation videos to children from some of our supported schools. This has been received with great joy by both the children and the teachers – some of whom have had the chance to see motion pictures for the first time in their lives.
The videos have had a really positive effect on the children, bringing the subjects even more to life as it broadens their understanding of nature and wildlife conservation. The films can add a new depth to the studies, showing how conservation works at both local and international levels.
After the great success we’ve had so far, we’ll continue to show the films to all our supported schools and hope to continue the fantastic impact they’ve had.
The relationship between wildlife, environment and the communities of East Africa is a fragile and complex story. Natural habitats are under constant threat from development, farmer’s crops and livestock destroyed by wildlife and as demand for space gets greater, these conflicts will increase.
At Land & Life we’re all driven to build a positive future. And that’s why our Wildlife Warrior Program is so important. You might remember us introducing you to the program last month, and Sharon, one of our successful Warriors who will make such a positive difference to the future of her community.
The excitement is building for the future warriors as they get closer to finding out who will be chosen to go forward, and over the last two weeks, there’s been a beehive of activity.
Exam time is in full swing. Working with school staff, students at Esiteti, Kachiuru, Engilae, Ura Gate and Ololomei Primary Schools have now sat their Wildlife Warrior Scholarship exam. It hasn’t been easy but then we need to make sure we only choose the most dedicated and passionate students to go forward.
Our Project Coordinator David Mbugua traveled to Tortilis, Kitich and Elsa’s to deliver the exams in the respective schools. At EPC the managers sent camp guides to administer the exam on our behalf. “It’s been hard work but also a lot of fun” said David. “It’s wonderful to see how much the students want to be part of the scheme and help build a fantastic future for where they live”.
And for us and the students, the hard work doesn’t stop there. The L&L team in Nairobi now has to mark and grade all 50 of the Wildlife Warrior exam papers as we await the end of year results for all those who took it. Of the 50 students only 10 – 2 from each school – will be lucky enough to be awarded the scholarship in January 2017.
But luckily for the Warriors, it’s not all hard work. To reward them for their dedication and energy, we organized for students from two of the schools to take part in game drives.
On Thursday and Friday last week, 30 Wildlife Warriors from Embiti Primary School near Sand River got to experience a game drive at the Maasai Mara National Reserve and 6 Wildlife Warriors from Esiteti Primary School took part in one at Amboseli National Park, followed by a visit to Tortilis camp for lunch.
The children loved the experience and many of them got to see up close for the first time the amazing animals they learn about in school.
We’ve got huge hopes for our future Wildlife Warriors and whoever goes through, we know they’ll share our passion and dedication for protecting wildlife and helping communities grow sustainably.
As our Wildlife Warrior Program approaches the end of term, we wanted to share some highlights with you.
This term’s theme was The Importance of Forests, focusing on:
- Types of forests
- Various terms associated with forests like afforestation, reforestation and deforestation
- Causes and impacts of deforestation
- How to protect forests
Thanks to all the camp managers and guides who have generously supported this term’s theme by giving engaging and inspiring talks at our supported schools.
The newest highlight of the Wildlife Warrior Program is the Debate Competition, which has already taken place at Ura Gate Primary School near Elsa’s and Ololomei Primary School near Elephant Pepper Camp (EPC). Huge thanks go to Patrick & Sophie at EPC for taking the time to preside over the competition at Ololomei, and to Elsa’s guides who supported the competition at Ura Gate.
Next week, the Debate Competition moves to Esiteti Primary School near Tortilis and Engilae Primary School near Kitich. We are also holding a Poster Competition at Embiti Primary School, the newest entrant to the Wildlife Warrior Program. We are particularly delighted to be hosting a group from the Young Presidents’ Organization during the Poster Competition, so they can see the Wildlife Warrior Program in action. You will find photos of their visit and the competitions on our website and social media pages after next week.
Recently, as part of our partnership work with the Ngilae community near Kitich, we held a two-day Bee Keepers’ training event. During the event, which trained 12 members of the local community, Mr. Kenneth Kaburu of African Beekeeper Ltd. gave a lecture on beekeeping using the Langstroth beehive. This training was a key moment in the project, as it brought together a range of people from Ngilae, all of whom want to improve their livelihoods through beekeeping.
We have recently launched the Wildlife Warrior Program at Embiti Primary School near Sand River Mara (SRM).
Our Project Coordinator David Mbugua, together with SRM guides Jonathan, Mohamed and Daniel, visited the school to give a talk based on our current theme for the term, ‘The Importance of Forests’.
The day was educational and good fun – Jonathan was a real hit with the children, bringing out lots of smiles and enthusiasm as the pupils answered his questions. We held a small drawing competition for the young pupils, which involved drawing a realistic tree on the blackboard. The winners were rewarded with pencils, courtesy of the Land & Life Foundation. A team from the Mara Cheetah Project also joined the group’s visit, complementing our activities by talking to the young pupils about the importance of wildlife.
The day prepared the children for our Poster Competition, to be held in the last week of July. We look forward to inviting some SRM guests to join the judging panel, giving them the opportunity to get involved in our work with the local community.
The highlight of the visit was seeing the joy on the youngsters’ faces when they heard that the Poster Competition winners will go on a game drive in the Maasai Mara National Reserve and visit Sand River Camp.
Our Wildlife Warrior Program Term 2 activities are well on course with a very exciting competition planned for the pupils – a debate on the motion “Deforestation should be banned!”.
We have chosen a debate because we believe it will help our Wildlife Warriors hone their communication and presentation skills, as well as cultivate confidence and teamwork.
Once they have learned how to debate, they will have the skills to think critically about issues surrounding them, helping them to make informed decisions.
As we have done in the past, we will engage Camp Managers with supported schools to facilitate Conservation Talks at their local school within the next three weeks.
The Debate Competition will be held in the last week of July – please check our website and social media pages then for photos of our Wildlife Warriors in action.
Tag Archive for: wildlife warrior program
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