Save elephants Africa

2 community meetings were held this month. During the meetings the community members especially the village committee were used to create more awareness to the community. The committee of every village was allowed 20 minutes to talk about the greater kudu and threats affecting them. They also informed the community on the values of wildlife and the general environment. It was encouraging to see the committee members training their own people.

The Millimani women group was a role model to all the communities within Namunyak and beyond. Through the alternative livelihood training and the support given the group was able to increase their income from 0.62 USD they use to get per day through the sale of charcoal to 3.08 USD they get from the sale of vegetable.

Forest fires also reduced from 14 (fourteen) incidents reported in 2006 to 1 (one) incident in 2007. This is attributed to the wild honey harvesting training and the introduction of alternative livelihood to charcoal burners.

In February, we visited 3 schools. The school kids wearing greater kudu costumes visited the famous Wamba Hospital and entertained the patients with wildlife songs. They also gave patients milk, sweets, boiled maize combs from the Millimani women group shamba and donated a goat to the destitute children home.

The campaigns activities are still being implemented well. The community awareness level towards the environment and the flagship species is going up. The Namunyak community will have a very big positive mark towards the local wildlife after the campaign.

I would like to acknowledge the support of my board of trustees. Not forgetting the participation of teachers, pupils and parents who participated in the months activities.