Colobus Monkeys | GVI Kenya

GVI teach Shimoni’s School Children about their Forest

Category: Coastal Forest, Colobus, Community Conservation, Environmental Education, Shimoni Forest | Date: Sep 06 2008 | By: gvikenya

Back in November of last year GVI Kenya helped found the community-based organisation ‘Friends of Shimoni Forest’, our research having raised awareness amongst members of the Shimoni community that their forest was simply too valuable to lose. Friends of Shimoni Forest set out with the aims of conserving the indigenous forest and its biodiversity, supporting further research and raising awareness amongst surrounding communities. It’s been a slow process at times, but with our coastal forest research back up and running and a petition for the gazettement of Shimoni forest’s Kayas ready to be submitted to National Museums of Kenya it was very satisfying today to have the awareness underway with Shimoni’s school children.

19 Shimoni Primary School students drawn from standards 6, 7 and 8 gave up their Saturday morning to join us and learn about the biodiversity on their doorstep, play some educational games, take a walk in to the forest to understand more about the colobus and the array of other wildlife and finally watch a video that presented the diversity of tropical forests in an unforgettable way.

As important as the messages on biodiversity, the morning was exceptionally fun for everyone involved and engaged the children in wildlife that is often overlooked. We plan to run this every Saturday morning and reveal the secrets of Shimoni’s forest to many more of Shimoni’s children.