GVI Kenya

Category: Ex-poachers, Tsavo West Sustainable Development Programme | Date: Sep 18 2009 | By: gvikenya

I’ve been writing about our ‘adventures’ in Tsavo on a water access project for Kasaani village where former paochers have turned their back on the bush meat trade in search of a more sustainable way of life. We are all rightly proud of what was achieved in two weeks armed with just spades and hoes but much of the credit goes to our project leader and mastermind, Sara… so here’s what those two weeks traversing the Tsavo bush meant to her:

It takes a fair bit to make me cry, but I do cry.  People cry for different reasons and at different times.  Some cry around others who are crying, other people cry when they are alone.  Some wear big sunglasses and let a few tears sneak out when no one is watching (that’s me), others cry loudly and freely.  The last time I cried was sitting on a bus from Mombasa to Taveta – I looked out of the window and saw people carrying empty yellow water jerry cans to the north of the village of Kasaani.  I knew some of the people and didn’t know others.  So why would I cry about that?  Because it meant that the water pipeline I had been working on a week earlier was up and running and the people of this village were no longer making the 5km return journey to fetch water from the water source they previously relied upon.

When I left Kasaani a week earlier, the pipeline was complete but there were a few teething problems and I was yet to see the water flowing for any extended period of time.  Even though countless people from the community had called me the following week to tell me that the water was flowing, the sight of people carrying their jerry cans out in the direction of the tap in Kasaani somehow made it more real.  I knew for sure that the pipeline was being used and making a difference to the people of this community.  Seeing people fetching water from the tap in Kasaani was worth every ache and pain that arose during the two weeks we spent working on the pipeline.

Priscilla collects water in her own village 

Working on this project has been one of the best things I have ever done and I don’t say things like that lightly.  It has been tough.  More things went wrong than I dared to consider could possibly have gone wrong.  But at the end of the day the only thing that matters is the people of Kasaani now have their own supply of drinking water in their village.

Sara (left), David the chairman of the Kasaani ex-poachers group and Zaya witness the first waters flowing towards Kasaani 

I owe thanks to so many people who made this project possible – to Taveta District Council’s Constituency Development Fund for putting in the greatest financial contribution, and doing it within the time frame required, to the other GVI staff who ventured out there and covered me while I was tied up in endless meetings, to the community of Kasaani for their endless work, to my boss for believing that I could pull this project off, and, to the amazing volunteers who came out to work on this project – it would never have happened without them.  Asanteni sana.

Tags: ex-poacher groups, kasaani village, sustainable development, tsavo west national park, water access, water pipeline

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Category: Community Conservation, Ex-poachers, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Tsavo West Sustainable Development Programme | Date: Sep 09 2009 | By: gvikenya

It was back in early 2007 that GVI first met and began to work with the community of Kasaani village… in many ways your ’stereotypical’ rural dusty Kenyan community trying to scrape a living from the land.

The Tsavo landscape around Kasaani village

In their case the land lies on the very edge of Tsavo West National Park. The landscape is stunning with views of Chyulu Hills and Taita Hills dotting the Kenyan plains to the North and East, the impressive North Pare Mountains of Tanzania to the South and, when the clouds clear, the majestic Mt Kilimanjaro to the West.

Collecting water from the neighbouring village of Cess

However it makes for tough living, the rains so unpredictable that their efforts at subsistence farming are more like a lottery than a livelihood. It’s not just the crops that suffer from lack of water; the community of Kasaani have never had a water source in their village and normal daily life requires the men, women and children to make a 5km round trip to their nearest source. Those lucky enough to have a bicycle can fetch 60l at a time, on foot you have to triple the number of journeys. Beatrice highlighted just one example of how they are forced to economise on water when she pointed to a group of children and told me how they don’t wash their children’s clothes when they need to because they just can’t spare the water.

Some of the curious children at Kasaani

Poor access to potable water is cited as one of the key objectives of the millennium development goals. So getting water to this community that we have been working with to promote sustainable alternative livelihoods in place of poaching and the bush meat trade has become a priority… with volunteer manpower and some funding sourced, we set ourselves the challenge - 3.5km of trenches to be dug to run a water pipeline from the borehole at Salita village.

We teamed up with Taveta District Council’s Constituency Development Fund to co-finance the project and bring the expertise, and we, our volunteers and the ex-poachers of Kasaani teamed up for two weeks of digging.

At the outset it seemed a huge task for our team armed only with pangas, hoes and spades but when on the first day we took the 5km round trip with a 20l container to get our own water the value of the project struck home and the seeds of determination were sown.

Our own attempts to fetch water from the nearest supply

Stay tuned for our progress,

 Corti

Tags: alternative livelihoods, bush meat trade, sustainable development, tsavo west national park, water access

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Category: Community Conservation, Eco-tourism, Tsavo West Sustainable Development Programme | Date: Jul 15 2009 | By: gvikenya

Sketches have been drawn, questions asked, lesson plans made and practical lessons trialled – and our team is ready to go!  Well almost, they just need a few more discussions about what to pack for the adventure that is our Tsavo West Sustainable Development Programme. In just a few days time they are off to Kidong and I’m very excited!

Our Tsavo West Sustainable Development programme aims to provide assistance to groups of ex-poachers by building their capacity to engage in sustainable alternative livelihoods.  The programmes that GVI operates differ from village to village, and have been developed in conjunction with key members of each community to suit the specific characteristics of the village in question.  I have been lucky enough to have been involved with each of the three communities from the very beginning and can not wait to hear back from Kidong to see how they are progressing with the livelihood options we have been assisting them with over the past year.

Our objectives in Kidong next week will be to teach the community how to make and package a selection of soaps which they can then sell to tourists (we have one order already!), and to continue to assist them with the development of the Cultural Centre they are building.  The Cultural Centre is a community based information centre which will tell the story of the people of Kidong, Kasaani and Mahandakini, and their journey from ‘poachers to protectors’ of wildlife.  The information for the Cultural Centre has been gathered, advertising material is being developed on this trip to Kidong, some of the buildings have been constructed, and, with help of GVI I am very hopeful that the Centre will be completed by the end of the year. Our aim is be able to post pictures of tourists passing through the Cultural Centre during the Christmas break this year… so keep watching this space for updates!

Tags: alternative livelihoods, Eco-tourism, poachers, sustainable development, tsavo west national park

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Category: Community Conservation | Date: Jul 02 2009 | By: gvikenya

After months of planning, liaising and meetings, the outcome that we have all been working torwards for the ex-poachers and indeed their whole community of Kasaani village looks like it will finally become a reality! Following a meeting with Taveta District Council’s Community Development Fund yesterday, GVI Kenya are on course to help construct a water pipeline to bring drinking water directly to the village of Kasaani. 

For over 10 years the community of Kasaani has struggled without water in their village; the absence of a water supply has meant that families in this community trek over 3km to obtain drinking water for their homes each day. Not only is this a tiring journey for all of those, including children, who have to make the uphill trip back to Kasaani carrying 20 litre containers of water, it also detracts from the time these families have available to devote to income generating activities and subsistence farming. The significance of this for the conservation of Tsavo West’s wildlife lies in the fact that many within the community had formerly relied upon the illegal poaching of wildlife to supply the bush meat trade in order to earn an income and feed their families. We have been working towards alternative livelihoods for them to subsitute the income they had derived from poaching and bringing a much needed water supply to the community not only rewards them for their commitment to this process but will actively support their ability to engage in these sustainable alternatives. This pipeline also has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life of all the people in Kasaani, as well as surrounding villages.

Although GVI has been working with the CDF over the past four months to find a feasible way to deliver a reliable supply of water to Kasaani, it was not until a few weeks ago that a viable proposal was established to deliver good quality drinking water to Kasaani from a pre-existing bore hole. This paves the way for a working partnership between GVI and Taveta District Council; construction of the pipeline is set to begin in August of this year.

Tags: alternative livelihoods, kasaani, sustainable development, taveta district council, tsavo west national park, water access

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 05 2009 | By: gvikenya

We recently returned to Mahandakini, a village located in the southern part of Kenya close to the border with Tanzania. The village has a population of around 2,000 people, many of whom having given up poaching in nearby Tsavo West National Park and have been seeking to engage in sustainable income generating activities.  GVI’s role is to assist the community with capacity building to support alternative livelihoods. During our week long trip to Mahandakini we continued where we left off last time, developing a Food Security Programme for the community and cotton processing industry that Mahandakini is endeavoring to establish.

Throughout the week at Mahandakini, we worked in two groups; the first focused on developing the Food Security Programme, whilst the second spent time assisting with the development of a cottage cotton industry in Mahandakini.  as part of the Cotton Processing group we worked through problem solving with the community, providing training on using natural dyes and assisting with financial management.  The primary obstacle facing the cotton processing industry in Mahanadakini is the lack of funds for the processing and ginning machines necessary to undertake large scale cotton processing.  Over the week, we managed to initiate a plan for the community to develop the cotton industry by selling the cotton they are already growing, and buying cotton material which can be dyed and manufactured into value-added products. In this way the community will be able to start generating income immediately, some of which can be used to save up for the cotton processing equipment required for spinning and weaving. 

Our week wasn’t all about cotton though; we took time to visit some of the amazing sights in the local area.  We visited caves which were used by British soldiers who were fighting in Kenya during World War 2 and are now home to thousands of bats, went swimming at beautiful Njoro Spings the source of which is melt water from Mt. Kilimanjaro, and visited Ziwani Voyager Ranch, a great opportunity to see some local wildlife including elephants, hippopotamus, zebra, antelopes and a vast array of birdlife. Finally the week culminated with a wonderful traditional dinner prepared by some of the women from the ex-poachers group; the community invited us to share a meal with them as a sign of their appreciation for the work we had achieved together!

Tags: alternative livelihoods, capacity building, cotton, food security, Mahandakini, sustainable development, tsavo west national park

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins | Date: May 02 2009 | By: gvikenya

On the remote island community of Mkwiro where GVI are based, it is has rarely been easy to access healthcare. The community themselves raised money to build a dispensary and for a few years enjoyed medical assistance on their doorstep with a government nurse. However by the time GVI arrived the dispensary had been effectively closed for a couple of years, the nurse having been transferred and never replaced.  

In April 2006 our friend and member of the Mkwiro dispensary committee, Fadhili, appealed to us for help - without a nurse, the provision of drugs and medical resources was to be cancelled - this would mean that there would no longer be vaccines and basic medications available for a visiting public health officer from the mainland in Shimoni to administer. All healthcare needs, including child vaccinations, would depend on crossing to the mainland. Having already been called upon twice in just a few months to provide emergency night time medical evacuations in our boat for advanced cases of malaria - Juma, a boy from the orphanage and Shafii, our own boat captain - we were acutely aware of the risks of delaying medical assistance because of the expense and inconvenience.

Thumbs up from Fadhili for support for Mkwiro dispensary 

With the agreement of Mkwiro orphanage we allocated some of their funds from GVI’s Charitable Trust to pay a nurse’s salary, get the dispensary re-opened and ensure medical care was available once more for the orphans and wider community. Generous donations, including from one of our volunteers, Mirka Meyer, ensured the nurse’s salary for two years, but we were aware all along that this was not a sustainable solution and sooner or later the donations would dry up… which is what happened last year. 

Jane volunteering in the classroom 

Fortunately another former team member, Jane Hainsworth-Birt was on the case with her employer, Timberland. Raising over £4000 for Mkwiro, they managed to fund new furniture for Mkwiro primary school, send students on to secondary school with scholarships and allocate the biggest slice for a sustainable business initiative that would allow Mkwiro dispensary to earn the money to pay for their own nurse and improve facilities. It has taken a long time to find the right initiative but in an exceptionally generous gesture to help his community, Pandu, the owner of the dhow boat ‘Bardan’ that we hire as a research vessel agreed to sell it to the dispensary at less than market value.  

Pandu whose sale of the boat to assist his community was as generous a gesture as anyone else 

And so last month, the money we paid to hire our marine research vessel went directly to the dispensary committee to employ a public health officer. And when GVI don’t need the boat, Kisite Marine Park will continue to draw tourists in search of dolphins aboard a traditional dhow. With enormous thanks to Jane, Timberland and Pandu, it looks as though we have found the perfect, sustainable solution for Mkwiro and look forward to a happier, healthier future for the community!

Dolphin research… it’s good for your health!

Corti

Tags: community healthcare, dolphin research, mkwiro, sustainable development

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