What Joined Up Thinking Can Do In Kenya

The idea was to put an electrified fence around the Aberdares Conservation Area.

Why?

• To stop wildlife marauding onto farm land outside the fence
• To protect the farming communities and their crops that border the fence.
• To curb illegal log extraction.
• To promote harmony between wildlife and local farmers.
• To prevent illegal entry into the Conservation Area.

So why is the Aberdares so important?

• One in three Kenyan's livelihood is dependent in some way upon the rainfall, rivers, forest and wildlife of the Aberdares - one of the nation's largest mountain ranges
• Five out of Kenya's seven largest rivers flow north, west, east and south providing hydro power and water to millions of farmers and seven of Kenya's twelve towns.
• The people of the nation's capital, Nairobi - over 3 million - are entirely dependent on water from the Aberdares
• Over 30% of the nation's tea production and 70% of its coffee is grown on its foothills and high slopes
• Over one million farmers living on its lower slopes depend upon its rich soils and rainfall.
• It is one of the largest indigenous forests in East Africa.
• Its wildlife is profuse. It is the home of several thousand elephant, and buffalo, forest antelope, leopard, the rare and endangered giant forest hog, the largest known number of the highly endangered mountain bongo and over 270 species of birds
• It is one of the surviving strongholds of the Black Rhino in a truly wild habitat
• The Aberdare National Park within the 2,000 square kilometres of the of the Aberdare Conservation Area is one of Kenya 's prime national parks. It is the place where Britain 's Queen Elizabeth stayed on the night she became a monarch
• Two world renowned game lodges - Treetops and The Ark enable thousands annually to see Black Rhino and hosts of other wild animals in this natural habitat and at very close quarters

The project, a joint venture between the KWS and the Rhino Ark charity is now complete. Farmers with shambas on the edge of the conservation area are very pleased. Elephants and other animals can no longer raid their crops.

The black rhino, the bongo amongst some of the rare breeds of Kenya are protected. Indigenous forest is protected and the water table is protected.

Job done!

Well, no, not quite. There is still a lot to do, not least of which is maintenance, and other expenses like the wardens' salaries, etc. Rhino Ark are building huts for the wardens, and there is a need for small 4x4 vehicles.

But, look at the achievement, almost 400 km of electrified fence erected around a mountain range.

This is what can be done when Kenyans, ordinary Kenyans, not politicians, organise themselves in a worthwhile project.

Now, how about doing the same for the Mau?

For more details of what Rhino Ark and The KWS have achieved, visit the Rhino Ark website.

Our Goals for 2009

As regular readers of this and the KCIS blog already know, we have several projects just waiting to be started up, but with the food crisis gathering pace in Kenya, I have had to juggle the priorities about a bit.

We have our plot just outside Kisii, a particularly fertile corner of Kenya, which is doing nothing worthwhile at the moment. We are going to start our River Cottage project here.

Our priority at the moment must be to produce food. With luck, we will be able to produce a surplus which can be sold.

We have a band of kids who are more than willing to work, but as most are 9 to 12 years old, and the soil is never really dry as it rains all year round in Kisii, I can just imagine the state they will be in after a short while, digging and preparing the soil for planting - filthy!

So, we need a means of letting them clean off afterwards. Needless to say, there is no tap water at the plot and the river at the edge of the plot is down a 1:5 path, so carrying up enough water to wash of half a dozen muddy kids would be a big effort.

So, we need water collection off the roof of the existing hut and anywhere else we can find. Then, behind the hut we can build a simple shower with bamboo screens.

All this can be done at a minimal cost, and falls in quite nicely with another project title, Scrapheap Challenge.

There is a UK charity in Kisii who gives out gardening tools to "worthy causes". I just hope that an orphanage trying to grow its own food will be considered a worthy cause!

Another Year, Another Resolution

I don't really hold with New Year's Resolutions. I am of the opinion that it is daft, making up resolutions that will not be adhered to for more than a couple of days or weeks (if you are really good!).

But this year, I am going to make one or two.

Firstly,my glass will always be half-full, never half-empty.

Secondly, I am going to attack (if this is the right word) the projects I have set up through KCIS with renewed vigour - somehow.

The most important, at the moment, is to find some regular funding for the Kids' Home, which is finding it difficult to pay for the food required to keep 38 tummies full.

Then, River Cottage and Scrapheap will have to be tackled.

Then there is the malaria control project. I have started this, working in the UK, but sooner or later, I am going to have to get out to Kenya. I need a friendly doctor, bio-chemist or similar for advice on this one, just to clear up a few questions that are bugging me.

On another tack, I will be promoting a new (-ish) project, commercial this time. But the excess profit (profit? What's that?) will go into the KCIS coffers.

So, short of finding a benefactor with deep pockets, with a particular interest in Kenya, the commercial project is probably the only way we are going to get funding. KCIS is too small for most foundations and other charities to take any notice of us - but watch this space. We are going to grow. We are going to make a difference, maybe just a small one, but we will succeed.

So, for the first time in ages, I have made my resolutions!

Water -v- Oil

Michael Grunwald, a correspondant for Time Magazine who has been commenting on Florida's attempt to restore the Everglades to their former glory commented, "There is an understanding that one day water will be as precious as oil."

I am sorry Mr Grunwald, but we can all live without oil, albeit with very different lifestyles, but try to live without water.

Water is the most precious commodity on this planet. We survived for thousands of years without oil, but we have always needed water.

Even in this modern age, there are still people who do not use oil or its products, but they need water every day. Needless to say, most of these people do not have enough water.