Ewaso Lions September 2017 Project Update

Over the last 25 years the African lion population has fallen by half, there are only 25,000 left today.

I want to share with you a few very inspiring episodes in the lives of the Mama Simba whom WWW supports with great enthusiasm.

WWW is proud to be a partner in the Ewaso Lions Bush Bus. It will be used for their Lion Kids Camp program and to engage more kids across Kenya in conservation. It will also expose community members to wildlife safaris.

The mama Simba, Mothers of Lions, have become a true force for conservation. These are our lions and we must protect them. They go from village to village educating and empowering other women to be forces themselves!

Munteli, one of the two coordinators, has gotten her drivers license. Imagine the confidence it takes to do this. She has said, "So many of the ladies have seen she can drive that they now feel that the impossible is now the possible and they can do anything."

The Governor of Samburu was campaigning due to upcoming elections near by and Mparasaroi, the other coordinator, was speaking and told him how important conservation is to them and how a Samburu lady can drive, which he didn't believe and asked to meet Munteli and then asked her to drive him around which she did. Every single person came to shake her hand.

Last February when I had gone to help with a village plastic bag clean up it was decided to start a recycling program. An area was designated and now the bins have been acquired and put in place. This is such an achievement.

These are Naramat's cubs, the result of only the third time in 10 years that a lioness has successfully breed with in the community landscape and the first time cubs have been born in the conservation area. This shows just how important the Mama Simba are in helping to educate people on the importance of protecting their lions! Again the Mama Simba are an inspiration.

None of these projects would be possible without your support!

The BBC recently shared a wonderful article on these amazing women: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160802-these-brave-women-have-found-a-way-to-live-alongside-lions

Walking With Elephants: Challenge Grant July 2017

WWW Challenge Grant $2500

WWW's Walking with Elephants Myanmar Adventure Feb. 2017 has initiated a new project for us which we are proud to be a part of, knowing that tangible results and hope for many will result with our participation. These ex-logging elephants, already domesticated, are in danger of being totally abandoned as the government does not have the money to pay for upkeep of both elephants and their Mahouts and the Mahouts are being forced to seek employment
elsewhere. The elephants will lose health care and proper food, ultimately succumbing to death via conflict with humans or being sold into dreadful slave labor. We propose to initially support 30 elephants and 30 Mahout families.

Your donations will make this possible. Living next to our elephants as we did in Myanmar gave us the opportunity to witness the strong bond between families and their elephants. Here is the list of what is needed to help protect these magnificent creatures and their families...a quickly disappearing way of life.

Medicine And Food For One Young Elephant 10 to 55 years:
Tamarind balls and salt - $7.00
De-worming and vitamins - $75.00
Rice bran and Paddy - $12.00
Monthly upkeep for one elephant - $94.00
Total For One Elephant Per Year - $1128.00
Total for 30 elephants $33,840

One Mahout Family's Needs For One Year:
Mosquito nets and blankets - $8.00
Children's school supplies - $10.00
Children's uniforms - $15.00
Children's backpacks - $10.00
Uniforms - $32.00
Total for 1 Family Per Year $75.00
Total for 30 mahouts $2250.00
Grand total for a year for 30 elephants and Mahouts is $36,090

This is just a small percentage of the 5000 elephants without a job.
PLEASE help us meet this challenge. It is the least we can do! We must never forget the precarious situation for elephants in Myanmar. There maybe as few as 1500 wild elephants left. Not only are they being poached for their ivory but also for their skins to be made into a powder for the Vietnamese treatment of acne.

“Elephant’s skin can cure skin diseases like eczema,” said one shop
owner, who was also hawking porcupine quills and snake skins. “You
burn pieces of skin by putting them in a clay pot. Then you get the
ash and mix it with coconut oil to apply on the eczema.” - Huffington Post

Donate today to make a difference in the lives of these elephants and their families.

A Farewell to Changila

By Oria Douglas-Hamilton

Flying with the vultures, I salute you Changila, to say farewell. You will now return to the earth where you and I came from a long long time ago. Piece by piece, vultures will take you away and bury you, leaving only white bones by the river to mark your grave, where you stood that last moment in your life. We did not know you well, but you were named Changila, “Fighter.”

Changila destroyed by poachers, January 3, 2013. Photo courtesy of Chris Leadismo, Save the Elephants.

You came from the north in December, as you always do. Now at 30, having survived droughts, war, and floods, you stood tall and strong, heading south in full musth over well trodden paths, leaving a scent trail behind, your trunk sweeping the ground as you searched for fertile females to mate with. The land was lush and green after the rains. Butterflies fluttered from flower to flower, and step by step, your great big feet crushed the long grass stems. Like all warriors, you came to fight, to do what you were known for. Did you leave us an heir in your kingdom?

The new year had just begun. We’d seen you here and there for a few days, and then you disappeared, walking back west. Oh yes, people saw you—you were so determined; no one stood in your way. You drank and washed and crossed the river. Alone, you stood on warm earth pondering your next move while the sun’s rays lit the sky red. The day was ending.

Gunfire broke through the silence of dusk, and you fell.

I apologize for man, my species. You did not deserve this.

Changila destroyed by poachers, January 3, 2013. Photo courtesy of Chris Leadismo, Save the Elephants.

As I flew over you, I scanned the eroded gullies on the hillside, wondering where the men had been sitting, watching, waiting for you to turn and face them, guns at the ready. They hit you not once but two, three, times, and you fell. I saw your leg covered in dark red blood. Your eyes were open. Did you see them as you were dying, coming toward you with their axes? And then, without a moment to waste, demented, they hacked into your skull, just below your open eye, your blood spattering those hands that would steal the prize you carried: two beautiful tusks, white like your bones will be, but stained with blood.

I will never forget your face, so savagely butchered. Rage fills my heavy heart, Changila.

Where will your tusks go? They will leave Africa, hidden in dirty sacks, in boxes, trucks, and stores, changing hands from man to man. No one will know who you were, where you lived. You will be like thousands of others, unknown, abused, and used. One day, a piece of you will be cut into myriad items.

I’m sorry, Changila. May your name live forever—we will miss you.

Three important articles every conservationist needs to read

Asian Elephants Killed For Their Skin In Emerging Poaching Crisis

WWF/CHRISTY WILLIAMS

“The poaching threat facing elephants in Myanmar has reached “crisis” levels, the World Wide Fund for Nature warned this week.”

The War on Wildlife and Its Protectors

“The wildlife conservationist Kuki Gallmann is recovering in a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, after being shot twice in the stomach, on April 23rd, by armed raiders.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY REMO CASILLI / CAMERA PRESS / REDUX

The end of wild elephants? Why we must not let Africa become one giant food farm

Farm workers in a field at a farm in Klippoortie, east of Johannesburg. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

Grevy's Zebra Update

There are less than 2,500 Grevy's Zebras left in the world.
The Grevy's Zebra Trust needs our help!

The Grevy's Zebra Trust has been monitoring herds and conserving habitats through partnerships within communities in the northern Kenya region since 2007. 

In 2015, the Grevy's Zebra program was able to to reduce poaching incidents in El Barta by 60% through engaging communities that live off of wildlife and providing them alternative income through conservation. In 2009, the proportion of foals and juveniles among the population increased from 12-21%, and remains at this level today.

The Grevy's Zebra Trust is doing amazing work, and we are so proud to be a partner in these projects. We all need to protect these magnificent creatures before it is too late.

WorldWomenWork's supports the Grevy's Zebra Trust through funding 5 educational scholarships that send local Samburu girls to secondary school. We also provide the salaries of 5 scouts that track and monitor the zebra herds. WorldWomenWork also provides the full funding for the Nkirreten Project. 

The Nkirreten project is a program that trains women to fabricate and sell reusable sanitary pads. This program not only provides a less expensive hygeine product for local women so they can continue with their everyday lives during menses, but it also gives local women an alternative income source through the sales of the pads. As a bonus, this project promotes environmentally friendly consumption.

At WorldWomenWork, we believe that the way to protect endangered species and conserve the natural world is through empowering local women. By providing educational opportunities and environmental training, we are preparing a new generation of leaders to protect our world.

In 2015, the Grevy's Zebra trust trained a total of 685 women, 591 elders, 491 warriors and 31 local leaders to improve environmental stewardship. Just imagine how much more they can do with your help. 

Your support of this program in 2017 will be able to provide the salaries of more scouts to protect the endangered Grevy's Zebra and more educational opportunities for girls and women. 

Thank you for all that you do. 

Save The Elephants: The Elephant Orphan Project Update

What happens to the herd when all the big tuskers are gone?
Save The Elephants is going to find out.

We are in a crisis. Almost all of the big tuskers are gone from surges in poaching across Africa. The price of ivory has fueled the widespread killing of elephants. There are now only approximately 30 of the great tuskers left. 

Now, these animals are dealing with a new problem. Without the matriarchs to lead the heard, the orphaned elephants do not know where to go. These herds are now wandering into new areas at risk of encountering dangerous habitats. The Orphan Project by Save the Elephants helps to understand the orphaned elephant's migratory patterns as they expand their ranges into uncharted territory. Over the past three years, WorldWomenWork has donated over $300,000 to this project for radio collars, vehicles, and staffing.

This monitoring will be increasingly important for ensuring the saftey of the herds during the Kenyan government's Vision 2030 development plan that will build road, rail and pipline links through both East-West and North-South in the Lamu Port, South Sudan, and Ethiopian Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). The Orphan Project's monitoring system will ensure that any development is created with access for migrating wildlife. 

We anticipate to give another $100,000 in 2017 for additional tracking collar deployments, collar replacements, aerial patrol, monitoring time, and GIS (Geographic Information System) analysis of movements. This data will be crutial to ensuring the future of these elephant herds across the African savannahs. 

WorldWomenWork has been fortunate to fund the work of Shifra Goldenberg and Dr. George Wittemyer through Save the Elephants. They have been researching the orphan's new migratory patterns and social behaviors in the Samburu National Reserve. Their work has been highlighted recently in the New York Times and National Geographic. 

In this video by National Geographic, Shifra explains more about social bonds between elephants and their behavior when finding an elephant who has died. 

This program is completely funded by generous donors like you. We are almost at the end of our 2016 fund drive, and need your support now more than ever. 

New Cubs and the Mama Simba

Nothing can stop the Mama Simba

Reading, writing and the conservation of lions in Kenya 

We are so inspired by the Mama Simba's hard work and dedication. This year, the "Mothers of Lions" have added 9 new members to their group, bringing their numbers from 10 to 19. In exchange for weekly educational classes, the Mama Simba have been a watch group for lion sightings and conflict issues. The group's support of conservational issues has allowed for a safe environment for the local lion population as well as the opportunity for increased income for the women participating.

Outreach programs like the Mama Simba and the Warriors founded by the Ewaso Lions, have had a positive impact on the lion population around the Samburu National Reserve. In December 2015 alone, the teams have stopped retaliatory lion killings 26 times. The goal is to transform human conflict with Lions into coexistence. This is done through the Ewaso Warriors & Mama Simba programs that promote prevention of conflict through tracking and reporting lion behavior.

It isn't just the adults that get to have all the fun. The group has held two Lion Kids Camps with a total of 122 Kenyan children learning and practicing conservation. The next generation of lion keepers are being made, and it is beautiful.

Now for the adorable news, new cubs have been found in the study area. They are the most amazing creatures. Jeneria, who found the cubs, had this reaction, "Because of the excitement, I almost threw my camera. I was shaking all over and it took me so long to take the first photo".

Thank you for continuing to inspire us with your love for conservation and support of women around the world.

We love this story! Within a week of the Lion Kids Camp, we heard that Zawadi, one of the young herding children who attended the camp, spoke to some warriors in her village and said "Do not go after the lions and hurt them. If you do, you will have to answer to me." The warrior spoke back and said "who are you to tell me what to do Zawadi? to which she replied, “I am the one who will teach you about lions."

Zawadi (pictured right in the photo) is the daughter of Mparasaroi (on the left), the leader of our Mama Simba programme. "We can see that Zawadi is becoming just like her mother - a real lion spokesperson!" From The Ewaso Lions Facebook Page

Should Gorillas Be Held Captive?

Questioning Captivity: Should animals be removed from nature for our enjoyment?

The death of Harambe has ignited a long-overdue debate around the ethics of captivating animals. This New York Times article captures our feelings best in this quote from primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy.

“When I visit zoos, I have to turn off my feelings and just tell myself that I am at a museum admiring nature’s masterpieces, otherwise, I can’t really justify keeping great apes in cages.”

— Sarah Blaffer Hrdy

When will we, as a species, realize that sometimes our cultural standards are damaging for other sentient creatures? At what point will we shrug off these accepted practices for the sake of morality.

The accepted actions of the past should not dictate how we want to live in the future. We need to question every action and practice. We need to have accountability to this planet and to every species on it.

Animals do not belong in cages.

The Grevy's Zebra Trust

The Grevy’s Zebra Trust helps conserve the endangered Grevy’s Zebra and their fragile habitat. It is estimated that there are only 2,000 Grevy’s Zebras left.

WorldWomenWork helps support the Trust and director Belinda Mackey by employing underserved women from communities that share the zebra’s land. WorldWomenWork provides the salaries for thirteen scouts who monitor the zebras and collect critical data for understanding the animals and their plight. In 2012, scholarships were provided for five young women to begin a secondary education. These young students are a rarity in these communities where girls almost never have an opportunity for a high school education. Students and their greater community also witness firsthand that preserving an endangered species brings great benefits.

Did you know that for only $7 you can provide one woman with enough reusable sanitary pads for one year? Well, you can through the Grevy’s Zebra Trust Sanitary Pad Project.

The goal of this program is to empower women through the production and marketing of reusable sanitary pads. The Grevy’s Zebra Scout ladies are trained in the fabrication of the pads, and they in turn sell them to their peers and community members. In April 2015, 29 women and 10 men participated in training workshops to make the sanitary pads.

By providing women with accessibility to feminine hygiene products, we are giving them freedom over their biology. This program will enable girls and women to improve their personal hygiene and health, as well as providing school-going girls with the confidence to continue classes during their menstrual cycle.

In order for the conservation of the Grevy’s Zebra to be successful, it is important for the community to thrive. This program provides yet another avenue for alternative income for women of the community. By investing in the improvement of the livelihoods of these women, we strengthen the connection between the community and the Grevy’s Zebra.

In 2015, WorldWomenWork funded this program through the generosity of our donors.

The Mama Simba

The Mama Simba, Mother’s of Lions  program engages local women in Wildlife Conservation. Samburu women have rarely been actively included yet they spend a significant amount of time in wildlife areas.

We are so inspired by the Mama Simba’s hard work and dedication. This year, the “Mothers of Lions” have added 9 new members to their group, bringing their numbers from 10 to 19. In exchange for weekly educational classes, the Mama Simba have been a watch group for Lion sightings and conflict issues. The group’s support of conservational issues has allowed for a safe environment for the local lion population as well as the opportunity for increased income for the women participating.

Outreach programs like the Mama Simba and the Warriors founded by the Ewaso Lions, have had a positive impact on the lion population around the Samburu National Reserve. In December 2015 alone, the teams have stopped the killing of lions 26 times. The goal is to transform human conflict with Lions into coexistence. This is done through the Ewaso Warriors & Mama Simba programs that teach education in the local community and tracking lion behavior.

It isn’t just the adults that get to have all the fun. The group has held two Lion Kids Camps with a total of 122 Kenyan children learning and practicing conservation. The next generation of lion keepers are being made, and it is beautiful.

Now for the adorable news, new cubs have been found in the study area. They are the most amazing creatures. Jeneria, who found the cubs, had this reaction, “Because of the excitement, I almost threw my camera. I was shaking all over and it took me so long to take the first photo”.