Colobus Trust

Everybody knows just how hard life already is for the average person on this continent and despite appearances on the surface for those who come on holidays to the beach or go on safari, the reality from 3/4 of the population if not more is that life is hand to mouth. What does that mean? It means working 14 hours a day to scrape enough money to have one square meal. I hate to be sensational about it and often a lot of intellectuals and writers criticise the west and the media for always painting a dire picture of Africa – one of children with bloated stomachs and flies around their face. Whilst, I detest the stereotype,  the fact of the matter is that for more than 70% of the population in Kenya, life sucks! Kenya is a country of extremes so let’s not pretend otherwise. I am sorry to say but these are currently the faces of Kenya:

We want people to come on holiday – of course we do! It’s one of the most amazing places in the world and we depend on people coming on holiday. But we also know we have a responsibility and duty to confront the reality of the state of the nation and do what we can to help reduce the amount of depressing but true images of this country. That is why some of us like the Colobus Trust and Camp Kenya and so many others have chosen to promote Responsible Tourism. This is why so many people join our programmes: because they want more than just a holiday.

But, as if it were not bad enough that we almost went into civil war just over a year ago, Kenya is currently drowning in what has become our national tagline – “The Culture of Impunity“. Corruption is eating away at the ground beneath our feet with everything from millions of shillings worth of petrol disappearing to tonnes of absolutely necessary grain “disappearing“.

We are not too well in Kenya and yes, you are probably all too tired of hearing that from us Kenyans. And it is affecting each and every part of society and there is no hiding it anymore. For those of you who read and support the Colobus Trust, you will know that we almost came to closing down last year. No tourists = No funds. It was as simple as that. We are holding in just but with a lot of sacrifices. But the saddest thing about Kenya is that there are always people worse off than you.

And to top it up, it’s no secret that the country is facing one of the worst drought’s and famines in our recent history.  So all my fellow conservationists and animal lovers, here is the big question: how do you tell someone who is starving to death not to eat bushmeat? Put yourself in their feet for one moment…That is where the level of desperation people have succumbed to in many parts of the Coast according to the Sunday Standard (click on the image below to read full article):

When I came across this article, I immediately wrote to my colleagues in Diani who have also confirmed that the drought is beginning to affect local communities in the area and their has indeed been a noticeable increase in snares in the area. We at the Colobus Trust have a responsibility to protect our wildlife and the environment they depend on but we also know that, the animals are not the problem: the people are. And if people can’t eat, they will kill and capture anything they can to survive. Reality is biting and we need to do what we can to immediately assist those in need.

Camp Kenya, the Colobus Trust and the Diani Residents Association are all in agreement that we need to put out an appeal to raise funds to buy necessary food items and we are currently arranging the logisitics behind this. We will be turning to our supporters once again to appeal for funds for food items so please don’t be suprised if you hear a bunch of conservationists asking for food. We have been in emergency reponse mode for over a year now in one form or the other and it breaks our hearts that we are still in this mode and unfortunately it’s not just to save ourselves and the monkeys anymore…