Colobus Trust

Category: Education, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, deforestation, good wood, volunteer | Date: Sep 02 2009 | By: colobus

It began as a mere suggestion to create a nature trail involving eco-friendly hotels, through which visitors could get enriched with information regarding the Colobus monkey as they enjoyed a nature walk. The Nomads hotel, which still has a very rich forest patch in their premises, joined hands with the Colobus Trust not only to talk the walk but also to walk the talk of conserving the environment. The planning and implementation of this marvelous idea took four days.

Above: Peter talks about the forest

This walk begins at the Nomads reception desk where one receives a warm welcome and gets guided professionally through the trail. During the walk one gets to see and learn about indigenous trees over a century old and most importantly come across the precious, almost extinct, Colobus monkeys. For bird lovers, this is the perfect place as well as a haven for other creatures such as millipedes (almost a foot long) and forest rodents. One gets furnished with information regarding primates, medicinal herbs and the coral forest.

Above: an example of the tree labeling on the trail

This project will enhance knowledge and also appreciation of the unique flora and fauna of the visitors together with the residents. If we keep cutting trees and building more concrete structures, where will all the greens go? Where will we have nature walks and where will be the nature itself? Let’s join hands in this noble task of ensuring that we conserve our environment. How we conserve our environment today determines our future!

Thank you for visiting the Colobus blog!!

Peter

Field Officer

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Category: Education, Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Marketing, climate change, deforestation, good wood | Date: Jun 25 2009 | By: colobus

  The entire compound is full of tents and very busy people. Their tents are blue, green, and red, but their overland truck is yellow and always clean. They’re called Great Primate Handshake (GPH) and they’re here to help with our projects and share some knowledge - about the internet, digital media, film-making and teaching techniques. Monday morning one of the Colobus Trust directors, Luciana, was here as usual to greet her Colobus Trust ‘family’, but this morning she had more news than the daily greetings. There was a new member in our troop for adopters. On Sunday, a white infant Colobus was born! We named the new baby GPH in honour of the visiting volunteer group. I would like to inform those interested in adopting a cute new infant, to take this opportunity. Thanks to GPH group for choosing the Colobus Trust and we would like to welcome the young GPH into the family.  It’s my hope that other groups will be interested in the Colobus Trust, particularly our camping site and am looking forward for new adopters for the new member. Remember you can adopt through our website as well. So let’s say ‘long life’ to little GPH!

This week our education day was a little different with the involvement of GPH. Another Tuesday and most of the people around are busy preparing for the school workshop. But today we have more participants than usual. There are cameras at every corner of the Colobus Trust premises. The kids moved in through the cameras and immediately loved it. One of the Great Primate Handshake members showed an entertaining cartoon they had made on problems affecting Colobus and other monkeys in the area. The kids then divided in two groups, one were ‘animals’ and one were ‘humans’ and had a hot debate about how they use trees. Then it was off to the beach, where we managed to collect more than ten kilograms of sandals in less than half an hour - all this was waiting to kill our marine life at some point. This was on our waste management topic. Thanks to Magutu Primary for the dedicated beach clean up. The sandals will be used be local artists to make things - like the whale shark (shujaa) made from flip-flops which stands in Haller Park in Mombasa  Most of the kids loved the beach football, and they were all covered in sand by the end of it.  My request to you is, please wherever you are, avoid littering the beach and if possible pick up any rubbish while you are there, walking or jogging. Once again thanks for supporting our education programme through our blog.

Hamisi - Education, Marketing and Communication.

www.colobustrust.org

Tags: animal adoption, coastal forest, colobus, deforestation, environmental education, marine pollution., people and wildlife, primate birth, Primate conservation, volunteers

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Category: Blogroll, Education, Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Marketing, climate change, deforestation, good wood, sustainable, volunteer | Date: Jun 17 2009 | By: colobus

My last blog at the Colobus Trust!

This is Heidi, eco volunteer and I have spent the most amazing last three weeks at the Colobus Trust.  I have helped to plant indigenous tree seedlings, cared for the tree nursery, helped with a re-release of a Sykes monkey, observed and photographed the Colobus, Sykes, Vervets and Yellow Baboons, help teach some of the local kids in the Education program and most importantly revamped the lovely Gift Shop!

We now have some ethically sourced and fair trade items for sale in our gift shop as well as having developed some positive relationships with local carvers and artists to promote conservation in particular working with “good woods.”  I am very sad to be leaving Diani Beach but hope to come back next year for a much longer stint to work at the Colobus Trust (fingers crossed!)  The Colobus Trust is a very worthy conservation project that is actively doing so many things in the community of Diani and beyond.  I hope I made an impact with the carvers as I showed some of them around and spoke to them in depth about conservation, deforestation and using sustainable materials for future generations.  Even if I only made some headway with a handful of local artists, I am very happy to have had the experience in meeting and working with some locals in the community (and practice some of my Swahili!).

Pics from top: Daniel, Daniel and me, Stephen

Late this afternoon I had to pick up the remaining Colobus key rings I ordered from one of our new “good wood” carvers, Peter James.  I met Peter about two weeks ago when I went around viewing all the different sorts of carvings and curios available in Diani.  Peter carves many animals out of all kinds of woods and he is very good at carving key rings with people’s names in them.  I noticed he used ebony (a hard indigenous wood) so I asked him if he ever considered making key rings in mango or neem instead.  He said he would try making some in mango wood as the material was readily available but no one had ever asked him for key rings from mango tree.  Now the second time I checked on Peter about a week ago I happened to meet his wife and two new little babies (twins named Esther and Mangi).  I could see his babies didn’t look well and they were crying their little heads off.  Peter was in a hurry and told me he couldn’t finish the order of key rings as he had to take his babies to hospital but could I please give him a large deposit for the key rings even though the work wasn’t finished.  I normally didn’t give the carvers any hefty deposits before the work was finished but on this occasion my heart sank as I looked at how ill his babies were and I gave him half of the money towards the 10 key rings.  I knew he would spend it all at the hospital or on medication for his babies.

The next day I saw Peter and asked about his babies and checked on the outstanding order for the key rings.  He said he was still working on them as his babies were in hospital and he hadn’t had time to work on them but could I give him another order for key rings and another deposit!  I was a bit reluctant but he pestered me to give him a chance to make a new style key ring with the sample Colobus Trust logo I had given him.  He promised he would make some good key rings and deliver key rings on time next week.  I kept checking up every day this week and some days Peter wasn’t there at his shop but his fellow shop keepers told me he was at the hospital with his sick babies.

It really is Pole Pole sometimes in Kenya (slowly slowly!) but today I picked up the last of the key rings for the shop.  I was very happy to have seen one of the twins, in Peter’s shop lying on the ground all bundled up in her blankets.  She still didn’t look that well but she was out of hospital.  I ended up babysitting Esther while Peter was still working manning his shop and finishing the remaining 9 key rings.  I really didn’t mind waiting and keeping Esther entertained by picking up Maasai carvings and talking to her in my best Swahili (I don’t think she was that impressed with my Swahili though).  I must have entertained her for about 30-40 minutes or until I ran out of all the different types of animal carvings and Maasai people that I had talking to her.

Unfortunately Peter’s little boy, Mangi is still in hospital but now able to get some much needed medication because the Colobus Trust ordered quite a few key rings for the new Gift Shop this past week. The Colobus “Good Wood” key rings which are made out of mango tree are all hand carved and painted by Peter.   They are very simple but I am hoping that some volunteers and other visitors to the Colobus Trust will pick up one or two as a souvenir and not only support the Colobus Trust but help support Peter and his family.  All the new items we have sourced are fair trade and ethically sourced (no middle men making a commission).  I really wanted to make a difference in some small way and I believe by helping the local people in Diani we will continue to build relationships towards positive thinking for our future.  It is up to Peter’s children Esther and Mangi to carry the hope of conservation so I am happy that we were able to support them this week.

Peter and his little girl Esther

You can help support Peter and his family by donating online now to the Colobus Trust and purchasing “Good Wood” items from our Gift Shop.  We will soon have an online shop where we hope that many people will support Diani local “good wood” carvers and artists through fair trade.

Thanks to everyone at the Colobus Trust for making my three weeks so memorable and special.

I will miss you all and look forward to coming back next year as a long term volunteer!

Kwaherini

Heidi, Eco-Volunteer

www.colobustrust.org

Tags: blog roll, climate change, deforestation, Education, findraising, good wood, habitat restoration, Marketing, sustainable, volunteer

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Category: Education, Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, climate change, deforestation, good wood, volunteer | Date: Jun 10 2009 | By: colobus

Hi it’s Heidi here one of the eco-volunteers at Colobus Trust (although there are only two of us at the moment!)  I have been quite busy this week and wanted to share with you what I have been doing this week.  I offered to help revamp the Gift shop in the Colobus Trust so that they will have more opportunity to sell items supporting themselves.

I am a big believer in sustainability and community work so I ventured out into Diani earlier in the week with one of the staff to meet some of the local artists and carvers.

Selling carvings in Kenya is one of the main staples of income for many people here.  Unfortunately many artisans use endangered or illegal woods as they are perceived as more valuable to tourists.  One of the great things I learned on day one at the Colobus Trust is they promote and work with local people to use only “good woods.”  What is a “good wood” you ask?  Good wood is one of the following:  Neem, Coconut, Jacaranda, Mango or Grevillea.

Good Wood trees are easy to grow, durable and they don’t take so long to grow such as ebony, mahogany or rosewood.  If you have visited Africa before then you know how plentiful these carvings are everywhere you go.  They are so beautiful but the carvings from ebony and mahogany are heavier and of course from endangered forests in Kenya.  It only takes about a few years to grow a good wood tree but it can takes many more years to grow ebony or mahogany.  The Colobus Trust does a great job of teaching local people about good woods and encouraging them to carve only using good woods.  Sadly not everyone abides but they have managed to find one or two willing to carve in only good woods.

I made it my mission this week to find some more carvers for a variation of new and unique products offered by the Colobus Trust as well as see for myself the kinds of product out there on offer.  So what’s on offer?  There are lots of monkeys with silly faces and of course the stereotypical three monkey carvings …“monkey hear no evil, monkey see no evil, and monkey speak no evil.”  I was determined to find some new artists to help promote the Colobus Trust in a positive way using good woods and also creating some products that pertain to the Colobus Trust mission of conservation.  I simply wanted some Colobus monkeys!

I am happy to report that I succeeded in finding a few wonderful local artists right in Diani.  The first artists I will be promoting for new Colobus Trust products are named Stephen and Moses.  Stephen and Moses are brothers and they both carve and only carve using Jacaranda (a good wood).  I met many carvers this week throughout Diani but not all carved only using good woods as well as not being as high quality as their brothers’ product.  Moses and Stephen stood out to me for a couple of reasons after I spoke with them.  One, they insisted on using only Jacaranda as it was the best wood for carving and two, they have the most beautiful bird carvings in all of Diani!  I could see that through their work they take pride by using the wood’s natural curves and colorings to highlight a particular bird attribute.  I knew that I had found some wonderful local artists to try and form a partnership.

I asked them to mock up some sample Colobus monkey.    They knew exactly what a Colobus monkey looked like and were very eager to give it a go although they have never carved a monkey before.  I went back today to check on the samples but they were still working away on each of their carvings.  I have been promised the finished samples next week.  I asked them if they had any of their own ideas for Colobus or monkey items to sell in our gift shop and Moses said he also works in metal and can make anything out of old coins as well as other materials.  He beamed when I asked him for his ideas next week and said he will work all weekend on coming up with some suggestions.  I am so excited as this could really make a big difference to the product offering at the Colobus Trust but more importantly making a difference in local people’s lives.  I had also met with another artist, a painter, whom I asked to paint a sample oil painting picture of a Colobus and her baby.  I didn’t have a photo of a Colobus on me at the time but he said he knew the Colobus well and would do it from memory.  The painter was my last stop and I was so happily surprised to see his beautiful painting of the mother Colobus with her baby finished!  I purchased it out of my own money so we can sell it in the shop.

My pictures are from of some of our new artists that will be featured in our gift shop.  I am going to post their pictures in the shop so every item we sell has a great story behind it.  We will hopefully offer the “good wood” Colobus monkey carvings and other Diani fair-trade items for sale on the website as well so keep watching this space!  Remember World Conservation and always buy “good woods” (ask if you don’t know), let’s keep the trees going and plant a new one to celebrate.

Thanks for all your support for the Colobus.  Even the smallest purchase or donation can make a big difference.

Heidi, Eco-Volunteer

Colobus Trust

www.colobustrust.org

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