Colobus Trust

Yesterday, on Good Friday, the Colobus Trust together with the South Coast Residents Association, Muthaiga Mini Market, and Camp Kenya set off to Godo, a vilage near the Tanzanian border which was suffering from famine, to distribute food. 

We were accompanied by the District Officer and the Chief of Lunga Lunga, and 4 Administration Policemen. The area was extremely arid, leaving the village people with very little food resources which often forces them to turn to bushmeat. By distributing food through projects like this one, we hope to create an awareness for the difficulties these people have to face and also offer an alternative to bushmeat.

We would also like to thank the East African Women’s League, Leisure Lodge Hotel and many many generous members of S.C.R.A. who provided funding for the food. Also a big thanks to all the volunteers who participated in the project yesterday and most of all to Lucianna Parazzi, Colobus Trust Board Member who organized the event which fed about 3,000 people!

The Colobus Team

PS. Don’t forget there will be a concert tomorrow at Forty Thieves and part of the proceeds will be going to famine relief! And if you can’t make and would like to donate to the Diani Residents famine relief initiatives, we are accepting donations via this blog. Please ensure that you leave a comment on this post to indicate that you would like your donation to go towards the famine relief and we will ensure that every cent is spent on necessary food items.

As many of you will be aware, Kenya is facing one of it’s worst famines in a long time. We posted about this a few days ago HERE. With virtually no emergency response systems in place through the government and local authorities, Kenyans across the country are banding together to do whatever they can.

The Coast Province has been one of the worst hit areas with statistics from the Kenya Red Cross Society showing that, “more than 200, 000 residents of Kinango, Msambweni and Kwale districts are severely hit by famine;” You can read the full story in today’s Daily Nation HERE.

The South Coast Residents Association are pulling together and making an appeal to all residents and visitors in Diani:

S.C.R.A in association with Muthaiga Mini Market in Diani have started to collect food to help the starving people of Kinango & Lunga Lunga.  We ask members, when shopping, please buy an extra bag of maize meal, sugar, rice, milk or water and then place in the appropriate box at Muthaiga Mini Market.

 S.C.R.A. has already pledged Shs. 50,000/- (approved at the A.G.M.) to buy foodstuff. We aim at filling a truck load of food so please be generous and think of all these hundreds of people, within our own District,  DYING of starvation and thirst.

The food will be delivered by members of this Association directly to the people so as to ensure that it reaches them and nobody else.

In addition, a bunch of amazing musicians from Nairobi will be performing in Diani on April 12th and have pledged 10% of the proceeds from the Fifth edition of Blankets& Wine© at Forty Thieves Beach Bar.

If you would like to make an online donation specifically for the famine relie, please use the one time donation button on the side bar and please leave a comment on this post stating that the amount you have donated is for this cause.

As if we did not have enough problems in Kenya to deal with…

Thanks.

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…