COMMUNITY OUTREACH MONTHLY REPORT
October 2016 SUMMARY: The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust recognises the importance of working with the local communities in conserving wildlife. In the Tsavo Conservation Area, the DSWT is supporting sustainable projects that aim to elevate poor education standards in schools bordering the parks and improving community livelihoods. In October 2016, the Community Outreach Team donated assorted text books, sports equipment, and long lasting school desks to Metava Primary school through the ‘Adopt a School Program’, whilst the team also hosted three fully sponsored school trips and arranged two wildlife film shows in other schools in the Kibwezi area.
ADOPT A SCHOOL PROGRAM: With a generous donation from a supporter Metava Primary School received a large order of educational and resource books for the students and teachers as well as other learning accessories, school desks, sports equipment, field trips to Tsavo West and wildlife film shows. Metava Primary School is located on the South-Eastern border of the Chyulu Hills National Park. This school is the only educational centre for children from families which were evicted from the Park in the 1990’s after years of illegal encroachment into the Park. The area is semiarid and is covered with volcanic rocks from recent Chyulu Hills volcanic activities making it impossible to carry out farming. For the few open areas where subsistence farming takes place, the crops attract elephants which in many occasions destroy farms in a single incursion. This has pushed many community members to rely heavily on charcoal burning and bush meat poaching as a means of livelihood. The community cannot afford basics such as learning desks, books and sports equipment for their children in school and with a growing population it was Metava which was chosen to receive these generous donations. Starting this early this year the DSWT has also fenced the Chyulu Hills National Park on the Metava community side in an effort to reduce human-elephant conflict.
OTHER ACTIVITIES: Much of the month was spent supporting Metava School and its community, whilst the team also took children from Kaungini Primary School on two fully sponsored school trips to Tsavo West, donated 25 long lasting desks to Kongoni Primary School in Southern Tsavo West, and hosted two wildlife film show for Kaungini and Kinyambu Primary Schools both of which are in the Kibwezi area.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is reliant on your kind support in order to keep our community outreach projects running. For more information about these projects please visit www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.com/community or email info@dswt.org