THE PETITION
CREATING PEACE BETWEEN THE MAASAI AND ELEPHANTS
Ezekiel Ole Katato
September 16, 2023
THE DROUGHT
A devastating drought forced elephants out of Amboseli national park into Maasai villages looking for water and food. Villagers are resisting and there is a big conflict between the Maasai and elephants
MAASAI ELDERS
Across Maasai Land Initiative is working with Maasai elders to create peace between the Maasai and elephants under the following conditions;
The Maasai to create community conservancies on their 1.2 million hectares of land available in Kajiado Maasai County to legally manage the 70% of elephants and other wildlife outside national parks
Create an elephant economy to generate income to support education for rural Maasai children, women and youth groups, restocking families that lost all their cattle to the devastating drought, primary health care to villagers and planting trees in public areas like schools, homes, markets and water catchment areas
Revenue from conservation fee to support youth and women rangers to provide a 24-hour surveillance and security for elephants within the conservancies
Create an effective compensation program for victims of elephant attacks and destruction
Drilling more boreholes to provide underground water for villagers and elephants
Click here to sign petition in support of the Maasai Peace Initiative with elephants. Good for wildlife and people.
Construct more water pans to harvest rain water during the rainy season for villagers and elephants
Piping the water to designated areas for elephants away from community water points.
Construct elephant troughs away from the cattle troughs to separate villagers and elephants to minimize frequent encounters that might cause conflicts
Construct elephant-proof fences around community boreholes to keep elephants away
Provide diesel on a daily basis to pump underground water for villagers and elephants during devastating droughts
Purchase solar pumps to pump water when it is hot
Regular maintenance and service to generators
Full-time payment for borehole operators to ensure water is available for villagers during the day and elephants at night
The conditions were agreed upon between the Maasai Council of elders representing rural communities within 1.2 million hectares of land in Kajiado County in Kenya and Across Maasai Land Initiative {AMLI}
THE PEACE DECLARATION
AMLI is organizing a peace declaration ceremony to bring the Maasai together to declare the peace
Maasai elders to create a peace committee with representatives from each of the nine Maasai sections in the larger Kajiado Maasai County to coordinate and preside over the peace declaration ceremony
Click here to sign petition in support of the Maasai Peace Initiative with elephants. Good for wildlife and people.
The peace declaration to be conducted according to the Maasai culture to make it solid and culturally acceptable
The peacemaker in the Maasai/elephant conflict is a ‘cow’, given by the Maasai to seal the peace with elephants
An elephant portrait to be drawn on the body of the peacemaker {the cow} and received by the mediator JOHN SHANAHAN, COLORADO USA, on behalf of the signatories to the Maasai/elephant peace petition who stand in to sign for the elephant
The signatories to the peace petition to be recognized and invited to Maasai land for the peace declaration ceremony.
20,000 rural Maasai children to come together to create a portrait in the shape of an elephant, photographed from an aerial-view in nature’s beautiful landscape. Maasai elders to formally pronounce the peace in this ceremony
The children will plant 20,000 trees at the portrait site to create a bush in the shape of an elephant and Maasai elders to perform their legendary rituals and powerful blessings to make the portrait site sacred and a permanent symbol of peace between the Maasai and elephants
Educate one generation of 20,000 rural Maasai children on the 12 golden indigenous knowledge rules and wisdom to enable them co-exist peacefully with elephants and in return educate future generations themselves
OTHER FACTS;
70% of elephants live outside national parks
A cow is a symbol of peace in Maasai culture
Across Maasai Land Initiative is currently mitigating the threats to elephants by providing diesel to pump underground water for elephants
Click here to sign petition in support of the Maasai Peace Initiative with elephants. Good for wildlife and people.
and villagers in Indupa village, Kajiado County in Kenya. Prior arrangements have been made for villagers to use the borehole water during the day and elephants at night. However, when elephants hear the generator running during the day, they know that water is ready for them at the borehole and they walk in to drink the water. This is a big challenge that requires flexibility and vigilance on the side of villagers because you cannot tell elephants to keep their time