'Vegan Society of Kenya' by Rachel Kabue

My name is Rachel Kabue, founder of The Vegan Society of Kenya.

I first became vegetarian in 2011, after visiting India for a yoga teacher training course.

My greatest passion is working with children, and delaying, or completely avoiding their “unlearning” and losing of their inherent connection to nature and especially to animal-kind.

After seven years of informal outreach, I finally registered the Vegan Society of Kenya in February of 2020.

My name is Rachel Kabue, founder of The Vegan Society of Kenya. I first became vegetarian in 2011, after visiting India for a yoga teacher training course. While looking for vegetarian recipes online, I stumbled upon veganism, and this was the first time hearing about the lifestyle. It resonated with me and I embraced the lifestyle in 2012. I started outreach and animal rights activism in 2013. After seven years of informal outreach, I finally registered the Vegan Society of Kenya in February of 2020.

My greatest passion is working with children, and delaying, or completely avoiding their “unlearning” and losing of their inherent connection to nature and especially to animal-kind. The best way I found is to make veganism fun, and a part of their daily life. This is why I started a vegan lunch program in my country last year. I worked with two schools last year and the interest, excitement and enthusiasm displayed by the children inspired me to add three other schools in my list this year. The three schools are located in the

nomadic part of our country, where meat, meat products and dairy are a staple, and are deeply imbedded into their culture.

In these schools we have started a kitchen garden, and a one hour lesson on animal welfare every week. I provide lunch for all students (about 250 students in each school) as well as the seedlings. In one school, I have to provide diesel to pump the water otherwise the plants will wither and die. In the next quarter starting on the 13th of October, we plan to plant fruit trees in the school compounds. It is a hot region so we are going to start with a fast growing variety of Papaya and mango trees.

Our country recently rolled out a new education system, Competency Based Curriculum. This system emphasizes on the significance of developing skills and knowledge, and also applying those competencies to real life situations. The teachers in the schools we are piloting our vegan lunch program welcome our in-

In these schools we have started a kitchen garden, and a one house lesson on animal welfare every week.

put, and they go out of their way to accommodate us. They have also been good mediators between us and the community, and we now have the full approval of the leaders in the community. We also have the mothers taking turns to help cook the food we provide for the children.

most of the cats that come to us are special needs cats.

I also have another project running, Vegan Made in Africa, where I showcase innovators in Africa. We feature people making vegan products in Africa, using raw materials found in Africa. I also run a cat sanctuary, The Nairobi Feline Sanctuary. We rescue cats, spay/neuter and vaccinate them. We also try to rehome the ones that can be rehomed, but most of the cats that come to us are special needs cats.