Since April 2020 we have been facilitating emergency food drives to those most vulnerable within our neighbouring communities in both Kenya and Rwanda.
Between April 2020 and October 2021 we facilitated large-scale, emergency food drives to those most vulnerable members of our neighbouring communities. We are proud to have been able to provide over 162 tons worth of food supplies to over 38,000 people in Kenya and over 6 tons of food to 90 families in Rwanda.
Whilst we all suffered unprecedented losses of revenue over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, things were particularly difficult for many of our community neighbours, most of whom rely on direct revenue channels earned from tourism.
Our Maasai neighbours receive small incomes from selling beaded wares or charging entrance fees to tourists who wish to visit their traditional homesteads; local landowners receive monthly rental income from tourism partners who operate safari camps within the surrounding wildlife conservancies, and thousands of others are of course employed within the camps and lodges themselves. Almost overnight all these revenue streams dried up.
Communities surrounding Loldia House faced similar hardships. Horticulture is the dominant industry in the area, yet as global flower markets were forced closed, the knock-on effect was felt by the employees of the flower farms. Thousands of jobs were abruptly lost. Communities in Laikipia and Rwanda faced similar challenges; nobody was left unaffected.
Early on we recognised that this situation was a recipe for disaster. Without an income to feed their families, many people are forced to turn to illegal activities such as setting wire snares to capture wild animals, casting fishing nets or felling indigenous hardwood trees. All of these activities are extremely detrimental to the workings of healthy ecosystems.
We are incredibly grateful to The Chairman’s Foundation via The Wilderness Wildlife Trust, The Mara Rianda Charitable Trust and countless individual donors for making this work possible. If you would like to help us continue with the food drives, a donation of any size would be gratefully received. We cannot thank you enough for your kind support.
