Ewaso Lions

Category: Community | Date: Nov 02 2009 | By: ewasolions

Ewaso Lions has recently joined hands with Lpus Leluai Primary School in West Gate Community Conservancy.  To increase awareness of the importance of lion conservation, we are working with students and teachers at the school.  Students are requested to write and/or illustrate stories about lions in English/Swahili/Samburu.  The best stories and artwork will be put together and printed in the form of a booklet.  These copies will be distributed locally and internationally to increase awareness of lions.  Using these Simba Stories booklets, funds will also be raised for the school’s educational needs.

All art material has been donated by Shalini Bhalla of SB Management. Lindsay Morency, from Canada, has sponsored editing of the Simba Stories booklet and the Panthera Foundation has sponsored production and printing of some of the booklets.

The students have already begun working on their artwork and have produced some great drawings.  Some of them had never painted before until they received boxes of paints and brushes.

Jeremiah working on his drawing

Samson learning how to paint

Some of the completed drawings

I will send an update on their progress soon!

Tags: artwork, awareness, Community, Conservation, Lions, School, West Gate Conservancy

3 responses so far

Category: Community | Date: Mar 19 2009 | By: ewasolions

I have worked with Lpus Leluai Primary School in West Gate Community Conservancy for many years.  It is a school I believe in greatly which has a lot of potential and some smart kids.  The school struggled for many years with food shortages, strong winds blew the classroom roofs away, lack of teachers and many more problems.

The roofless classrooms

However, over the past year and a half, the school is on its way up!  The new headmaster Johnson is fantastic and has not only revived the school (together with a brilliant volunteer teacher from England, Euan), but he has given it hope once again.  Four new classrooms were built, solar panels put in (this is the only power in the entire area!), and now a new girls dormitory is currently under construction. The children have flooded in from all over the area and unfortunately some have to be turned away because the school has exceeded the maximum number of children they can have.

I have always liked this school and have helped in small ways such as giving posters for their classrooms, donating desks and mattresses (through my previous work with Save the Elephants) and more recently, teaching the students about wildlife and taking them out on game drives.  I am focusing all my efforts on this school now and want to help it as much as possible.

Thanks to a donation from my mum and her friends, Ksh 40,000 was raised (USD 530) for school books for Lpus Leluai.  With the influx of new students, Johnson the headmaster was struggling with the few books they had and often 4 or 5 children would share one book.

But not any more! We have donated enough books for the entire school; Science, Maths, Geography and more.  We visited the school a few weeks ago and donated the books to the school together with some brown wrapping paper to cover and protect them from wear and tear.

Johnson the Headmaster receiving the donated books

Johnson doing an inventory of the books with the deputy headmaster, Raphael

The students and teachers were thrilled!  They said this was the first time that they have ever seen so many books and now the children will be able to study in their own time.

Happy students with their new books

Head boy Edward with his new Science book

Students with their new books

Here is short excerpt of Johnson’s letter to my mum:

“Your support came at a time when our school is experiencing a lot of problems.  Madam, your support is of great importance to us as we try to ensure that the students of Lpus Leluai get enough instructional materials to improve their academic standards.  I once again thank you for the donation of the books and promise we shall take good care of the books to last longer and benefit many children in the future. ” Johnson Lenasalia - Headmaster Lpus Leluai Primary School.  

The school continues to need our help.  The new girls dormitory needs to be furnished, they need more classrooms, more books and stationary for the large number of students and much more!   If you would like to help this school, please do make a donation!

Tags: Community, Conservancy, Lions, School, Students

4 responses so far

Category: Community | Date: Aug 05 2008 | By: ewasolions

In July, I borrowed a mobile film unit to show films to the local communities. I have done this in the past and it was something I have always enjoyed doing. The plan was to show a predators film called “Perfect Mothers, Perfect Predators” to 5 various locations within West Gate.

I started at Kiltamany village on the 10th of July. I first held a baraza (local meeting) with the village elders in the afternoon. We all sat in the Kiltamany lugga and discussed my project. I answered any questions the elders had and this took about an hour or so. In the evening, we tested the film equipment and everything appeared to be working well. We then set up our first bush cinema in the “maendeleo” manyatta, where there was some form of an enclosure. I was concerned about dust and wind on the projector and it was important to find a semi-enclosed place. We tied a white cloth onto some posts which would be the screen.

As soon as I started the generator, people from all over started trickling in. I played the film and it was a huge success. There were close to 200 people who came to watch the film; women, elders, warriors and children too. They loved the scenes of the cheetah running and laughed during the hyena scenes. At the end of the film, I answered a few questions and we then packed up the equipment, and spent the night in the village.

Crowd gathered at Kiltamany

A few days later, I had another baraza with the people of the Sasaab manyatta. This went very well and they were very excited about the project. That night I showed the same predator film to the Sasaab people. This time we tied the white cloth onto Gypsy and sheltered the projector against a small house in the village. Close to 100 people came to watch the film and apart from a few goats causing chaos after they heard lions roaring on the film, it was a huge success.

Leopard scene projected on Gypsy

Sasaab community watching a cheetah scene on Gypsy

Unfortunately I had to return the film unit before I was able to show more films at the 3 remaining locations; Naisunyai, Ngutuk Ongiron and West Gate. However I hope to borrow it again soon to continue showing the films. I hope to eventually buy my own unit one day if I can get some funds. Funds would be required for a projector, DVD player, speakers and a small generator to power the film unit.

The bush cinema and the showing of films is so important and it is a great way to spread important conservation messages to the local communities. Many of them have never seen these animals properly nor a video before. I remember showing a film to a very remote community in Samburu District many years ago. They had never seen any form of moving imagery before and when there was a scene of a cheetah running at full speed, everyone suddenly ran away, leaving my colleague and I surprised and shocked at that had happened but we soon realized that they were running away from the cheetah itself! I could spend days traveling around showing wildlife films and I hope to be able to do so one day! Imagine if I could show everyone Planet Earth?!

3 responses so far

Category: Community | Date: May 22 2008 | By: ewasolions

Phase 4 of the Ewaso Lion Tree Project. Last week I traveled to Attan Primary School, which is South of Buffalo Springs National Reserve. This was the 4th school in the area where trees would be planted. 10 teams were formed with 4 students each. Each team of 4 is responsible for planting, protecting and watering their tree. I provided each student with notebooks and rulers to measure their trees weekly and to write any notes about their tree.

The students began digging their holes. There are goats everywhere in Attan! And whilst digging was going on, the goats even ended up in some of the holes as you can see in the photo below.

Eventually the holes were dug, fertilizer collected from the nearby manyattas (homesteads) and planting began. We had a problem with rocks in some areas and we had to relocate the sites. However, eventually all 10 trees were planted, watered and protected with chicken wire.

To date 51 trees have been planted in the area (4 schools and manyattas). I am really enjoying this project and it has been such fun working with the students on this. After each tree-planting, Raphael gives the students a talk on the importance of trees and why they are crucial to a healthy environment. I visit the schools weekly to see the progress and to check that trees are being watered. So far, out of 51 trees, only 4 have failed. 3 were eaten by goats (who crawled under the chicken wire!) and one was chopped off by a student who was trying to sabotage another student’s growing tree! However, all that has been sorted now and with the support of the school committees, the head-teachers and communities, the trees are doing well.

Please do have a look at the project website field diary for entries on the tree planting in 3 other schools (between January and March 2008). Click here: http://www.ewasolions.org/diary.php

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