Three years ago, Big Life joined with local community, government, and NGO partners to implement a carbon credit program. The Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project is part of a global network of interventions aimed at helping communities to conserve forests and other important carbon stores, and in doing so keeps carbon out of the atmosphere. This benefits not only the people living around the Chyulu Hills, but the entire planet for the stable climate upon which we all depend.

Like a curtain rising from the arid plains below, the Chyulu Hills catch moist air coming in from the Kenyan coast. This water falls as rain or mist, finding its way into the porous volcanic soils, and eventually resurfaces at Mzima Springs in Tsavo, where an estimated 90 million liters per day emerge from the ground. Besides being a precious water resource, the hills are also home to a range of mountain species that are isolated from the rest of their kind, including a small population of the critically endangered Eastern black rhino. The Chyulu Hills are part of a critical link between two of Kenya’s most important wildlife areas - the greater Tsavo and Amboseli Ecosystems.

Local communities and partners (Big Life included) directly benefit from the sale of two million carbon credits being marketed by Conservation International. Some of the credits have been purchased by big luxury brands like Tiffany & Co. and Gucci. The revenue is being invested in local community development projects and conservation efforts. In 2020, Big Life received more than $140k in revenue, which helped to fund the salaries and equipment of some of the Big Life’s rangers protecting the area, as well as build a new outpost in the northernmost reaches of the rhino area. Additional benefits included funding for: fire response training and equipment, community water infrastructure, and student scholarships.

To purchase your own carbon credits and offset your personal carbon footprint, please visit Conservation International’s carbon calculator and help protect the Chyulu Hills for the benefit of all.

Today, for International Women’s Day, we’d like to introduce you to Constable Susan Manyanga Lemomo.

Susan is one of Big Life’s 12 female rangers and is stationed with the Nailepo Unit. Here she describes what it’s like working in the bush, and what some of her experiences have been like as a wildlife ranger for conservation, whether it’s 30-kilometer patrols, arresting bushmeat poachers, or helping to prevent elephants from raiding crops at night. She is 21 years old and has 3 children. She is interviewed by Lilian Sailepu, Big Life’s human-elephant conflict fence project assistant.

Thank you, Susan, for sharing your story, and for joining Big Life as a wildlife ranger to protect nature for the benefit of us all. We are grateful to women the world over for their contributions, but especially those who help run Big Life’s operations, as rangers, as fundraisers, as program managers, and at the Board level. 

Myths and misinformation about sexual health can be challenging to correct, as such beliefs are deeply rooted in cultural traditions. This is as true for the Maasai as it is for any rural community. The health of any ecosystem depends on setting the record straight.

To that end, Big Life’s Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) and the Ministry of Health Community Health Assistant have hosted 36 Dialogue Days, meetings which bring together community leaders, gender groups, and/or specific age sets to discuss health issues in a safe environment.  These community dialogue meetings allow for concerns and opinions to be voiced, and in turn for health professionals to respond, providing explanations and helping to dispel myths, particularly around sexual health.

Initially, these meetings were focused largely on men, as without their permission, it is very difficult for wives and daughters to access not only family planning, but any reproductive health services, such as antenatal care, assisted delivery, and cervical cancer and STI screening. Recognizing that women and youth need these meetings too, Dialogue Days have expanded to include them. In time, we hope to involve husbands and wives in couples’ meetings together.

These conversations are desperately needed and are helping to bring about positive changes for the Maasai as individuals and as a community, as evidenced by powerful testimonials.

One example is a man we’ll call John, a 48-year-old man married to two wives, with 14 children between them. He is primarily a pastoralist and does some farming. His children all go to school, either at the secondary or primary level. John and his two wives never attended school, making it hard to monitor their children’s education. Regardless, he is very passionate about his children getting a formal education in order for them to have a better future. But having such a large family makes it very difficult to provide for their basic necessities.

After being walked through the importance of family planning both by our CHVs during household visits and at the dialogue meeting, he realized that his situation is currently experienced by almost everyone in his village and is due to a lack of family planning, which would have helped them space their children and be able to provide for them with ease. As a village elder, John says he will approve for his wives (who are still of reproductive age) to take up family planning. This way, his current children will be able to continue their education. He will also advise his own children and others who come to him for his counsel as an elder, on the importance of family planning.

We are grateful to our partners at CHASE Africa, the Leila and Mickey Straus Family Foundation, and our supporters around the world for investing in these vital community dialogue meetings for the benefit of all.

The core of Big Life’s ethos is this: if conservation supports the people, then people will support conservation. This has never been truer in the face of a global pandemic.

Along with our partners, Big Life Foundation has been able to expand our existing Community Health Volunteer (CHV) program on Mbirikani Group into Eselengei and Rombo Group Ranches. The CHVs are trusted and respected members of their communities and their primary role is to go door-to-door providing healthcare education, as well as referrals to their local government facility. They also let everyone know when a backpack nurse is coming, where she or he will be located, and assist with organizing on the day of the visit. The backpack nurse provides maternal health services that include immunizations, de-worming, antenatal care, and family planning.           

Big Life has continued to support the local government health facilities with the provision of hand sanitizer and soap, as well as the PPE needed by the CHVs in their line of work. Unfortunately, government nurses and clinical officers went on strike on December 8, 2020, due to a lack of sufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), insufficient pay for their increased risk, and the fact that the National Hospital Insurance Fund does not cover them for COVID-19 treatment.  

Despite the numerous obstacles, the work is getting done. In 2020, CHVs visited 22,553 households. Between household visits and Dialogue Days, 75,593 people were provided with sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information, as well as COVID-19 prevention and containment information. Importantly, the CHVs are also able to advise couples on the best form of family planning for their individual needs. Because mobile clinics have been on hold since last March, due to the inability to safely gather in numbers, household visits by our CHVs have provided critical healthcare support at a time when there were no other options for care. 

We’re incredibly grateful for CHASE Africa, the Leila and Mickey Straus Family Foundation, and all of our supporters around the world that have fortified our ability to support the local Maasai community’s needs, while also protecting nature for the benefit of all.