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.

If you had to guess the most endangered wildlife species Big Life rangers help to protect, you might guess rhino. There are only 8 known Eastern black rhinos in Big Life’s area of operation, and they are monitored by dozens of camera traps and rangers at all times to keep them safe from poachers. Despite their size, they are extremely elusive, which helps to keep them safe.

But equally endangered and even more elusive is a surprising species: the pangolin.  Small and nocturnal, these scaly anteaters are the most heavily trafficked wildlife species on the planet. While their meat is considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, their main value on the black market and in Asia is for their scales.

Coincidentally, pangolin scales and rhino horn are made of the same fibrous protein as your own fingernails: keratin. And both are about as useless in medicine (traditional or otherwise) as your nail clippings would be.

Because Big Life’s rangers work to protect the Greater Amboseli ecosystem holistically, we do encounter pangolins from time to time. And as always, our growing intelligence network is ever watchful for pangolins being trafficked. Last year in 2020, rangers helped to rescue 5 live pangolins in five separate trafficking incidents. Each was handed over to the Kenya Wildlife Service for safe reintroduction into the wild. Additionally, in 2020, 2 kg of pangolin scales were confiscated in one trophy poaching incident.

We’ve partnered with the Pangolin Project to learn more about best practices when handling these special animals, which are surprisingly delicate despite their tough exterior. We’ll keep you posted on these efforts when these rare animals turn up, but in the meantime, thank you to all our supporters for keeping our rangers in the field as we celebrate World Pangolin Day.