DIdattica per l'ambiente a Kinangop - Teaching conservation in Kinangop

NOTA DI LUCA. Dominic Kimani e' uno dei tre studenti che nel 2010 hanno ricevuto una borsa di studio annuale con la nostra sponsorizzazione in collaborazione con il Museo Nazionale del Kenya. La specialita' di Dominic e' la didattica ambientale e l'area di lavoro e' l'altipiano di Kinangop, uno dei siti chiave per la conservazione della natura in Kenya. L'altipiano di Kinangop e' costituito da praterie naturali di alta quota, che ospitano numerose species endemiche, tra cui il ben noto Uccellino Zampagrossa (Sharpe's longclaw). Putroppo le praterie vengono rapidamente distrutte a causa della rapida espansione agricola, ed e' quindi importante sviluppare e propagandare tecniche di coltivazione piu' sostenibili e compatibili con la conservazione dell'ambiente.

Di seguito potete leggere un resoconto scritto da Dominic sulle sue attivita'.

NOTE BY LUCA. Dominic Kimani is one of the three students based at the National Museums of Kenya that we are helping with a one-year long fellowship that enable them to complete their studies and engage themselves in research and conservation activities in Kenya. Dominic's field of expertise is teaching environmental conservation in one of the most biodiversity-rich sites of Kenya, the Kinangop plateau, were natural high-altitude grassland is rapidly being converted to agriculture endangering many species of wildlife, among which a bird, Sharpe's longclaw.

Dominic just sent me this report on the activities he's carrying out in Kinangop. 

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Report on teaching conservation in Kinangop

By Dominic Kimani

Water conservation and Harvesting - World Wetland Day

Kinangop has changed a lot especially in the last 2 decades and it has become very dry in most part of the year. Water conservation and harvesting is therefore inevitable.

This year’s World Wetland Day was commemorated on second February 2011. We selected Ndaracai-ni Primary school to host the event. The schools within this area came here for the days’ activities. This event attracted the parents, teachers and students of this area to mark this important day worldwide. The occasion was used to create public awareness on the importance of wetlands in the area and how they are connected to the large water bodies like Lake Naivasha and even oceans.

Young students from Kinangop on the World Wetland Day

The farmers and general public expressed their worries about the declining treads of waters quality and quantity in the nearby Turasha river. We used the event to explain the alternative water harvesting techniques that people could use. Roof and small ponds catchments were highlighted as the most applicable in the area.

Threats facing the riparian land in the middle catchment where Kinangop plateau is found were explained to the people gathered. The threats are mainly caused by poor cultivation close to the river banks. Results from previous research that we have been involved before indicates that the Sharpe’s Longclaw prefers nesting close to the river riparian land especially in Ndaracai-ini area. The conservation of riparian will protect the soil erosion and preserve the habitat for the endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw among other biota.

Teaching conservation in Kinangop grassland must be holistic, touching most of the life aspects that affect people in Kinangop. Having worked in Kinangop before, I have realized that the problems here need local solution that are well integrated with best examples and practices that have worked well in other parts of the world.

Action in Kimuri secondary school

Students are the best ambassadors and vehicles through which conservation messages get to reach a wide coverage. Together with their teachers they have a higher multiplier effect because they interact with many people. Teachers, especially in Africa, command respect among their communities.

In our teaching, we are targeting the issues that affect the local people in Kinangop, and the most prone i.e. the farmers. In Kimuri secondary school, we are liaising with wildlife club patron and his counterpart from the young farmers club (YFC) to demonstrate the best practices in farming. The main practice is the organic farming, this is because it utilizes small piece of land for maximum yield. This helps the majority of the students who come from the Kinangop farming community to learn the best farming techniques that are sustainable.

By so doing we are able to explain why it is important to leave some patches of grasslands for soil conservation, livestock grazing fields and for birds’ habitats.

Livestock rearing is proving to be more economically viable especially in spreading and coping with risks that farmers face in their undertakings. Our goal is to change the behaviour and general perception of the local farmers and enable efficient sustainable land-use.

Kimuri School has set aside a portion of land for demonstrations. The school has also allowed other schools and group of farmers to use it. This will ensure that once the students learn the best practices, they will teach their parents and the whole population will change for better. In this activities, Mr. Andrew Mwangi, who is the Sharpe’s Longclaw reserve manager is helping in coordinating and making follow-ups of the demonstrations in Kimuri.

Dry season grassland birds monitoring in Murungaru with selected school’s students

On 19^th February 2011, students from various schools participated in this years’ dry season grassland bird monitoring. The schools were; Murungaru, Kimuri, Hajo and Ndaracai-ini. Seven students from each school were selected. The students learnt the monitoring techniques and census methods that the Friends of Kinangop Plateau (FOKP) monitoring team uses during the biannual grassland birds monitoring. This kind of teaching is aimed at passing basic research principles to the youngsters who will be helping the FOKP group to ensure sustainability of this important activity.

Three sites were visited, namely; Kirima, Githunguri and Ndaracai-ini. The next monitoring exercise will be done in August this year.

Environmental Game

Most of the activities in School were conducted outdoors. Environmental game was introduced in three schools namely; Murungaru, Kienjero and Wheatland secondary school.

Demonstration of environmental game

This game is an improvement of a traditional game called “Bau” which originated initially from central Africa . Two or more people playing using beads/ grains and dice. The beads or grains represent different natural resources. The game demonstrate how resources to be utilized sustainable without depleting others.

The student in these schools liked the game and its meaning hence more schools will be involved in future and do regular evaluations to measure the effectiveness on the game as a teaching aid.

Consuntivo economico 2010 - Financial report 2010

Carissimi
ecco qui il tanto atteso resoconto economico relativo al 2010!
Nel 2010 abbiamo finanziato 5 progetti: (1) sette borse di studio per gli studenti piccoli e grandi delle scuole primarie e secondarie (2) tre borse di studio annuali per studenti presso il Museo Nazionale del Kenya (3) la riforestazione degli Aberdare mountains insieme al gruppo Kawama (4) il Mbara Community Project (5) la Scuola di Mugumu-ini a Kinangop. Potete leggere piu' informazioni su questi progetti in un precedente post QUI.
In totale, nel 2010 abbiamo ricevuto 22 donazioni per un totale di 5.300 Euro, a cui si somma il residuo di cassa del 2009 (375 Euro). La cifra disponibile è stata dunque in totale pari a 5.675 Euro, il che rappresenta un incremento del 40% rispetto all'anno precedente. EVVIVA! CONTINUIAMO COSI'!
Le spese riportate nella tabella qui sotto ammontano a 4,764 Euro. Rimane quindi al 31 Dicembre 2009 un residuo di cassa di ben 911 Euro, dovuto al fatto che varie donazioni mi sono pervenute a Dicembre e quindi non ho fatto in tempo a spenderle nel 2010.
Ma non temete, i progetti per il 2011 non mancano assolutamente!

Pace e bene dunque a tutti dal sempre vostro Dr Liv


English summary: in 2010 we received 22 donations for a total of €5,300. Expenses amounted to
€4,764 according to the table below. You can find a description of the five projects that we funded HERE.  The unspent balance on 15 January 2011 amounts to €911 due to the fact that several donations reached me in December and I was not able to spend them before the end of the year. But don't worry, we have more than one good project waiting for us in 2011.

Peace and happiness to you all from Dr Liv! 

Residuo cassa 2009 - Balance on 1st January  2010	+ 375
Donazioni ricevute nel 2010 / Donations received in 2010	+ 5,300
Scholarships/borse di studio for primary and secondary schools	- 1,155
Scholarships/ borse di studio National Museums of Kenya	- 2,533
Tree planting in Aberdare forest/Riforestazione Monti Aberdares	-  185
The Mbara Community Project	- 300
Mugumu-ini School/Scuola di Mugumu-ini	-556
Commissioni bancarie/Bank fees	- 35
Spese totali per progetti 2010 / Total project expenses 2010	4,764
Saldo al 15/01/2011 / Balance on 15th January 2011	+ 911

 

A summary of the activities of 2010

I think it’s a good idea to give you an overview of what we have done together in the past year, cause I fear it is difficult to understand it from the mixed hodge-podge of postings that I added to the blog in the last months. So, here it is:

1) Small scholarships for the primary and secondary schools. These small scholarships helped seven (five boys and two girls) students aged 6-15 years to pay the expenses of one year of school. All the scholarships went to students living in the Samburu district, one of the poorest districts of northern Kenya, where many young boys and girls drop off school because their families can’t afford it. This activity will certainly continue in 2011, and hopefully will expand. In particular, I hope to involve more girls in this initiative, because women are particularly disadvantaged in Africa

Lawrence

Dominic

2) Fellowships in collaboration with the National Museums of Kenya. These fellowships awarded a small monthly salary for one year to three young men (Sammy Bakari, Dominic Kimani and Lawrence Wagura) who work on nature conservation in Kenya. The fellowships are a collaboration with the National Museums of Kenya, that administer the money and pay the monthly installments charging no expense to us, so that 100% of the sum goes to the fellowship-holders. Here follows a description of what Sammy, Dominic and Lawrence are doing. Sammy Bakari, is one of the leaders of the Njabini woolspinning workshop, and eco-friendly initiative that aims to protect the habitat of an endangered bird (Sharpe’s longclaw) by marketing the wool of the sheep that graze in the Kenya’s highland grasslands. You can find much more information on Njabini and the Sharpe’s longclaw in other postings that I published on this blog. Dominic Kimani works at Kinangop, north of Nairobi, an area that is the main stronghold of Sharpe’s Longclaw. At Kinangop, rapidly expanding agriculture is encroaching on the grassland and threatens the survival of Sharpe’s longclaw. Dominic visits the primary and secondary schools of Kinangop (several thousands of students) and teaches them about conservation of natural habitats and their importance. You can read Dominic’s teaching proposal HERE. Lawrence Wagura is a young ornithologist who is working on another severely threatened Kenyan bird, the Taita apalis. The entire world population of this bird is now reduced to less than 500 individuals that are confined to just four tiny remnants of forest in the Taita hills of Southern Kenya (click HERE to read more).

Planting trees in the Aberdares

3) Planting trees in the Aberdare forest with Kawama youth group. The Abeardare forest, 50 km north of Nairobi is one of the main sources of water for Kenya, but has been severely deforested in the past years. The Kawama (“little miracle”) youth group is a group of about 20 young men and women who are working to reforest a tract of the Aberdares with indigenous trees. We have helped them establishing and espanding a tree nursery, and planting the tree seedlings in the area that has been chosen for the reforestation. Currently, about 5,000 small trees have been planted. (click HERE to read more)

Mbara's school pupils

4) The Mbara Community Project. Terry John Hummerston is a friend of mine from the UK. Terry has for some years now led an amazing development project at Mbara, a village of Western Kenya. With incredibly hard work and extremely limited budget, the project has already brought clean drinking water to thousands of people, and assisted hundreds of young students of the local Temow School. I decided to share part of the funds collected in 2010 with this project, because it is really a wonderful little thing. You can read more about the work at Mbara HERE.

Young pupils of Mugumu-ini school

5)  The Mugumu-ini school. Mugumu-ini is a primary school located on the western edge of the Kinangop plateau, about 80 kn north of Nairobi. The school has more than 700 young pupils aged 6-13 years and is in serious need of help, because its facilities are inadequate. In particular, the school suffers of a severe water shortage, which means big problems in terms of hygienic conditions. Thanks to a contribution availed by David Fox and his family, we have helped the school to build a new 3000lt water tank that collects rainwater from the roofs of the school and provides a much-needed source of water that is used for cleaning the school and kitchen utensils (most of the pupils have lunch at the school, as it is usually done in Kenya)

Greetings from Baawa!

We are sent a big bunch of greetings from the Lentaaya family, whose kids are among those whom we are helping to go to school. Andrea, Topias and Josphine are aged 9, 7 and 6 respectively and are all very good little students at Maralal Mbukiwa Academy. All the best to them for the next school year, beginning in January, we are sure their good school results will continue in 2011!

A new activity: Teaching conservation in the Kinangop plateau

NOTE BY LUCA. Dominic Kimani is receiving a small fellowship for 2010-2011. His project consists in teaching about conservation and endangered species in the schools of the Kinangop plateau.
Dominic wrote a proposal for his project, which you read here below (click on "Ulteriori Informazioni" please)

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FROM EWE, TO YOU: How wool spinning and weaving are helping to save threatened birds and unique natural habitats in Kenya

NOTA DI LUCA. Questo è un breve articolo scritto da Sammy, uno dei nostri borsisti di studio presso il National Museums of Kenya. Sammy insieme ad altri ragazzi di Kinangop gestisce un laboratorio di filatura e tessitura della lana di pecora, che aiuta a salvare un uccellino minacciato (lo Zampagrossa di Sharpe Macronyx sharpei) e crea posti di lavoro ecologici, eco-compatibili, ecopacifisti ed ecocardiografici. Sullo zampagrossa e sulla sua vita sventurata potete leggere di più in uno dei post precedenti clikkando QUI.

ALTRA NOTA (PER I LETTORI ITALIANI). Ewe in inglese vuol dire 'pecora' :-) 

NOTE FROM LUCA. This is a short article by Sammy, one of the members of the Njabini Woolspinning Workshop, a project that we have been helping since 2007. The workshop's goal is to save the habitat of Sharpe's longclaw, an endangered bird that lives only in Kenya's highland grasslands. To do this, the workshop buys wool taken from sheep grazing on the grassland, and transforms the raw wool into a variety of woven products. Thus, besides protecting biodiversity, the Njabini workshop created jobs that are sorely needed in Kenya

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FROM EWE TO YOU, by Samuel Ngang’a Bakari,

Njabini Wool-spinning Workshop, POB 254- 20319, South Kinangop, Kenya. Email: sbakari2004@yahoo.com

From Ewe, to you. Well, did you know this short chain can help conserve some globally endangered birds that only live in Kenya’s unique highland grasslands? Did you know you can contribute very much by helping complete the chain? Well, look at this.

The Kinangop Highland Grasslands of central Kenya have been identified as a globally important and highly threatened biodiversity area that requires extra environmental attention. The grasslands hold two globally threatened bird species, the Sharpe’s Longclaw and the Aberdare Cisticola as well as a suite of other rare species of flora and fauna. Now, unfortunately, the grasslands are severely threatened. Most of them are owned by small-scale farmers who steadily convert them to cultivations, where the endangered biodiversity cannot survive. Very little of Kenya’s highland grassland is protected inside Reserves or National Parks. That does not sound good, especially to those who care about the environment.

Kinangop’s highland grasslands were originally inhabited by nomadic Maasai pastoralists, but since the 1960s they have been increasingly settled by farmers and now more than 80% of all the indigenous grasslands in Kinangop Plateau has been converted to crop cultivation or plantations of eucalypts and other non-indigenous trees. The small bits of remnant natural grassland that are left are owned by farmers with big families and very low incomes. It is clear that an effective and sustainable conservation strategy for these unique grasslands must include economic benefits to the local owners.

Livestock farming was a major source of income in the Kinangop plateau for many years and up to 1990s, when market prices of milk and wool products took a nose dive. Farmers who had for long preferred dairy and sheep rearing had to turn to crop cultivation to cater for their needs. The crops were no better and the farmers were forced to convert more and more grasslands to crop cultivation. This means that nowadays the few tiny remnants of natural grassland are the last refuge for a large number of species of flora and fauna, among them the birds are the most well-known – but by no means the only ones.

But not all is lost. The Friends of Kinangop Plateau, a group of community-based conservationists, are not sitting and watching, they came up with a far-sighted strategy to protect the grasslands whilst at the same time trying to ensure that the people who live on them also benefit. FOKP run a Wool Spinning and Weaving Workshop that tries to address all these problems. The workshop is located in Njabini village, at the southern edge of Kinangop plateau, and is run by youths and women. Basically the workshop buys wool from the farmers paying a convenient price to them. This has persuaded several farmers to rear sheep in the natural grasslands, rather than cultivating them. The Njabini Workshop then adds value to the wool through spinning and weaving it into end user products like carpets, mats, bags and other knitted items. These are then sold to local people and tourists who visit the workshop. Unfortunately, this business is still limited to a very small and local scale, due to the lack of convenient outlets in large towns. Therefore, FOKP is now trying to improve the quality of their wool products and to achieve better marketing opportunities, which will allow them to expand their market to towns or to the routes used by foreign tourists. In due time, exporting to foreign markets is also considered a major future breakthrough.

The wool spinning workshop is an excellent way of motivating farmers to retain the livestock and preserve the pastures that also are the habitat to the threatened wildlife. It therefore gives the farmers a financial reason to keep the land as it is giving a win-win situation for the farmers and the conservationist.

Do you want to be part of the winners? You are not left out. Buy one of these locally hand woven products and contribute to the success. Don’t be left out!

Updates from Njabini: the Fox family visits the workshop

David handing over education books

The computer donated by David's Family

Njabini wool spinning has continued to play a very important role in the conservation of the Kinangop Highland Grasslands. This could have not been possible without help from foreign donors from Italy and the UK. Outstanding among them is Mr David Fox and his family who have made huge and frequent contributions towards addressing the challenges at our Workshop. In July this year, the Fox family visited Kinangop together with Luca. During their visit, they met with the Njabini workshop, where they donated a computer, two digital cameras and a pair of binoculars. They later visited the Kinangop Nature Reserve and the Eco-resource Center run by the Friends of Kinangop Plateau Association. Mugumo-ini Primary School was also visited as a representative of the Education programme. (Post written by  the Njabini Woolspinning Group)

 

Three-months report (Feb-Apr 2010) from Njabini

Dear everybody – Sammy Bakari just sent us this update on the activities of the Njabini woolspinning workshop, one of the projects that we are supporting.
As you know, the Njabini workshop is an eco-friendly small business that aims to save the habitat of Sharpe’s Longclaw by creating a market for the wool produced by the sheep grazing in the highland grasslands of Kenya – the only habitat where Sharpe’s Longclaw lives.
As part of our agreement with Njabini, every third month Sammy sends to us updates on the development of the activities of the workshop. This is the third update, covering the period from February to April 2010.
I hope you will enjoy reading Sammy’s report – and I also hope you will feel proud of our good results. Think that for each 100 kg of wool that the workshop buys, one hectare of grassland is preserved, and one hectare of grassland is the home to two pairs of Sharpe’s Longclaw!

All the best, Luca

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The Njabini woolspinning workshop: Three months update February to April 2010

By Samuel Bakari

INTRODUCTION
The Njabini Wool Spinning workshop has continued to grow. The growth has continued to economically empower the youths working in the workshop as well the sheep farmers.
However challenges has persistently occurred one after the other.

WORKING WITH THE FARMERS
After a long period of prolonged drought, across most of the country, for the whole of 2009, Kenya has received heavy rains as from November last year to now. This has been a blessing to all of us. However, due to the rain, shearing has not been possible. Fortunately, this did not affect our supply of wool as we had stored enough wool to take us through the hard times. Now many sheep are ready for shearing and are waiting for rains to subside. We are looking forward to that as our fleece stock is running down.

PRODUCTION
Spinning
Spinning underlines the quality and the type of product. This is dictated by the skill of the spinner, the quality of wool and to a large extent the type of spinning wheels and carders in use. Spinning and carding equipment has always been a challenge as the wheels used at the workshop are of low quality and are not very efficient as compared to professional equipment. We have continued to learn new spinning techniques and tricks from Janice who have everyday continued to come with new ideas [LUCA’S NOTE: JANICE IS THE AMERICAN FIBER ARTIST WHO HAS BEEN WORKING WITH US SINCE LAST YEAR AND IS TEACHING TO NJABINI NEW WEAVING AND SPINNING TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE THEIR PRODUCTS]. Janice has given us a lot of literature materials for reference including magazines. This has gone a long way in motivating the spinners and providing new ideas.
We have been lucky to receive two new super spinning wheels! One we received from friends through Janice and the other was Janice’s, who was with us for a period, this was very kind of she as she uses and she let us have it for more than four months. The wheels have given us another perspective and we have been able produce a wide range of fine yarns. For the first months of this year we have been able to supply wool yarn to shops in Naivasha. Unfortunately, most of the other shops have not been able to buy yarns due to the economic crisis that is hitting Kenya. This has affected our income from sale of yarns, which has continued to be one of the challenges. On the other hand end user products has improved.

Photo below: Margaret and Regina spinning using the new spinning wheels-Regina is with Janice’s wheel. Emma, in the front, is using a Kenya-made wheel.

Weaving
Rug weaving has continued to improve in design, texture and colour. Janice has relentlessly taught us new techniques and design, she has also bought us very informative books for reference. Our big loom has been repaired, thanks to Janice’s skills, and it is now operational. This has moved us to greater heights in weaving. New product has hit the market and is doing well so far, woven scarves. This has proved to be a good line and cuts across a broad class of buyers including even the local market, which is not easy with the rugs. The combination is one of our strengths that we have lately achieved.



MARKETING AND SALES
Marketing is one of the areas that we have not been to achieve to our best; due to a number of challenges that we have not been able to overcome. Although we have been able to improve the quality of our products, we realise the need to improve also on our capacity of production and accumulate working capital. We have been in many cases forced to sell yarn instead of weaving it into products such as scarves or rugs that could fetch a higher price on the market. This is because selling of rugs at current set up takes relatively long time to as compared to yarns, which are in most cases easy to sell. However, yarn processed to a final product fetches more money due to the value added and involves more people thereby creating more employment. The challenge now is to pay the labour force, as they have to wait until the product is sold, thereby affecting the production and taking of more weavers. We are building on savings to tackle this such that the weavers can be paid timely even if the products they have woven is not sold. This is taking long however.
Sales of rugs has gone up, we attracted orders from several customers. We also benefited from another sale bazaar at the US embassy where we sold seven knitted scarves and five rugs. We also introduced the woven scarves and all the woven scarves that we had sold out immediately though we had only five as we had just learned how to weave them from Janice and this was the first lot.
We have continued to make one-on-one, marketing to potential buyers. The contacts from Goodie, Cheli and Peacock and African Pro-poor Tourism Development Center (APTDC) are still followed. We are looking for a potential order from APTDC while a recent visit to Cheli and Peackock shows hope of potential purchase.
We are following a contact for sale of scarves and we are meeting the first potential long time buyer in two weeks time. We are also moving around to potential clients.
We managed to participate to Roslyn’s Spring Fling on 17th April where we were able to interact with new people and got some contacts.

APPRECIATION
A lot of thanks go to all you who have contributed and have been always concerned with the welfare of the Njabini Wool Spinning Workshop as a tool for conservation of the Kinangop Grasslands. Particularly David Fox for your generous support, Charlie Moores and Luca Borghesio for your continued devotion. We cannot fail to thank Janice Knausenberger for her motivation throughout the time we have been in contact.

Back to school!

Salve a tutti!

Due righe per informarvi sullo svolgimento del progetto "Tutti a scuola".

Dalle notizie che ricevo (frammentarie dato che il telefono lì non prende e la posta si perde nel bush), risulta che i nostri sette studenti stanno andando tutti bene. In particolare il piccolo Andrea Lentaaya (8 anni, terza elementare, il bimbo sorridente che compare nella foto in cima a questo blog) sembra sia secchionissimo e sulla base dei voti attualmente è terzo su 60 studenti della sua classe (ebbene sì, in Kenya le classi delle scuole elementari hanno 60 e talvolta anche più di 60 studenti...). Sua sorella Josephine (sei anni, prima elementare) non è da meno visto che è ottava (sempre su 60...).

Complimenti dunque ai piccoli Lentaaya, che sono nati in mezzo alla savana, ma che si stanno facendo onore anche nella giungla cittadina!

English summary: all our little school students are doing very well at school. Congrats!

Tree planting resumes in the Aberdares! Hooray!

Hello everybody - as you know our friends of the Kawama Youth Group, who are planting trees in the Aberdare mountains, had all sorts of problems in the last year due to a terrible drought that killed almost all the trees in their nursery and made all plantings impossible for many months (see the story here). Fortunately the rain has now come back to Kenya, and the Kawama people have at last been able to resume planting trees!
I pasted below a short email that I just received from Sammy, the leader of the Kawama. This is a very welcome update on their recent activities.
All the best wishes to the Kawama Group and to their dedication to this difficult enterprise! We all hope to be able to continue helping their work in the next year

Luca

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HERE IS SAMMY'S EMAIL:

Hi Luca,

How is the family, now that you are back home?

We did plant trees at last on Sat 15th May. It was quite challenging due to the heavy rains but everybody was happy. It was an achievement that we have always looked forward to.

We transported all the seedlings at the first nursery but we were not able to plant all of them on the day. We managed to plant about 2,000 seedlings and we hope to plant the remaining, also about 2,000 on June 5th.

We had difficulties in transport due to bad road conditions, we were stuck several times before we even got to the nursery to pick the seedlings, we however managed after long hours of struggle. The second batch of seedlings, which we did not plant yet, was kept in a safe place in the garden of one of the neighbours to the forest. The rangers of the Kenya Forest Service collaborate with us and are regularly visiting the home to see that the seedlings are safe.

We drained all the financial resources that we had, so we are thinking on how to go about planting the remaining lot. It wou'nt take much since the element of transport is done with now. We only need fare for the members and refreshment.

I am not able to give you a more detailed report but I will soon, and am yet to receive the photos.

Best Regards,

Sammy.