Help MWCT Win the Holiday Charity Challenge!

Today’s blog post is about an extremely important opportunity to directly help MWCT!  We’re competing in Mozilla’s Firefox Challenge, a competition held over the holidays to see which charity can raise the most money.  You can learn more about the challenge here, but it boils down to this: Mozilla is donating $50,000 to the charity that raises the most funds, and with your help we can all work together to get MWCT this money! 

Support our continued work with the Maasai of Kuku Group Ranch!

So donate if you can, and tell all your friends – the competition runs for nearly two more weeks through January 10^th.  Mozilla is donating $50,000 to the 1^st Place charity, $30,000 to 2^nd Place, and $20,000 to 3^rd Place; we’re currently locked in a battle for the lead.  As an added incentive, Edward Norton is donating a bunch of signed merchandise almost every day from now until the end of the contest!  You can learn more and win the prizes on this page. 

Win signed merchandise from famous actor Edward Norton!

With your help, we can win the prize and help MWCT expand its goals for the coming year!  Please spread the word, and donate if you can – we truly appreciate all of the support and generosity you’ve shown MWCT in 2012, and we’re looking forward to an even brighter 2013. 

http://www.crowdrise.com/edwardMFC/fundraiser/edwardnorton

Conservation Update - Lion Hunt Stopped

Today's news is about one of the scariest parts of MWCT's Conservation Program - but also one of its most important.  The traditional response to livestock predation of Maasai cattle and goats has been to hunt and kill the offending lion, hyena, or leopard.  With the introduction of our Wildlife Pays initiative, MWCT has sought to change this paradigm by partial compensation to herders for verified losses, thereby helping the Maasai to see these endangered predators as a potential source of income rather than a nuisance to be eliminated.

A Maasai zone elder speaks with the warriors, convincing them to abandon their lion hunt.

Two weeks ago our system was tested to the extreme, as a pride of seven lions killed a big bull owned by a Maasai.  He was understandably very upset, as he had planned to sell the bull at market the following weekend to help pay for his sick child's treatment.  News quickly spread, and a group of 26 morani, or Maasai warriors, gathered with dogs and spears to track and kill the lions.

Luckily we also heard the news, and our Wildlife Pays verifying officer traveled to the scene as quickly as he could to attempt to calm them.  Finding the warriors nearly in a frenzy, he called for backup and we sent several MWCT Rangers, our community outreach area, and the Maasai zone elder of that region.  After a long discussion and much careful pacification on the part of our employees, the warriors were finally convinced to discontinue their hunt and dispersed.

After a long meeting and much convincing, the warriors agreed to disperse and the situation was resolved amicably.

The whole incident, while scary and regrettable, was nonetheless a great success for MWCT's Conservation Program.  It marked the seventh time this year we have been able to successfully stop a lion hunt before a kill was made, compared to just one successful hunt as a result of livestock predation.  Considering that this year was expected to be a particularly volatile one, with many young warriors being initiated, these numbers are a great success.  With your continued support, we can continue our work through projects like these, preserving the heritage of both the wildlife and the Maasai.

Maasai Olympics Regional Competition

In mid-November Iltilal village hosted the regional level of competition for the first-annual Maasai Olympics celebration (read more about the initiative here), and it was an amazing spectacle!  It was a great success, with the entire community coming out to watch and very enthusiastic about the competition.

A strong moran throwing a javelin as part of the spear-throwing competition.

The morani, or Maasai warriors, spend most of their time herding cattle in the bush, only rarely coming into contact with other Maasai who live in the villages of Kuku Group Ranch.  With their striking red shukas, intricate beaded jewelry, and elaborate hair so distinct from other Maasai, they are truly a sight to see.  The young Maasai children crowded around the competition areas, straining to catch a glimpse of these strong warriors.

This moran's hair is particularly elaborate, but all Maasai warriors are very proud of their carefully-kept hair.

The competition went very well, with each of the various events (200m sprint, 5000m run, spear throwing, rungu throwing, high jumping) determining a champion to send onto the final level of competition, the tribe-wide Maasai Olympics to be held on 22nd December with Maasai from all over East Africa.  Even with the previous night's rain washing away some of the carefully placed chalk lines for competition, nothing stopped the community from coming together for this fun and important cultural event.

Close of shot of the beautiful beaded jewelry and sandals made from recycled tires.

The community support was the most important part of this whole inaugural event, and it is this sort of adaptation that will allow the Maasai to adjust to the modern world while nonetheless maintaining their important cultural traditions.  As an added incentive toward this goal, MWCT is funding a trip for the winner of the 5000m run to go run the 2013 New York Marathon in America.  We look forward to another great round of competition and cultural celebration at the final level in a couple weeks!

Health Update - Sight for the Blind!

A very inspiring story today, one that has already touched many lives and has the potential to touch many more.  One afternoon in late October, a party of Campi ya Kanzi guests visited Iltilal village and its residents to volunteer with the Trust for an afternoon.  In speaking with MWCT doctor Dr. Edward Omete, ophthalmologist Pamela Thiene, here purely on vacation, volunteered to help at the clinic with any eye-related diseases she could for an afternoon.

Njeda and his grandmother on their way from Kuku Group Ranch to Nairobi.

Njeda, a two-year old Maasai child born to a fifteen year-old mother who abandoned him and living with his grandmother, was born blind thanks to bilateral congenital cataracts.  In the Western world, this is a simple problem easily solved by surgery, but on Kuku such access to healthcare is not available.  Inspired by Dr. Thiene's generosity and selflessness, MWCT volunteer Jessica Hardy and health coordinators Dr. Omete and Lena Koh began searching for a hospital to perform the operation.

Njeda waiting at Lion's SightFirst Eye Hospital in Nairobi for his surgery.

Lions SightFirst Eye Hospital in Nairobi was willing to help, and upon hearing about the situation offered to perform the operation for no charge.  Campi ya Kanzi donated the necessary funds for Njeda and his grandmother, Jessica, and Dr. Omete to travel to Nairobi for the procedure earlier this month, and it was a tremendous, heartbreakingly wonderful success.

Njeda at the hospital with eyes covered by bandages following the surgery.

Lions Hospital was instrumental in making this project work, and they have agreed to help more Maasai with eye problems at a reduced rate, even to the point of setting up a temporary clinic much closer to Kuku Group Ranch to save travel to Nairobi.  There are thousands of Maasai living with easily treatable eye problems; please visit this fundraising page to see how you can help.

The first light seen by this little boy's eyes in his whole life.

Terrified of what was happening to him but unable to see what it was, Njeda clung to his grandmother before the surgery.  Afterward, as his bandages were removed and he saw light with his eyes for the first time in his life, he smiled up at her and touched her cheek.  Driving back to his home in the bush, he stared in wonderment at the gorgeous scenery all around him.  This was truly a case of selfless giving, and a wonderful collaboration between Campi ya Kanzi, the Lions Hospital, and the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. 

TeachAIDS Blogs About MWCT!

Exciting news on the publicity front for MWCT's Health Program - we're being featured and blogged about on TeachAIDS' website!  TeachAIDS is a fantastic organization we're proud to partner with; they are an interdisciplinary team of researchers in many fields working together to develop interactive and rich-media applications to promote the prevention of HIV/AIDS.  But what makes them even more special is that they produce these materials specifically to overcome social and cultural barriers - in MWCT's case, all other available materials are in English, but TeachAIDS' are in Swahili!

An HIV education presentation in a local village using TeachAIDS materials.

You can read more about our collaboration and the success we had this summer combining the educational materials with a community soccer tournament in TeachAIDS' blog post here:

http://teachaids.org/blog/sports-and-hiv-education-in-rural-kenya

Stay tuned for more updates on this wonderful organization we're proud to partner with, our ongoing use of these education materials, and the other great stuff currently going on with the Health Program!

Kanzi Academy Excursion to the Chyulus!

As part of Kanzi Academy’s continued efforts to take learning outside the classroom and find new ways for its students to interact with their unique wilderness environment, last week the schoolchildren went for a walk in the Chyulu Hills.  Hemingway’s famed Green Hills of Africa, the Chyulus are a volcanic range that were active as recently as the 19^th century, but have been dormant since that time.  The drive up provided an opportunity for the students to test their knowledge of the region’s geography and geology, including distinguishing between ancient granite formations and more recent volcanic ones.

Heading up into the Chyulus with the students of Kanzi Academy.

The drive and walk also gave ample opportunity to study and learn about the wildlife and botany of Kuku Group Ranch.  We saw giraffes, impalas, elands, hartebeests, hornbills, lilac-breasted rollers, and even an elusive bushbuck!  The beautiful Erythrina abyssinica, also known as the red-hot poker tree, was in its full-blooming October glory, punctuating the green hills with dashes of crimson. 

The beautiful Erythrina Abyssinica tree blooms in October.

After a break in the forest for a spirited game of Hide-and-Go-Seek, we continued our hike through the cloud forest, identifying trees such as the strangler fig and discussing its parasitic relationship with its host tree.  Finally we arrived at a bluff atop the range from which we could see for many kilometres, all the way to the Yatta Plateau.  We returned via the forest path and drove back to Campi ya Kanzi after a very successful morning, and we're planning to continue these educational outings in the future!

The students of Kanzi Academy look out from a bluff atop the Chyulus.

Maasai Olympics Coming Up!

Traditionally, young Maasai warriors have engaged in the killing of lions to compete for recognition, express bravery, attract girlfriends, and identify leaders.  However, because lion populations have dwindled so much in recent years, this tradition is no longer culturally acceptable.  A special group of Maasai elders called the Menya Layiok (Fathers of the Warriors) has come together to create a history-making alternative to lion-killing – the first-ever Maasai Olympics, to be held this December!

The Maasai Olympics seek to replace traditional lion-killing with sports.

The inaugural Maasai Olympics are an organized Maasai sports competition based upon traditional warrior skills, allowing the tribe to retain many of its tradition while adapting to the modern world and peacefully co-existing with its ecosystem.  There are five events in the program:  

1) 200m sprint

2) 5000m run

3) Spear throwing

4) Rungu throwing

5) High jumping

A moran, or Maasai warrior, throws a spear in one of the five contests.

There are three levels of competition (local, regional, and ecosystem-wide), allowing all Maasai to participate and culminating in the Maasai Olympics on 22^nd December 2012.  Regional competitions are now ongoing, and the build-up toward what will become an annual event has been exciting thus far!  The Maasai Olympics are being jointly arranged by the Maasailand Preservation Trust, the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, and the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

The competition rules are explained to a group of warriors in Kuku.

MWCT is also offering the overall winner participation in the 2013 New York Marathon - stay tuned here for more updates, and consider joining our warrior in next year's marathon!  And finally, Campi ya Kanzi is offering a discounted rate should you desire to come and enjoy the Maasai Olympics final competition - contact luca@maasai.com for more details.