Where the rubber hits the road!

Over the last two weeks, we were involved in a vigourous environmental education programme. The whole ASSETS team dropped everything else to participate in meetings with the ASSETS beneficiaries. This time we were meeting both the parents and students in two seperate meetings. It is always fun to welcome the new beneficiaries to the ASSETS scheme and see how exited they are. Meetings started with the closest school, Mida where we were meeting with students from Mida and Chipande primary schools. We then proceeded to Nyari primary school on the southern side of the forest where we were meeting over 70 students. Bogamachuko and Kahingoni primary schools where most of the beneficiaries come from were next . It is always very pleasing to meet these very cheerful students who almost entirely depend on the ASSETS bursaries for their education. We camped at Bogamachuko for the night in order to save on fuel and cut our carbon footprint by not driving back the 70 km to Watamu just for the night. By 9.00 a.m. we were at Malanga to meet students from Malanga and Girimacha primary school. Last was Mijomboni primary school on Friday the 24th.

This year's theme for our meetings was "Bush Meat Trade". The students had an opportunity to learn about the consequences of Bush Meat Trade and particularly on the ASSETS eco-bursary scheme. In deed this is a really crucial activity where the primary aim of the ASSETS scheme can be realised.

A Divine Intervention

Today was a day of it's own kind. After a great feasting last evening, saying goodbye to the A Rocha International Managing Director who has been with us for just under a week, half the team arrived late this morning. 9.00 a.m. was the appointed time for us to leave for Mida primary school where we were meeting the parents and students benefiting from the ASSETS bursary fund but it wasn't until 9.30 a.m that we managed to push start the truck whose battery is broken. We had to repeat this exercise twice; 1st when we stopped to fuel the trukc and again when it stalled just a kilometer from the gas station.At last, Tsofa and Tony had to hitch-hike a lift to get to the meeting before the parents gave up waiting and leave. 11.15 a.m is when the meeting started, with 14 students and 21 parents attending.

These meetings are held during every school holiday to link the bursaries received to the conservation of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and Mida Creek. After a great awareness meeting with tons of coments from the participants, we were again faced with the task of starting the vehicle. This time we had promised to give a lift to some of the parents going to Chipande, 7 km away. (Now this is the most ridiculaous thing) "this vehicle must respect people from Chipande" an old man utters amidst the crowd. "It has to start without any problem." All the other parents laugh. "Ok, amen to your words old man" says Jonathan as he jumps into the truck, turns on the engine and it starts straight away. Goodness, what a mirracle! we are wondering whether we should pick the old man up tomorrow when we go to Nyari for the next meeting just in case the truck refuses to behave.

An Incredible Combination

My name is Stanley Baya, working as the Co-ordinator of the Arabuko-Sokoke Schools and Eco-Tourism Scheme (ASSETS). I feel privileged to share with you my experience in working in community and conservation at Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and Mida Creek. Perhaps the best way to do this is to share with you what drives me to take up such a challenging task as you will realise community development is indeed not easy especially when you are from that community yourself (a prophet can not be accepted by his own people); I am not suggesting that I am a prophet, that's not the point, I only mean "familiarity breeds content"

I grew up at Gede village, one and half kilometers from Arabuko-Sokoke Forest but I knew very little about it until much later during my college days. Mida Creek was more familiar to me as I had a chance to learn how to fish from my cousins as a child.

My job as co-ordinator of an eco-scholarship fund would not have been as exiting without my High school experience when I had to stay out of school for a greater part of the school semester owing to the expense of school fees. One of my most exiting moments has always been when I received a bursary support from World Vision International which enabled me to complete my secondary school education. I later trained as a Primary school teacher and worked in a private school for two years until year 2001 when I joined A Rocha as the ASSETS Co-ordinator. <www.assets-kenya.org> It is while teaching in a private school where the children had more than what they needed that challenged me to think of the other children in public schools whose parents could hardly lay a meal on the table.

In ASSETS, I have realised an incredible combination of two of my greatest passions; helping needy children and environmental conservation. By the time these children graduate from secondary school, a sense of appreciation of the natural environment is often very evident. While others write to express their gratitude for the bursary support, some present themselves in person to do the same and tears are a common characteristic of their joy. This plus their parents commitment in caring for these internationally recognised habitats is indeed the encouragement to press on!