Growing up, Abigael Naishoo*, a Grade Six student at Inkoisuk Primary School in Kimana,  Amboseli Zone of Loitokitok Sub County in Kajiado County remembers hearing stories of how a herd of elephants invaded their village and destroyed their neighbour’s property.

“As a result, I always lived in fear that the jumbos would return to attack us, but overtime, I have learnt that we can actually coexist witout harming each other,” she says.

To Naishoo, the knowledge she has acquired on conserving and protecting the ecosystem wouldn’t have been possible without a school programme introduced to them by a non-profit conservation organisation focused on preserving the wildlife and habitats of the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem.

“Children are the future of tomorrow and that is why I am certain that soon enough, we won’t be hearing stories of lions being killed by the community here, because they devoured cattle or lives being lost,” she says.

On her part, Naomi Luka, a parent at Inkoisuk Primary School says that she has seen a reduction on human-wildlife conflict in the area ever since the organisation, Big Life Foundation started involving them in community outreach programmes to promote coexistence between humans and wildlife. “Ever since the community found out that they can actually benefit from just protecting wildlife through schooling, they have been able to see the importance of conservation,” she says.

Cases of human-wildlife conflict

For a long time, she says, rarely did the children hear about the good side of wildlife and how natural landscapes are crucial to bringing us the very air we breathe and the water we drink.

Also, although, they see the environment changing, because of climate change, they don’t understand why it’s happening, or how they can be a part of the solution.

Michael Tipaai, head of conservation education at Big Life Foundation says that through classroom sessions, practical activities and trips into the various protected areas in the ecosystem, their education programme is helping children understand the importance of protecting nature, and the benefits that follow, including better livelihoods for their families and community.

“Conservation is about protecting the environment and natural resources that we all depend on, so that we can continue to use them into the future. It’s important to consider how the efforts made today will pay off tomorrow — they must involve not only the leaders of today, but the future generations who will one day be leaders, too,” he says.

So far, about 15,293 children in 15 schools have gone through or are currently enrolled in the education programme. “Teachers say that the interactive style of learning nurtures creativity, better performance in school, and fosters a connection to the natural world,” he says.

He adds that while children might not understand these complexities right away, they can begin to learn why it’s important to protect the land that feeds both people and domestic animals, the wildlife that brings tourism income and jobs to their communities, and the role they can play to safeguard their own futures in the face of climate change.“We have been working with 15 schools across 20 villages in the Amboseli ecosystem to build an understanding of conservation in a number of ways,” he says.

He further says, the programme implements interactive educational programmes with students in Grade Four to Grade Six, aiming to change attitudes towards wildlife and create awareness of the benefits it brings to communities, while nurturing a general interest in nature.

For example,  one of the programmes, Junior Rangers Club comprises of 25 students from five schools who visit a sanctuary twice a month to just interact with wildlife and also visit a rangers outpost to learn about the critical work rangers from their communities do. 

Increased engagement

“They participate in a wild class where they create art (paint the wild) and clay models on what they see, and the best piece of work wins art materials to take back to their schools,” he says.

Samar Ntalamia, Director of Big Life’s Wildlife Scholarship and Education Programme explains that schools that participate in the programme report overall increase of engagement on environmental issues. For instance, one of the participating schools asked for seedlings to transform their school environment and in two weeks, they have planted more than 1,000 seedlings.

To gauge how much they know about the environment, children going through the conservation curriculum are given questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the programme, to evaluate how their perceptions of wildlife and nature changes.

He adds that the programme has supported over 700 students from the community, many of whom have graduated with degrees in medicine, education, engineering, business, IT and others. It is for this reason that it is important for the community to work towards ensuring wildlife is safe in order for them to benefit from it.