Improving livelihoods and engaging communities living alongside wildlife
Waya
The communities around the Tana Delta are primarily farmers and livestock herders. Some live a nomadic pastoral lifestyle, while many others live permanently alongside the riverline. This inherently exposes them to higher risks of Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC). In many community areas, the people are living below the poverty line, with no access to proper medical care or transportation. Rangers are often the first responders in times of crisis. At Ulinzi Africa Foundation, we are committed to working with the Kenya Wildlife Service to respond to HWC reports, facilitating hospital transportation, conducting First Aid where possible, and responding to calls from farmers to help them drive wildlife out of their crop farms and safeguard their harvests. We are also now looking into longer-term solutions through beehive fencing and will implement this once a structural plan is compiled.
The Story of Waya
Considering that communities surrounding wildlife areas struggle to survive in today’s landscape, we have successfully launched a small jewelry and artisan crafts line to empower and uplift these communities further, while achieving our long-term goals for wildlife.
Tied into a knot on a tree, and neatly twisted into a loop of death, wire snaring has become one of the most rampant poaching methods in Africa for wildlife today.
Poachers have been caught having laid up to 300 wire snares along the embankments of rivers- trapping entire herds of zebra, wildebeest and impala. Within minutes, the animals are slaughtered, skinned and loaded onto waiting lorries and motorbikes to be ferried to the nearest local markets.
The bigger concern for us, however, is that these wire snares don’t only catch plains game. They severely maim and kill indiscriminately- and that includes endangered species.
Today, dozens of elephants roam the savannah with severed trunks and slit ears due to wire snares. Countless big cats have had to be put down due to wire snare injuries being too severe to treat, and even some rangers and numerous livestock belonging to the communities have accidentally walked into these simple yet deadly contraptions.
‘WAYA’ is our way of preventing poaching by snares and protecting wildlife further.
Our signature pieces are handmade by women related to rangers- making your purchase one that not only supports rangers families, women empowerment and community enterprise; but also one that ensures the endurance of wildlife in Africa for future generations.
Our unique pieces are accentuated by a leaf-shaped charm made with real snares recovered from our anti-poaching operations.
We selected the leaf as a symbol of life, to give hope to Africa’s wildlife and their heroes, the rangers.
All our pieces are hand-crafted using locally sourced materials.
Store coming soon
All proceeds go directly to the women groups that make the Waya Jewelry
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