Protecting Kenya's Centennial Forest

In Kenya's rural heart, wildlife roams freely and subsistence farming is the backbone of life. When your family's livelihood depends on what you can farm, the struggle to coexist with nature is no longer abstract, it is immediate, emotional, and sometimes overwhelming.

Wildlife can decimate fields crucial for people's survival. With no insurance for lost crops or safety net for dead poultry, there's no replacement when a family's food supply is wiped overnight.

Desperate to protect their children from hunger, families were being forced to take away the forest from wildlife. Your support has changed that.

Fencing for Survival: Why Protective Barriers Are Essential for Coexistence in Kenya

In farming communities across Kenya, the line between survival and hunger are sometimes drawn by claws, hooves, or teeth. Human-Wildlife coexistence becomes a very real challenge.

Recently, swarms of thirty to forty monkeys emerged from a nearby indigenous forest, decimating maize fields in a matter of hours. For families living harvest to harvest, this was catastrophic. Desperation gripped the community. Families, pushed beyong their limits, came armed with axes, ready to fell the ancient trees (some centuries old) that housed the invaders. The intent was clear: drive the monkeys out, protect what little remained, and save their children from hunger.

Meanwhile, from above, another threat loomed: eagles, equally majestic and deadly. In broad daylight, they swooped down to village compounds, snatching up chickens in full view of the farmers. For a rural family, losing even one chicken can mean the loss of protein, a child's school fee, or the next generation of flock.

Tensions were boiling. Livelihoods were crumbling. And the forest was on the verge of destruction.

But then, your support to Jimmy's run reached them.

Thanks to your help, a transformation began. The ancient 120 acre indigenous forest has started to become preserved, and local farmers received the tools and knowledge to protect their livelihoods-without harming the wildlife they share the land with.

And on the ground, the quiet heroes of this change have been local women.

For six weeks, your support employed local women that have been walking into villages, sitting with families, and explaining the bigger picture. They've talked about the forest's importance, not just as a haven for wildlife, but as a lifeline for rainfall, soil protection, and climate resilience. They've taught their neigbours how fencing, rather than axes, can be the solution.

Today, the tools of destruction have been replaced with tools of protection:

  • Sky netting keeps poultry safe from aerial attacks.

  • Chain-link fencing secures high-risk areas and protects livelihoods.

  • Barbed wire fencing marks safe boundaries and deters large herbivores.

  • Living fences of eucalyptus trees offer eco-friendly, sustainable barriers that strengthen the land.

Through Shoe4Africa's Women Empowerment Programme, fencing has become more than infrastructure, it is now resilience and future-focused progress.

Because ultimately, fencing is not about exclusion, but about protecting wildlife and people. Its about safeguarding the eagle's sky and the farmer's coop.

Thank You for supporting Jimmy's 2024 New York Marathon and facilitating this powerful shift.

Your Help Matters to community-based conservation, stick around for more opportunities to make a difference!

Please make a gift today

Your generous support is fundamental to the continuation and ongoing success of these inspiring initiatives. There are also opportunities to hop on board and actively get involved.

To find out more and how your donation will make a positive impact, please email support@pelorusfoundation.com.