Sarara's Impact Of 2020
2020 has been a year that will remain in our memories for many many years to come... and for many different reasons.
At Sarara, we’ve worked hard to focus on the critical needs of the community and wildlife, while ensuring that the incredibly tumultuous global climate did not effect the progress of our work in Northern Kenya.
As a result, we were able to provide healthcare to over 500 pre- and post-natal mothers and over 1400 children, including 6 cleft lip surgeries and several life saving medical interventions. We opened our 3rd nomadic Montessori school, placing another 50 children into our cradle-to-career program.
We launched our Eco-ranger program and discovered new populations of critically endangered De Brazza’s monkeys, we spent most of the year running mitigating interventions to protect 12 newly resident lion which have at times been most unwelcome among a predominately nomadic pastoral community.
We’ve invested heavily in high level policy building, solidifying community partnerships and galvanizing the movement into a safe, prosperous and sustainable future for all.
Tourism has taken a huge knock and as a result revenue flowing into community conservation has radically decreased, however, the foundations positioning has enabled us to offer substantial cushioning in keeping wildlife security and conservancy infrastructure running.
We are very excited to announce that in January 2021 we will begin the construction of Reteti house. A new high end Ecotourism facility in close proximity to the Reteti elephant sanctuary, offering Sarara guests yet another unique and life changing experience whilst building community owned enterprise platforms and boosting more revenue into community and conservation programs. This plays a huge part in the journey toward self reliance.
The Sarara family continues to grow and this year we are delighted to welcome Dave Matthews to our board. Dave’s passion and commitment toward the long-term mission of our work has been deeply humbling.
While there might be some light at the end of this Covid tunnel as we close the year, we look toward 2021 in the knowledge that irrespective of pandemics and politics, we must protect North Kenya’s wilderness, fight climate change and most importantly, continue to rapidly scale out the critical services infrastructure the Samburu community so desperately need. Quality education and healthcare for all remains a huge priority and will play the largest part in determining social prosperity and ultimately the health of our natural world for many generations to come.
This year has been a powerful reminder of the grace and generosity that you, our supporters have shown us and we’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have helped keep our work alive this year.
Wishing you all a very merry Christmas, a happy new year and we very much hope to see you at Sarara before too long.
Joffy & Jeremy Bastard