In 1995, while at the Jane Goodall chimpanzee orphanage in Burundi, Gillian La Prairie was researching for her PhD thesis. Burundi was experiencing a civil war, which meant the chimpanzees had to be translocated to a safe location. Even though chimps are not native to Kenya, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy (OPC), in collaboration with the Kenyan Wildlife Service, agreed to start a Chimpanzee sanctuary to provide a safe shelter for these chimps. One group of chimps had already been moved to OPC when the Burundi team, including Gillian, relocated the remaining chimps to their new home. Gillian remained at OPC for the next 6 years.
In the late 1990’s, Ol Pejeta moved away from being a predominantly livestock business to one that was more focused on wildlife conservation and tourism. Even though OPC worked hard to contain the wildlife, human-wildlife conflict still existed in the area. OPC realized the importance of community outreach in order to get local communities on side with seeing the value of wildlife. They focused their efforts on improving infrastructure (roads, buildings, water wells), providing health and educational opportunities to local people. OPC planned to provide bursaries for secondary students, but there was no funding in place, yet…..
Then in 2005, Jim Sparks music/choir teacher at Langley Fine Arts School (LFAS) invited Gillian to share her story with his school community. Gillian spoke about OPC, the animals, the children and the need for education in Kenya. She invited the audience to help. A group of teachers and students enthusiastically responded and created a school-based club called Project Kenya Sister Schools (PKSS). By Christmas, LFAS had raised over $17,000 for PKSS. These funds helped initiate the current successful scholarship program, the first recipient being Winnie Wamuyu (see her story).
In 2014, PKSS was re-named PA-MOJA, meaning “together” in Swahili. All of the fundraising goes to provide scholarships for students who live around the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. As a result, there is stronger local support for wildlife. Communities are now more likely to support conservation work and even help Ol Pejeta combat poaching of animals when they see OPC providing scholarships for their local students.
Gillian is a visionary in the PA-MOJA committee, offering advice and insights from her experiences of living and working in Kenya. Even though Gillian struggles with Multiple Sclerosis, she champions the cause of supporting education to help save wildlife in Kenya. Gillian’s contributions continue to be vital to PA-MOJA and OPC. Thank you Gillian.
