The indigenous Ogiek people of Mau Forest (Kenya) face systematic illegal evictions
that threaten the very existence of their society and way of life.

To preserve their deep knowledge of the forest and maintain their culture, the Ogiek
community of Mariashoni and Nessuit villages wish to establish the Yemdit Community
Centre in Eastern Mau. This community centre is envisioned as a place to gather and make decisions and house an Ogiek museum.

 

High quality mobile phones are needed to take photographs of the plants and trees they use for medicine, food, building and rituals. These phones will also be used to document environmental destruction and human rights violations the Ogiek face on an ongoing basis.

 

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Can you assist the Ogiek with the donation of a smartphone?

The Ogiek have faced violent evictions at the hands of the Kenyan government at least since the 1960s, and well before under the colonial government. The most recent of these ongoing illegal evictions was conducted in November 2023, when the Kenya Forest Service forcibly tore down and set fire to hundreds of homes, leaving women, children and elders homeless and without a means of subsistence.

 

Ogiek culture and livelihoods continue to be under assault, and further immanent
evictions are expected in the heart of Ogiek land. In 2017 the African Court on Human and People’s Rights ruled that the Kenyan state violated the Ogiek’s human rights, and ordered that the state recognize them as rightful tenants of Mau
forest - and pay reparations for their inhumane treatment. Yet, the Kenyan state has all but ignored these rulings, and blames the Ogiek for destroying the forest. The government wants to get the Ogiek out, arguing that they are anti-conservation.

 

To safeguard their culture and livelihoods, Ogiek community members have identified a community centre in Mau Forest as a priority to preserve their culture and access to it. Indigenous people have been widely recognised as the best conservators of the world’s forests, and Guardians WW (GWW) supports indigenous forest dwellers to pursue their own goals and ambitions with this in mind.

 

Guardians Worldwide is supporting Program for the Heritage of Ogiek and Mother Earth (PROHOME) to source these mobile phones and develop the book on Ogiek ethnobotany.

 

Can you support the Ogiek of Kenya’s Mau Forest to keep their culture alive?

 

We need: 5-10 Apple Iphones

Smart phones with high quality specs

 

Please donate £350 for a phone, or sponsor a new or refurbished smart phone to support the Ogiek struggle for land and cultural rights in Mau Forest.

 

Your donation directly supports Ogiek communities, and the best guardians of Mau Forest.