Group embarks on biogas lighting project

By  Kipchumba Kemei

Kajiado, Kenya; Demonstration sites have been set-up and with additional funding, it is set to expand

Friends of Conservation (FOC) an organisation which operates in areas bordering the Masai Mara Game Reserve has embarked on what will change the face of manyattas in the night.

FOC has started an initiative, which will see manyatta’s get lighting from biogas.

The agency’s Narok field director Stephen Kisotu says for a long time, the maasai community has suffered in darkness.

“This will change. For people who have been inside a manyatta, you will think you are in a tunnel-very dark and no ventilation,” he says.

The development means that hundreds of tourists visiting these poorly ventilated villages will not encounter the familiar darkness, as they will be lit up using biogas.

FOC has already set up biogas demonstration sites in Enkereri, Kolong, Maji Moto, Narosura and Talek cultural villages in Narok South and through collaboration and funding from African Fund for Endangered Wildlife the project is set to expand to east, west and central Mara.

The availability of cow dung in Manyattas will ensure continuous lighting and cooking and also make villagers access TV sets, computers and other electronic gadgets.

ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY

FOC agency Executive director Haji Ogle said there is need to encourage communities and schools to adopt lifestyles that were environmentally friendly, saying schools should become learning centres for the biogas initiative.

He also encouraged domestic use of biogas, saying apart from promoting conservation, the initiative will promote health and address the issue of nutrition value to people who would embrace it.

“The project by products will be used in plating organic foods and uplifting the living standards of the locals because they will be able to produce enough food to feed their families and sell others for monetary gains,” he observed.

He said boarding schools use a lot of firewood and the project will come in handy towards easing pressure on forests that continue to dwindle and added that as locals get interested in the first ever initiative in Narok County, FOC will talk with donors to venture into households.

“When donors are brought on board, we might venture into households. Depending on the amount of money we will get, we will determine whether to share the costs with the beneficiaries or completely fund them,”he said

WWF County Director Mohammed Awer says the biogas project apart from protecting the environment, will also go a long way in the long term towards alleviating poverty.

“The mushrooming of settlements is not commensurate to firewood requirements,” Mr Awer said adding:  “We realized that if we don’t encourage communities to use sustainable alternatives, forests and water sources will be depleted”.