"Drawing upon Community"

"Drawing upon Community" is my 2nd Conservation Expedition, involving field trips to the African People & Wildlife Fund (APW), near Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. I completed my dry season visit in July 2011 and will be visiting again in the wet season (early-2012) to learn about all aspects of the project, create a field journal, and document my trip using photography and video. After my field expeditions are complete I will create a new traveling exhibition and lecture program. In addition to web publicity and email newsletters, the exhibits and lectures will raise awareness of the APW project, highlight issues facing communities and conservation in Tanzania, and raise funds for APW to continue their vital work.

My July 2011 visit to APW was scheduled to coincide with the 2nd Children's Summer Camp of 2011. 24 children from the 2 local primary schools stayed, free of charge, at the Noloholo Environmental Center for a week, to learn about a wide range of topics associated with the conservation of their local environment. I taught sketching classes during the Summer Camp and also visited local primary schools, showing children how to draw animals and trees using simple shapes. I created an expedition journal which included sketches of Noloholo, children at the Summer Camp, medicinal trees, local landscapes and Maasai with their cattle at the village waterpump. Over the coming weeks I will be adding field sketches, photos and videos from my expedition to this page. My time at APW was action-packed, highly productive and a wonderful artistic experience - I am already looking forward to my return in 2012.

Summer Camp Drawing Class
APW's Summer Camp is run by Neovitus Sianga, the Conservation Education Officer, and hosts children from 2 local primary schools - Loibor Siret and Kangala. Attendance at the Summer Camp is highly sought after and the children must have received good school grades and be members of their school's Wildlife Club. APW facilitated the setup of the Wildlife Clubs in response to local interest, and members take part in extracurricular activities such as bird walks, tree identification and village clean-ups.
During Summer Camp I taught a drawing class using my laminated Wildlife Drawing Cards which show a photograph of an African animal, a simple drawing of the animal using circles, then a more detailed drawing showing how the shapes are combined to create the animal's outline. I have donated sets to several African conservation projects and brought 3 sets with me on this trip - 1 for APW and 1 for each of the local primary schools. Watch the Summer Camp Drawing Class Video below.

Sketching the Maasai
APW works closely with the local Maasai community and I knew it would be wonderful to be able to sketch some of the large cattle herds and their Maasai herdsmen. However, this is not a tourist area and I didn't want to offend anyone in any way so I was careful not be too obtrusive. But the great thing about having a sketchbook is that people can come up and look over your shoulder at your sketches. I found that many of the Maasai were interested and enjoyed seeing me sketching their prized possession - their cattle. The video below shows more of my field sketching of the Maasai.

The African People & Wildlife Fund Mission

"The African People & Wildlife Fund (APW) works to conserve Africa`s wildlife, protect their natural habitats, and to promote village development through innovative, multi-disciplinary strategies that emphasize coexistence with the natural world."

APW recognizes that the future of African peoples and the future of African wildlife and habitats are inextricably linked. Wildlife and habitats cannot be effectively conserved while neighboring people live in poverty. Through education and empowerment programs, APW believes that local peoples can benefit from increased income and opportunities by conserving their own unique natural heritage.



Shown below are just a few of APW's projects and programs which meet their strategic goals.

Habitat Conservation & Restoration is one of APW's key strategies. Both people and wildlife benefit from the prevention of habitat degradation and fragmentation but people living in poverty do not always have the luxury of conserving their habitat.

The alleviation of poverty through Empowering Local People, allows people to see beyond the necessities of daily survival, gives them greater income-earning opportunities and this in turn makes the conservation of habitats and wildlife possible.

APW works to Prevent Human-Wildlife Conflict. Wildlife species range far beyond national park boundaries so peaceful co-existence with people is essential if wildlife is to be conserved.

The best conservation decisions are often those which benefit local communities and are made with local communities. APW's use of Collaborative Wildlife Conservation ensures that they only consider projects that explicitly include local people as active participants and give first priority to African scientists and students.

Local people can be the best advocates for conservation of their local environment so APW provides Environmental Education, giving them the educational opportunities to advance in the field.

"Drawing upon Community" will begin in 2011. The African People & Wildlife Fund is a fascinating project and I am looking forward to visiting them next year!

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