Stories from the ASSETS beneficiaries.

ASSETS has been around for a while now and over the years we have witnessed some really encouraging stories. Today we are zooming in on one of the beneficiaries whose life was transformed in a great way through ASSETS. I had a little chat with him, and here is what he had to say about the program.

“My name is Lennox Kirao, and I became part of the ASSETS program in 2005 when I was joining form one and graduated from the program in 2008 when I finished my form 4. ASSETS played a huge role in my career as I was exposed to the program way before while I was still in primary school. My interest was picked when the Environmental Education officer from A Rocha Kenya could visit our primary school and teach us about the environment and conservation matters.

Since am bordering the Mida-Creek and Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, I have seen the destruction being done to these forests by my community. This environmental awareness sessions were therefore informative and transformative to say the least. They played a huge role even in the career decision I made. Since most of those who came to create awareness in my community and school were mostly considered ‘outsiders’, the impact they made was minimal. I therefore felt that if I took up the role, then my people would at least pay attention to me, their own son. This is what pushed me into pursuing Environmental Science in the University.”

When asked about how life could have been without ASSETS, this is what he had to say; ” If it were not for ASSETS, I don’t know if I would have been able to join secondary school. In fact, I had to skip a whole year since I couldn’t afford school fees. I was supposed to join High School in 2004 but ended up joining in 2005 because of financial constraints. With a little help from my brother I was admitted in school and ASSETS ended up supporting me for the whole four years. This was a relieve and a blessing. Were it not for ASSETS, I wouldn’t have been able to reach this far.

Conservation-wise, ASSETS really shaped me. Because of it I wanted to be part of the conservation voice that people could listen to, turn their greedy kind of life and be educated on other ways of benefiting from the environment without destroying it.”

Even after joining University, Kirao always came back to volunteer with A Rocha Kenya during every break he had. He worked as an intern to ARK in 2014 and joined as a full staff in 2015. Almost 7 years later and now he is serving as the Research Scientist for A Rocha Kenya. Through his efforts and hard-work in the science department, we have been able to achieve a lot as an organisation. He has been of great help within and without his community parameters as far as conservation is concerned. Even as he helps us push the conservation agendas of the organisation forward, we hope that this platform is helping him achieve his personal conservation goals. That he will continue to achieve what he set out to be, a voice in his community that his own people will listen to!