Rising up on the huge, sun-soaked Athi-Kapiti Plains, simply south of Nairobi Nationwide Park, Margaret Mereyian spent her faculty breaks grazing her household’s livestock. The open panorama was alive with zebras, wildebeests, and antelopes, making a dynamic backdrop to her each day routine.
“I keep in mind a child antelope as soon as following me dwelling,” she stated, her face lighting up on the reminiscence. “It blended so naturally with our goats and sheep. Moments like that jogged my memory how deeply related our lives had been to the wildlife round us.”
For Mereyian’s Maasai neighborhood, livestock was each a livelihood and a cultural id. However residing alongside wildlife introduced challenges, comparable to predator assaults that examined the fragile stability of co-existence.
“One evening, a pack of hyenas raided our boma (conventional cattle pen), and we misplaced half of the livestock that supported 5 households,” Mereyian recalled. “It was devastating and reminded us how fragile coexistence with wildlife will be.”
Margaret Mereyian, AWF’s Senior Officer of the Conservation Schooling Program, engages college students.
Confronted with frequent hyena assaults, her neighborhood generally resorted to utilizing poison-laced bait to regulate the threats. In response, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) organized consciousness classes for the neighborhood and native colleges, selling co-existence. They launched predator-proof bomas, that are bolstered with sturdy supplies comparable to chain-link fences to guard livestock from wildlife assaults.
Mereyian recollects how her first encounter with Kenya Wildlife Service personnel, at simply seven years outdated, ignited her ardour for conservation.
“I used to be mesmerized by the KWS officers’ neat inexperienced uniforms and their dedication to defending wildlife,” she stated. “It impressed me to comply with their path and take duty for conservation.”
Throughout major and highschool, she nurtured her ardour for conservation by actively collaborating in wildlife golf equipment, the place actions like tree planting and park excursions deepened her reference to nature.
Fueled by this ardour, Mereyian pursued additional schooling after highschool on the Kenya Wildlife Service Coaching Institute, the place she earned a Diploma in Environmental Administration. She then went on to finish a bachelor’s diploma in Pure Useful resource Administration at Africa Nazarene College.
“I’m not carried out but,” she stated with willpower. “At present, I’m pursuing a grasp’s in Environmental Administration at The Open College in the UK, supported by a Commonwealth Scholarship.”
Her early skilled profession started on the Nationwide Surroundings Administration Authority (NEMA), Kenya’s environmental regulator, the place she gained priceless insights into how individuals and nature coexist in Kenya.
Mereyian later led grassroots initiatives that empowered ladies to rehabilitate degraded ecosystems and mentored younger individuals in environmental stewardship.
“In my various roles, I labored in Naivasha, Limuru, and Kajiado counties, utilizing tree planting to have interaction communities in conservation,” she defined. “I additionally concerned youth by faculty environmental golf equipment, establishing tree nurseries, planting bushes, and organizing neighborhood clean-ups.”
Her work with the Maasai Women Schooling Fund, which supported her undergraduate research, turned a big turning level. As a program coordinator, she led life-skills workshops in additional than 80 major colleges in Kilifi County, bettering faculty retention and educational efficiency. She additionally facilitated monetary administration coaching for ladies teams, enabling them to start out small companies as a local weather change adaptation technique.
Her experiences working immediately with communities going through water shortages bolstered her perception that empowering individuals—significantly ladies and youth—is essential to sustainable conservation. As a technical specialist in pure useful resource administration and a enterprise guide, she collaborated with stakeholders in any respect ranges to help community-led conservation initiatives.
Becoming a member of AWF and Empowering Younger Conservationists
In 2021, Mereyian joined the African Wildlife Basis (AWF) as a Conservation Schooling Officer, impressed by the group’s people-centered strategy to conservation. By means of the AWF Classroom Africa mission, she labored with companions to equip kids in over ten colleges throughout Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zambia, and Uganda with conservation data and abilities.
At present, she leads a transformative mission in Kenya’s Tsavo Panorama, constructing a motion of younger conservationists who advocate for wildlife conservation and habitat safety. Her work consists of strengthening wildlife golf equipment by introducing expertise, offering conservation consciousness supplies, and organizing landscape-wide occasions and competitions.
“Probably the most rewarding side of working with AWF has been mentoring schoolchildren,” she says. “Seeing them embrace environmental stewardship and advocate for peaceable coexistence and wildlife conservation of their communities offers me hope for the long run.”
Mereyian believes that elevated feminine management in conservation is essential for sustainable useful resource administration and environmental safety.
“We should act now to guard the environment. Each motion, irrespective of how small, contributes to a greater future. Whether or not it’s advocating for conservation insurance policies, educating others, or integrating sustainability into each day life, everybody has a job to play,” she says.
Learn extra about how AWF is constructing a motion of younger conservationists