VZCZCXYZ0034
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNR #0093/01 0091128
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091128Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8844
INFO RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA PRIORITY 1660
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT PRIORITY 1313

UNCLAS NAIROBI 000093 
 
SIPDIS 
 
CODEL 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E, AF/EPS, AF/PD, AND OES/ENV 
USAID FOR AFR/EA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SENV KHIV ECON EAGR EAID ETRD PGOV PREL
PREL, KCOR, TBIO, KE 
SUBJECT:  CODEL BROWNBACK EXAMINES CONSERVATION AND FEEDING 
PROGRAMS IN KENYA 
 
REF:  (A) NAIROBI 4506 (B) NAIROBI 4781 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Senators Brownback and Durbin visited Kenya 
December 4 through 6 to examine conservation efforts in the 
Maasai Mara National Reserve.  Senator Durbin then returned 
to Nairobi and visited several World Food Program (WFP) 
feeding programs in the sprawling Kibera slums.  Senator 
Durbin also toured the Nyumbani shelter for orphaned HIV- 
positive children, and attended a dinner hosted by world 
marathon record-holder Paul Tergat.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
CONSERVATION EFFORTS IN THE MAASAI MARA GAME RESERVE 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶2.  The Maasai Mara National Reserve is host to a wide 
array of wildlife.  With approximately 320 square 
kilometers of open savannah, woodlands and tree-lined 
rivers, its eco-system supports huge numbers of bird and 
mammal species.  Lions are found in abundance throughout 
the park, as are elephant, giraffe, a variety of gazelle 
species, as well as zebra, cheetah, leopard, and rhino. 
The conservation areas of the Maasai Mara have been set 
aside from land traditionally controlled by local Maasai 
tribes. 
 
¶3.  Senators Brownback and Durbin examined two areas of the 
Maasai Mara ecosystem.  One area is managed as a nature 
conservancy by a private company, which was hired by a 
local governing body, the Transmara County Council, to 
oversee the reserve.  The other, largely unmanaged side of 
the Mara is called the Koiyaki-Lemek.   This land is 
currently under the management of a collective of Maasai 
group ranches.  The differences between the managed and 
unmanaged sides of the Maasai Mara reserve are easily 
recognizable.  Outside of the conservancy boundries, 
conservation efforts are clearly not a priority, and human 
development runs largely unchecked, typified by unimproved 
access roads, fenced parcels of land, scattered bomas 
(traditional Maasai communities), and an emphasis on cattle 
over wild animals.  Much of the ground cover is clipped 
short from livestock grazing and the variety and number of 
wild animals on the unmanaged side of the Reserve contrasts 
greatly with the abundance of animals roaming the side run 
by the Transmara Conservancy. 
 
¶4.  The Maasai Mara Reserve is an integral part of the 
Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in which over 1.5 million 
wildebeest migrate annually between Kenya and Tanzania.  In 
their tour of the Reserve, the Senators developed a better 
understanding of how critical it is that the whole Maasai 
Mara develops as a seamless system of conservation 
management.  Various local conservationists explained that 
because this reserve is currently mostly unfenced, wildlife 
dispersal areas and migration routes are under threat from 
encroaching human activity.  Human-wildlife conflict is 
also an issue of growing concern. 
 
¶5.  In the Maasai Mara, Codel Brownback visited a local 
school to see how conservation organizations like local NGO 
Friends of Conservation helps educate Maasai children about 
the benefits of wildlife and a healthy ecosystem. 
Throughout their visit, Senators Brownback and Durbin saw 
an abundance of wildlife that local conservationists are 
seeking to protect, including lion, cheetah, rhino, 
buffalo, elephant and wildebeest. 
 
¶6.  Brian Heath, the Director of the Transmara Conservancy, 
guided Codel Brownback throughout their day.  Heath 
explained how President Kibaki's attempt to downgrade the 
status of Amboseli National Park to a nature reserve 
controlled by the local (also Maasai) county council (ref 
A) would likely have an adverse effect on the management of 
the Maasai Mara conservation area.  He warned that the 
Amboseli situation could encourage the Transmara County 
Council to assert greater control over the conservation 
areas of the Mara, putting at risk the unique ecosystems. 
If the Reserve reverts fully to Maasai council management, 
it could, in future, have the same issues as the unmanaged 
Koiyaki-Lemek side of the Mara in which many stakeholders 
squabble over land rights and access to tourist dollars 
without focusing on conservation efforts.  Heath warned 
that corruption is rampant in the Reserve, particularly 
regarding fee collection.  He estimates that only 10% of 
 
tourism revenues from fees and licensing associated with 
the 2,000 tourist beds in the Maasai Mara reach the 
Transmara Conservancy, nor are there many examples of 
successful community development projects from these funds. 
 
------------------------------ 
WORLD FOOD PROGRAM SITE VISITS 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7.  On his return to Nairobi on December 6, Senator Durbin 
met with members of the UN World Food Program (WFP) to 
better understand the Kenya School Feeding Program, which 
provides a free lunch to hungry and poor children in pre- 
primary and primary schools in vulnerable communities 
throughout the country.  Leading the tour was WFP Program 
Director Ben Watkins, who gratefully acknowledged that this 
effort is majority-funded by USG contributions under the 
Dole-McGovern Act, in the amount of $10.3 million for 2005, 
making Kenya the largest recipient of this kind of aid (ref 
B).  Watkins did point-out that further support is needed, 
as food deficits continue to be a problem in Kenya.  The 
underlying concept for these programs is that school 
feeding programs attract children to classrooms and 
promotes universal primary education.  Other benefits 
include encouraging greater gender equality among school 
children, and increasing the efficacy of anti-retroviral 
treatment in HIV-positive children by ensuring baseline 
nutrition.  The WFP has been working on this program with 
the GoK Ministry of Education Science and Technology since 
¶1980. 
 
¶8.  This WFP program currently provides hot lunches each 
school day for 1.1 million Kenyan children in 3,800 schools 
in 29 Districts, including 70,000 children in six Nairobi 
slums.  An additional 420,000 Kenyan children receive 
school lunches under a separate WFP emergency operation in 
drought-stricken areas.  The results are significant:  in 
areas where school feeding programs operate there have been 
annual increases of 7% in net enrollment since 1999.  While 
school enrollment rates in Kenya average over 85% for boys 
and girls nationally, disadvantaged Kenyan communities have 
enrollment rates from 12% to 60%.  The school lunch program 
targets these lagging communities in an attempt to raise 
enrollment rates. 
 
¶9.  Nairobi's Kibera slum, often referred to as Africa's 
biggest, houses some 60% of the city's 2.75 million person 
population on 5% of the city's residential area.  The 
population density is approximately 500 persons per acre. 
Two-thirds of the Kibera population lives on less than a 
dollar a day, and almost all live without basic services 
such as access to piped water and sewage systems.  In lieu 
of toilets, residents often resort to plastic bags, which 
are then left on the street, undermining any sense of human 
dignity and creating unsanitary conditions.  [Note:  scenes 
of the Kibera slum featured prominently in the 2005 film 
"The Constant Gardener."  End Note.] 
 
¶10.  Senator Durbin visited two feeding programs in Kibera. 
He first toured Kicoshep Primary School, which assists 425 
students from vulnerable families in the community, 
including orphaned children as well as those with HIV- 
positive parents, and spoke with children and parents who 
are benefiting from the program.  The Senator also visited 
the home of several parents, including one single mother 
who raised 11 children by herself in her 10-foot square 
one-room home over the past 20 years.  She credited the WFP 
program for their survival and opportunity for basic 
education.  Afterwards, the Senator toured the Lea Toto 
community-based care program, associated with the Nyumbani 
Orphanage program.  Lea Toto services 2,000 HIV-positive 
children, and receives funding support from USAID and WFP. 
 
¶11.  Throughout the day, WFP's Watkins highlighted the 
importance of adequate nutrition, via feeding programs, and 
anti-retroviral treatments for HIV-positive children.  In a 
visit to Nyumbani, an orphanage that is home to nearly 100 
HIV-positive orphans, Senator Durbin met with founder 
Father Angelo D'Agostino, who reemphasized the importance 
of combining nutrition and anti-retroviral treatment. 
Father D'Agostino also described Nyumbani's research on 
children who exhibit HIV-false positives.  According to 
D'Agostino, because infants carry many of their mothers' 
antibodies through their first year of life, a number of 
 
newborns with infected mothers may give a 'false positive' 
and never actually develop the disease themselves.  In 
fact, according to Nyumbani's research, a full 75% of 
babies who test positive at birth will eventually be found 
not to have the virus. 
 
¶12.  On the evening of December 6, Senator Durbin attended 
a dinner hosted by Paul Tergat, the current world record- 
holder in the marathon and probably the most famous 
beneficiary of WFP school feeding projects in Kenya. 
Tergat described a difficult early childhood in a poor 
family among 11 siblings.  He credits the WFP program for 
attracting him to school, providing him with nutrition, and 
giving him a chance to succeed.  Today Tergat acts as a 
worldwide ambassador for the WFP. 
 
¶13.  Senators Brownback and Durbin have both cleared on 
this cable. 
 
Bellamy