For the next 24 hours, we’re raising funds for “Chengeta Musango”, which, translated from the local Shona language, means
“Look after the wild”.
Chengeta Musango will be a women-operated waste management project in Gache Gache, a rural network of villages located on the shores of Lake Kariba in the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe. Gache Gache has a population of around 3,000 people and is unusually located within a wildlife area.
There is no centralised waste management system near the villages, however, and litter is prevalent both within the community, and extending out to the lakeshore, where wildlife gathers.
Litter, of course, affects the overall health and wellbeing of the community.
But the devastating effects of litter on wildlife have been well documented; fish and birds get entangled in discarded fishing nets, plastic bags, cans and bottles; baboons and monkeys spread the litter far and wide; water and soil are contaminated by toxic and organic waste; elephants, buffalo, hippo and hyena eat litter, sometimes fatally, and are also attracted into human habitation by any waste lying around, which compounds existing human wildlife conflict issues.
Top: The volume of litter collected by My Trees Trust law enforcement team from the Kariba lakeshore in one morning. Note the prevalence of plastic bottles and discarded plastic fishing nets.
Bottom: Unspoilt Gache Gache wilderness after litter collection.
Creating Resilient Communities and Restoring Healthy Wild Habitats
The Chengeta Musango project is designed to address the growing waste management issue by employing eleven community members from the villages – ten women (including two as supervisors) and one male vehicle driver, to collect and sort the litter locally, for onward transport by road or boat to the nearest recycling facility.
Unemployment is extremely high in Gache-Gache, so this project will provide a win-win employment opportunity for conservation and women in the community.
This will kickstart the women's waste management project and contribute significantly to centralised garbage bins in each village, work suits, safety boots, gloves, fuel and a refuse collection and sorting station.
You can make a difference to wildlife and communities by donating here.
Join us and millions around the world in giving back, spreading kindness, and showing how together we can be a force for good on #GivingTuesday!
(And don’t forget to share that you’re participating in #GivingTuesday and tag #ZambeziElephantFund so we can celebrate with you!)
Thank you so much for being on this journey with us!
The Zambezi Elephant Fund (ZEF) supports the active protection of elephants in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe through anti-poaching initiatives and development and placement of systems that ensure the long-term safety of these incredible animals and the security and growth of other wildlife in the area, together with the growth of local communities, protection of the environment and the improvement and sustainability of these efforts.
