Campaign news and developments
Trouble in Paradise campaign closes
July 2009
This campaign is now closed. Thank you for your support. Watch this space for news of the Endorois community and campaign results.
Kenyan authorities bid for Lake Bogoria heritage status without consulting true custodians of land
06 June 2009
MRG received this message from Endorois leader Wilson Kipkazi:
“It is with shock and dismay for me and the general members of Endorois Community, to learn through the press that the Kenya Wildlife Service and National Museums of Kenya are campaigning to have Lake Bogoria in the Rift valley declared a world heritage site.
As you are aware, Lake Bogoria is under dispute for having been converted by the Government of Kenya in 1973 into a game reserve without consulting the Endorois community of their intentions, hence resulting in the eviction of the members of our community without compensation nor given alternative land to settle. According to us this is another scandal in the offing since what is happening is similar to what happened in 1973 - the Government is doing things without consulting the community.
The Government has been holding seminars among themselves ignoring the community and expecting us to embrace what is illegitimate arrangements. We would appreciate Lake Bogoria becoming an international heritage, but with community consent and also knowledge of the benefits for all.”
THE AUDACITY OF HOPE ... KENYAN STYLE. The Siria Maasai Vs Oloololo Game Ranch Co. Ltd
1 April 2009
MRG has received this story from a supporter of the Siria Maasai community.
While Kenyans around the world celebrated as "one of our own" became the 44th president of the United States last week, one elderly man smiled sadly to himself as he looked down upon the fertile plain that his family has inhabited "since time immemorial". Download full pdf and find out how you can support this community.
More messages from campaign supporters
03 March 2009
...let us also take this opportunity to ensure that never again shall a people be enslaved and denied their basic rights "There are many Westerners like me who will not visit a country which evicts their traditional inhabitants to make way for tourists. Please manage your beautiful country fairly and responsibly; give the Endorois what is rightly theirs." Isabel Villena, Barcelona, February 2009
"As we rally around the Endorois community in agitating for their rights, let us also take this opportunity to ensure that never again shall a people be enslaved and denied their basic rights as has happened to the Endorois community in Kenya. Alluta continua!" Daudi Ekuam, Nairobi, February 2009
Endorois excluded from food handouts
20 January 2009
The Endorois continue to suffer discrimination in many aspects of their lives, including essential food aid from the Kenyan authorities. Community leader Wilson Kipkazi sent us this worrying message...
"We do not have sufficient food to meet the needs of the people in the Endorois land. The Government has issued food to others, but my community was excluded and we are still trying to push the Government to feed the hungry within the Endorois people.
The government has discriminated against my community without sufficient reason and this is unacceptable since the Endorois do come from an arid land where rain was not sufficient last season to sustain crop and animal survival."
Flickr photos
6 December 2008
Trouble in Paradise project manager Emma Eastwood recently travelled to Kenya and met with the Endorois. Check out the photos from her trip on our recently updated Flickr photostream.
The trip to the land of the Queen
2 December 2008
Endorois Welfare Council leader Wilson Kipkazi was in London for the launch of the Trouble in Paradise campaign. Read about his impression of the capital city on the MRG blog.
Check out the international press coverage of the Trouble in Paradise campaign launch
Bak turist-fasaden lever urinnbyggerne i fattigdom
Bistandsaktuelt, Norway, 4 December 2008
What is World Responsible Tourism Day?
Radio Netherlands Worldwide 13 November 2008
Comunidad indígena keniana expulsada reclama su parte de los beneficios
EFE, Spain, 11 November 2008
Evicted Kenyan indigenous community demands share of tourism revenue on World Responsible Tourism Day
12 November 2008
Wilson Kikpazi, of the Endorois Welfare Council, is in London to make a special appeal on behalf his community on the occasion of World Responsible Tourism Day. Read more...
Cutting a shine on the Endorois dancefloor
5 November 2008
Emma Eastwood, MRG's Trouble in Paradise Campaign Manager, rounds off her trip to the Rift Valley discussing Obama ‘the Kenyan wonder boy' and struts her stuff dancing with the Endorois. Read more...
Messages from campaign supporters
29 August 2008
"One wonders if tourists are even made aware of the situation, especially at the time of booking." David Marchesi, UK, 15 August 2008
"The Endorois community have a right to exist and enjoy the fruits of what they have ably conserved for time immemorial." Muzamilu Kigeri Bisanga, Uganda, 29 August 2008
Endorois take tourism lead
In September, the Endorois community, tired of waiting for the government to act, met with bosses of ethical tourism businesses in Kenya, to begin developing their own tourism initiatives around Lake Bogoria in the Rift Valley. Endorois representatives learned about positive examples of community-based eco-tourism in the Maasai Mara, where ethical tour companies are working togther with indigenous communities to discover how they can best benefit from tourism in the game park.
Endorois on BBC World Service
Also in September, Wilson Kipsang Kipkazi, of the Endorois Welfare Council, was publicising our campaign live across the African continent, on BBC World Service Africa Have Your Say phone in programme. He attracted lots of support!
Check out our new campaign page - Meet the Endorois
16 October 2008
Read about the everyday lives of community members. Emma Eastwood, Trouble in Paradise Campaign Manager, gains an insight into the hopes and dreams of Endorois women and men during her fact-finding visit to Kenya in September 2008. Read more...
The road to Lake Bogoria is littered with.....goats, sheep and cows...
October 9 2008
Emma Eastwood, Trouble in Paradise Campaign manager, is in Kenya to visit the Endorois community. After travelling through the mighty Rift Valley, she ends up in the Lake Bogoria National Reserve - the Endorois ancestral land from which they have been expelled. Read more on Emma's blog.
Mega-tourism determined to steamroll indigenous Garifuna rights
18 September 2008
The ‘Micos Golf and Beach Project’ in Tela Bay on Honduras’ north coast is going ahead, advancing upon the territory of the indigenous Garifuna people from all sides. The project, backed by the Inter-American Development Bank, has already completely displaced one of the five Garifuna Afro-descendent communities that have lived in the area for centuries and whose populations number approximately 100 000 in total. Read more...
Wilson Kipkazi, of the Endorois Welfare Council, sent Trouble in Paradise campaign supporters this message:
9 September 2008
"The launch of the Trouble in Paradise online campaign is a mile stone in the Endorois community’s struggle to be recognized as a people who have a right to the natural resources on their land. The world is a global village, and to address issues online will expose human rights violations against minority and indigenous peoples that have been conducted until now with impunity. Natural justice must prevail at all times."
Four weeks into the campaign and we’re delighted to announce that we have 260 signatures for our online petition in support of the Endorois, a pastoralist community from Kenya, evicted from their ancestral lands to make way for a game reserve in the 1970s.
However, we have a long way to go if we’re to meet our goal of 5000 signatures by the end of 2008. If you haven’t already done so please add your voice and banish trouble from paradise by signing the petition.
Indigenous peoples' fears of displacement laid to rest
4 September 2008
MRG's Trouble in Paradise campaign is working for the rights of the Endorois community of Kenya, removed from their land and replaced with a game park. Other indigenous groups, such as the Mursi tribe of Ethiopia, have been imperiled by Western aspirations of wilderness conservation, but there is hope when activists from around the world stand alongside the indigenous community to demand justice, as they have done with the Mursi. Read more...