A new conservation partner for the PICC program is with Eric Ndorere of the Save Wildlife Uganda conservation group. Eric founded and directs SWU, including initiating the installation of Lights for Lions Uganda deterrent systems, delivering food to children near Queen Elizabeth National Park, developing a community center and gift shop, constructing an instantly successful café in Kihihi, and providing income for the women in his community through the Women in Wildlife program, who are talented weavers and dancers. They are doing great work in developing conservation-compatible livelihoods in the local population, and providing deterrent systems that have already saved countless lives in the lion population.
Eric also runs community education programs and helped to connect us with a group of 15 students from the local school. We had a fun morning with these students, 6 teachers and administrators, and 5 women in the conservation group learning about animal behavior, conservation issues, the value of field sketching, and learning how to truly “see”. We took colored pencils and journals outside and found so many beautiful and interesting things to draw. The heat soon drove us back indoors but we continued doing art and learning using the field guides, primate identification guides (IUCN Primate Specialist Group) and bird identification field guide. The students and the women that joined our class had so much fun!
