Seeking funding for film project in Kenya
Donation protected
We are Roberta Staley and Tallulah of aRTy Media. This June, we'll be travelling to Kenya to begin shooting footage of female conservation rangers for the documentary Elephant Warriors. We seek $10,000 to help cover some of the costs associated with this project, including film equipment, drivers, and helicopter rental to fly into remote areas.
Kenyan women have only recently taken on the challenging job of conservation ranger. By doing so, they defy a deeply patriarchal system that prevents them from inheriting land or property, often leaving them destitute if their husband dies. These women rangers are rising above such gender-based discriminations: their income supports extended family, and they have become role models not only for their children but Kenyan village girls, inspiring them to dream of a life beyond that of traditional wife and mother — possibly becoming rangers themselves.
These women stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men: tracking poachers in the dead of night, and scouring the landscape for deadly animal snares. Refined communication and diplomatic skills allows them to work closely with farmers to prevent elephant crop-raiding — the main reason for deadly human/elephant conflict.
Elephant Warriors highlights the critical work these women have taken on: pachyderm population numbers are in severe decline, and only 400,000 elephants are left on the continent, down from 25 million in the 19th century. These rangers are changing the destiny of women in Africa; they are its present and its future: not only the family breadwinner and a role model but protectors of the natural world.
The increasing power of African women is intertwined with the fate of elephants. By helping save these magnificent mammals, female rangers are lifting up and inspiring women not only on the continent but around the world.
We have been granted exclusive access to film four Maasai female rangers: Caren, Purity, Fancy and Gloria, who work with the Mara Elephant Project. We will be embedded with these women, camping out with them in the Mau Forest and the Masai Mara.
Elephant Warriors is the latest project in a decade of international journalism that has focused on women's equality. We have travelled the world, creating documentaries and feature stories for magazines that have focused on human and gender rights. Our award-winning reporting has taken us to Afghanistan, writing about education for girls. We have also reported on such stories as female genital mutilation in Kenya, witch burnings in Papua New Guinea, the pernicious impact of Coca-Cola and Pepsi on Salvadorans' health and maternal health in Haiti.
Kenyan women have only recently taken on the challenging job of conservation ranger. By doing so, they defy a deeply patriarchal system that prevents them from inheriting land or property, often leaving them destitute if their husband dies. These women rangers are rising above such gender-based discriminations: their income supports extended family, and they have become role models not only for their children but Kenyan village girls, inspiring them to dream of a life beyond that of traditional wife and mother — possibly becoming rangers themselves.
These women stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men: tracking poachers in the dead of night, and scouring the landscape for deadly animal snares. Refined communication and diplomatic skills allows them to work closely with farmers to prevent elephant crop-raiding — the main reason for deadly human/elephant conflict.
Elephant Warriors highlights the critical work these women have taken on: pachyderm population numbers are in severe decline, and only 400,000 elephants are left on the continent, down from 25 million in the 19th century. These rangers are changing the destiny of women in Africa; they are its present and its future: not only the family breadwinner and a role model but protectors of the natural world.
The increasing power of African women is intertwined with the fate of elephants. By helping save these magnificent mammals, female rangers are lifting up and inspiring women not only on the continent but around the world.
We have been granted exclusive access to film four Maasai female rangers: Caren, Purity, Fancy and Gloria, who work with the Mara Elephant Project. We will be embedded with these women, camping out with them in the Mau Forest and the Masai Mara.
Elephant Warriors is the latest project in a decade of international journalism that has focused on women's equality. We have travelled the world, creating documentaries and feature stories for magazines that have focused on human and gender rights. Our award-winning reporting has taken us to Afghanistan, writing about education for girls. We have also reported on such stories as female genital mutilation in Kenya, witch burnings in Papua New Guinea, the pernicious impact of Coca-Cola and Pepsi on Salvadorans' health and maternal health in Haiti.
Organizer
Roberta Staley
Organizer
Vancouver, BC