Working with the African Environmental Film Foundation (AEFF)
We show environmental education films to people in rural areas – where there is no electricity, no plumbing, and many people have no exposure to film of any kind. When it’s known that a film unit is arriving, folks will walk miles. Each child or adult that is reached this way is profoundly influenced. AEFF’s films are made for the people of East Africa; narrated in local languages, to teach people about wildlife and critical environmental issues.
The people living around Conservation Areas are the ones who have all the impact upon those areas. They live with human wildlife conflict and – due to population increases, bushmeat poaching, overgrazing and illegal logging and charcoal – have ever decreasing natural resources to sustain them. Once they learn about how their activities impact the environment, they are eager to change and protect their precious resources.
We show films in schools in the daytime and villages at night. Holding in depth discussions before and after films opens minds and doors to change. And we go back, again and again. This ongoing relationship is what works.
Amara’s Mobile Film Unit teams show films and work closely with the people.
Our staff has a great deal of experience in the Tsavo region. Our key staff worked at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust before coming to Amara, raising orphaned elephants and doing extensive desnaring work in and around Tsavo National Park. We know elephants intimately, we know the people in the communities, and we understand the issues facing those people.
Moreover, we have worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service Community Outreach departments for years.
Human wildlife conflict is a serious issue that faces most of the residents in these areas, and animosity towards the larger wildlife species is ingrained. Engaging people in discussions about “the bigger picture”, openly talking about critical issues like elephants eating crops/killing people, low standards of living, lack of water and fuel resources, drought and food – and what can be done about it leads to finding solutions.
African Environmental Film Foundation
We first met Simon and Tanya Trevor of the African Environmental Film Foundation in May of 2001, at their home and office inside Tsavo East National Park.
We immediately found their devotion to their work inspiring.
Simon has been a filmmaker for nearly 40 years (his credits include Director of Bloody Ivory, Second Unit Director of Out of Africa and Gorillas in the Mist, and numerous award-winning documentaries for Survival Anglia). He has devoted himself and his archived footage to the AEFF, and has been joined in this effort by his daughter Tanya and her husband, Ian Saunders.
In their words:
AEFF is making educational films about environmental, wildlife and conservation issues, for the people of Africa, in their own languages. The films show how environmental degradation and destruction of wildlife cause poverty, and illustrate the direct financial benefits that African communities can gain by conserving their environment and wildlife – probably the greatest long-term, self-renewing resources the continent will ever have.
About Their Work
The AEFF staff work very hard, and under often harsh and stressful conditions to design, shoot, and edit their films. Then they write the narrations and translations and have final, master quality, very valuable films, which they make available, free of charge, to be shown to the people who can make a difference – the people of Kenya, whose lives depend upon a sustainable environment.
How We Help
Our initial support for the AEFF was through the provision of some A/V equipment, but we quickly saw that we wanted to help in bigger ways. We set up Kenya’s first fully mobile film unit in 2002, with which we show AEFF’s films in rural areas all over Kenya.
We look forward to continuing our mutually beneficial work with AEFF.
