Kuki Gallmann

Kuki Gallmann
Born (1943-06-01) 1 June 1943
Treviso, Italy
Occupation Writer, environmentalist
Years active 1972-present
Spouse(s) Paolo Gallmann
Children Emanuele, Sveva

Kuki Gallmann (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkuː.ki ɡaːlˈman]) is an Italian-born Kenyan national, best-selling author, poet, environmental activist, and conservationist.[1]

Biography

The daughter of Italian climber and writer Cino Boccazzi, in 1972 she moved to Kenya with her husband Paolo and son Emanuele. They acquired Ol ari Nyiro, a 98,000 acres (400 km2) cattle ranch in Western Laikipia, in Kenya's Great Rift Valley which she would later transform into a conservation park. Both her husband and son died in accidents within a few years.

Kuki decided to stay in Kenya and to work toward ecological conservation in the early '80s, becoming a Kenyan citizen. As a living memorial to Paolo and Emanuele, she established the Gallmann Memorial Foundation (GMF), which promotes coexistence of people and nature in Africa and is active in education, biodiversity research, habitat protection, reforestation, community service, peace and reconciliation, poverty alleviation and public health. GMF promotes environmental education of Kenyan students. She dedicated Ol ari Nyiro to this ideal, converting it into the Laikipia Nature Conservancy.[2]

Gallmann has published five books, all global best-sellers. The first, her autobiography I Dreamed Of Africa, became a feature film starring Kim Basinger.[3]

Shooting incident (April 2017)

On 23 April 2017, Gallmann was attacked and shot by Pokot herders in the stomach when she was patrolling the Laikipia Nature Conservancy and was airlifted to Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, for further treatment.[4][5]

She also ran a luxury safari lodge which was burned down in March 2017 by suspected cattle herders, who had been in conflict with landowners.[3]

Humanitarian and environmental work

To bring attention to major environmental topics through art, in 2006 she founded the Great Rift Valley Trust together with her daughter Sveva and other Kenyan personalities. The Trust invites artists to create original fusion art with Kenyan 'slum' artists at the Laikipia Nature Conservancy. The Trust also co-produces the Laikipia Highlands Games, sports for peace, and the Earth Festival to help the environment.

In 2008, after Kenya's post-election violence, she founded the Laikipia Highlands Games (Sport for Peace) to put together, through peaceful but challenging competition of sports, youth across the ethnic, tribal and political divide. The LHG won for Kenya the 2009 Event of Year World Award by the Peace and Sport Foundation in Monaco. The LHG promotes peace through sports amongst previously warring tribes.

In 2010 she founded Prayers for the Earth, to involve local tribal elders and youth to recapture the traditional respect for the environment on which their livelihood depends, and reconnect to the Earth through traditional worship.[6]

In 2011, with her daughter, she acquired and donated 300 acres for a model community project called "Land of Hope" in Laikipia West, which aims to benefit impoverished communities of the area. With support from Maisha Marefu, an Italian Onlus, the project was brought to life: a vocational centre for women and youth, a nursery school and feeding programme, a dispensary, and a high altitude athletics training centre are part of the scheme. This last athletics centre, in partnership with Martin Keino, of Keino Sports Marketing, was completed in 2013.

Sveva, her daughter, holds an MSc in Human Sciences from New College, Oxford and coordinates the award-winning 4 Generations Project, an educational scheme to proactively protect local endangered cultures, by bridging the inter-generational gap. Sveva is also leading several art projects and community projects amongst local tribes to promote peace and improve their living standards.

Gallmann Memorial Foundation

The Foundation proves that Africa can survive out of the ecological, creative and sustainable use of its natural resources. She transformed Ol ari Nyiro into a Nature Conservancy (LNC) managed holistically after selling the livestock. Due to relentless protection, Laikipia Nature Conservancy is a biodiversity oasis that supports and protects an extraordinary variety of plants and animals, the only pristine forest in the area, which includes endangered species such as elephants, cheetah, over 470 species of birds and rare and endemic plants and insects, in addition to archaeological sites.

Awards

Others

Other projects

Co-Founder

Projects, Buildings and creations

References

  1. ↑ Who shot Kuki Gallmann? The story of a Kenyan conservationist heroine
  2. ↑ "Wild at Heart". Sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  3. 1 2 "Kuki Gallmann shot and wounded at Kenya conservation park". bbc.com.uk. 2017-04-23. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  4. ↑ "Author, Conservationist Kuki Gallmann Wounded in Kenya". Voice of America. 23 April 2017.
  5. ↑ William Mwangi (23 April 2017). "Conservationist Kuki Gallmann shot by armed Laikipia raiders, airlifted to Nairobi". The Star.
  6. ↑ "Moto Na Maji: Shinnyo Fire and Water Ceremony in Kenya - Shinnyo". Shinnyoen.org. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  7. ↑ "Kenyan conservationist bags international award | News24 Kenya". M.news24.com. 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  8. ↑ "CMS Ambassador Kuki Gallmann Awarded International Masi Grosso D’Oro Veneziano Prize". Cms.int. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
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