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Summer Study Op Connects Student to Africa
by Katherine Bolton
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Reb Knight doing research at Mars Hill
Home away from home - a Bonda
School kids who researched the researchers
Wildebeest right next to the city
Reb with an orphan giraffe
Baboons everywhere
Zebra
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Always dreaming of doing a study abroad trip, Rebecca Knight was walking through Wall Science Building last spring when a bulletin board caught her eye. It was offering a trip to Africa. A school of field study offered a one-month field session in Kenya over the summer.
Reb, a 20-year-old Mars Hill College zoology major, had already traveled to Asia and Europe. A trip to Africa was right up her alley. It would be a six-week trip during her summer vacation, so she would not fall behind in classes.
She decided to go to Kenya to study the people, the government, the animals, and how they all interact with one another.
She came back not only with stories and pictures, but with research that will soon be part of a published paper that will include her name and those of her summer classmates.
She says she was well-prepared for the fieldwork she did, thanks to her experience at Mars Hill College as a student researcher in CARA - the on-campus Center for Assessment and Research Alliances.
The school in Kenya sent her a two-page list of things to pack. "We had to bring our own sleeping bags, mess kits for when we went out in the field, plus text books, school supplies…first aid kits, and donations for the kids around there. Somebody brought four soccer balls; another brought books; another brought pens and pencils and tee shirts."
Reb went to the School for Field Studies Center for Wildlife Management Studies in Nairobi, Kenya. She did her field study in the Nairobi National Park.
Reb's fieldwork consisted of interviewing the people who live in the area to learn how they feel about their situation and about wildlife conservation. She did class work for about two weeks; then she went out to do field work.
Most of the people she interviewed are Maasai who live near the national park. The majority of their income comes from livestock. Reb wanted to find out how they co-exist with the wild animals that migrate through their land.
Reb learned that in the distant past the Maasai moved frequently with their cattle. But then the British government basically told them that they were going to be farmers and could not move when the wild animals migrated. This created problems.
People might think that the main problem would have been the lions, and yes they were a problem, but not nearly as big as the zebra and wildebeests.
When the wildebeests give birth every spring, "something poisons the soil for a couple of days," said Reb. "If the cattle eat the grass, they can get sick and die from fever." In the past, the people would have moved away from the poisoned area long enough for it to become healthy again for their cattle. "Since they can't move anymore, their cattle are getting killed every spring because they eat the poison grass."
The zebras are also a problem. Reb learned that the farmers would build fences to keep the zebras out, but the zebras would kick them down and eat their crops.
The lions would eat the livestock, but the cows in this part of Africa are not like the cows we think of. They have very long horns and are very tough. So the lions would mainly go after chickens and sometimes even the farmers.
Reb said the people were very nice and cooperative, and out of about thirty people, only one did not want to be interviewed.
Reb works at CARA, and because of the work she had done there, she was well-prepared and the interviewing was not that difficult for her. At CARA she takes surveys the students fill out and comes up with the over all-average for each answer.
Reb loved her trip to Africa and hopes to go back, but to a different part because the continent is so varied -- ranging from high mountains to hot deserts.
She is very excited that the research done by her and her classmates will be published and her name included. The name of her research paper is "Community Perceptions of Wildlife and Wildlife Conservation Programs in the Kitengela Athi - Kapiti Area."
She hopes that her research helps people see that the people of Kenya need to be able to move their cattle when needed so they can co-exist with the animals once again.
Reb says that there were only two scary things that happened to her and her camp. One was a leopard sighting, and the other was when a group walked up on a field filled with snakes. It turned out that there was nothing really to be scared of because they were just garter snakes. Reb said that the camp was surrounded by native men hired to protect them and make sure they were safe.
The group
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Reader Comment:
Patricia Doser, 4/1/2008, 2:31 p.m.
Reb is an individual any parent or grandparent would be proud of. She appears to be well spoken, has her thoughts well organized and prepares her subject so that she can instill in others her interest and love for the world around her. I look forward to the published report.
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