Guardian Alamayiani: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

Although Guardian Alamayiani has been with Lion Guardians for just over a year, it feels like he has been part of the team for many more. He has bonded quickly with other team members who all enjoy his jovial personality. Alamayiani covers a zone that often has the highest densities of lions than anywhere else in the ecosystem. At times, this has proven challenging as he has to work extra hard to keep the lions from getting into trouble with his community members. But Alamayiani takes great pride in his lions and has already named several of the teenager lions that he protects. You can often overhear him telling his fellow warriors about his lions, referring to all of them by their given Maasai names. He takes great pleasure in tracking and seeing them – you can always expect an explosion of giggles from Alamayiani whenever he spots his lions. 

Even though he is a relative new-comer to the program he is already proving himself as a dependable team member. He won the excellence award for most reliable Guardian at this year’s Games. And not only is he there for his Lion Guardians team, he is also always watching out for his community. Most recently, Alamayiani went above and beyond the call of duty when he happened upon a temporary boma (homes where pastoralists live when they are moving around looking for grazing land) that was on fire. He quickly started to put out the fire calling out for help as he did. No one came. Alamayiani realized that nobody was home. Had he not noticed the fire as he made his way home from his work in the field, the community members may have lost their homes and the fire could have quickly spread across the ecosystem during this season of drought. By going above and beyond his duties as a Guardian, Alamayiani helped prevent possible loss of property as well as the destruction of the environment.

We would like to thank wikipop and all the individuals who contributed to sponsor Alamayiani. This sponsorship provides multiple benefits – strengthening lion conservation and improving local livelihoods.  We hire only exceptional candidates and commit to building their skills and capacities so that they grow as individuals and also help strengthen our programs.  As part of their training, our Guardians learn to read and write in basic Swahili, use GPS tracking devices, and gain field research and data collection skills.  All of this helps the Guardians monitor and protect the lions in their communities. In addition to supporting successful conservation, this sponsorship provides employment to Alamayiani, who is a member of the local community where employment opportunities are hard to find.  He uses his monthly wages to buy food for his family and pay medical bills. Alamayiani can now write his name and numbers, he can now speak basic Swahili (the national language). When you support a Guardian you support him and his entire family.

For a view of Alamayiani’s jovial personality check out this video of him from his days in training: https://vimeo.com/110245670