We’d like to introduce you to Global Linkages as well as tell you more about our goals for this project.

Linking People to Africa

Founded in 1997 and based in the NJ-NYC metropolitan area, Global Linkages, Inc. is a management consulting firm that specializes in developing partnerships between the United States and the African continent with a particular focus on the African Diaspora.

As part of its services, Global Linkages provides a “boutique travel experience” that connects individuals, educational institutions, governments, businesses, and community development organizations with unique and exciting explorations in Africa. The goal is to provide an immersive experience that goes beyond traditional tourism by building deep relationships with the communities that they visit. Groups have traveled to Ghana, South Africa, Morocco, Senegal, and, in 2022, Kenya and Tanzania.

Lorna Johnson, owner of Global Linkages, has coordinated both state trade missions as well as community development tours to various African countries. She gives travelers a lasting experience by performing service projects while they’re abroad. Her focus is on organizations whose work includes international and global interests.

“We Want to Help”

In 2022, Global Linkages organized two tours to Kenya. During an East African Tour, a partnership was established with members of Olmoti, a Maasai community near Amboseli National Park in Kenya.

This community has many needs, and after seeing their situation travelers decided to help them. The initial request was to provide school supplies and sneakers for children, and over 160 pairs of shoes were shared. However, it soon became clear that more help was needed. As travelers rode through the towns and countryside, they saw dry, red dust everywhere but very little green vegetation.

Maasai tour guides described how the lack of water was killing their cattle and, with them, entire livelihoods. One family’s herd which was 60 heads of cattle—assets that essentially act as bank accounts—was reduced to 3 during the drought. Men traveled hundreds of miles away to find pasture, which stressed families tremendously.

After her two trips to Kenya, she realized Global Linkages could do more work to help the people they visited. After learning about the work we do at WILK, Lorna reached out to us to work together and bring a stable water source to Olmoti. Together, we decided a borehole project would be the most beneficial resource for this community.

Olmoti, Global Linkages, and WILK

Over the years, WILK has discovered that partnering with a strong community will make our projects more successful. Olmoti is an active community with good leadership that’s committed to serving its members. However, it’s located in the pathway of the Great Migration, which means dangerous wildlife inhibits water collection outside of the area. A borehole within the community would help people have direct access to clean water while preventing women and their daughters from encountering lions and other potential threats.

Wells in this region are incredibly deep and, therefore, elephant-proofed. Because of this extra precaution, the cost of this project is $100,000 USD. An investment in this community will secure not only their survival but also their self-reliance. By involving the Olmoti community—especially the women—at every step of this process, we’re ensuring this valuable water resource will be used, maintained, and respected for generations to come.

Both Global Linkages and WILK believe in partnering with local communities to help them become self-sufficient. We’re so happy to be working with Global Linkages while also helping the Olmoti community. To learn more and support this project, you can donate directly to the Global Linkages Water Project Campaign.

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The human-elephant conflict arises in our work because elephants love fresh, cold borehole water, freshly grown crops, and new toys (such as plastic water tanks). Therefore, elephants are critical in our project design, development, and implementation. Here, we’ll explain how these majestic creatures impact our projects.

Humans & Elephants — Friends or Foes?

It’s said that elephants were the original road-makers. Over the past 6 million years, these animals busted their way out of the deeply-forested jungles of central Africa, knocking down everything in their path. Some elephants remained in the open grasslands while others kept going into new territories. The paths forged by these massive animals allowed other species, like early humans, to travel out of Africa and into the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.

Elephants led the way. We followed—at a healthy distance.

It turns out that elephants and humans have many of the same needs, the most critical of which is water. Elephants can smell water up to 12 miles away, making them exceptional guides towards this life-sustaining resource.

However, when humans began growing food and transitioning from hunter-gathers to farmers, the human-elephant conflict intensified. Being herbivores, elephants are always eager to splurge on an open field of freshly grown crops. Farmers were forced into a compromising choice—do I kill this elephant or feed my family? This age-old conflict is still present everywhere humans and elephants coexist, and Kenya’s no exception.

The desire for elephant tusks further threatened the species. After ivory harvesting was outlawed, poaching grew rapidly. A global effort to save elephants began, and conservation organizations were formed to protect these precious animals. In our area, the Kenya Wildlife Service, Amboseli Ecosystem Trust, Save the Elephants, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and World Wildlife Fund all safeguard elephants and their livelihoods. But conflicts—and ways of preventing them—persist, as necessary considerations for Maasai communities and those who help them develop.

Elephants and Agriculture

Elephants raid crop fields, destroy expensive fences, and break into storehouses where harvests are kept. All of this increases conflict and creates risky environments for communities. Farming with elephants nearby is nearly impossible, which is why we don’t use community boreholes to water crops.

There are several emerging solutions to this problem. In partnership with an outside organization, the communities around Imisygio and Imurtot constructed an electric fence around their farmlands. It’s mostly worked, though a hungry elephant can breach almost any fence. The downsides are that the fence only surrounds a small region, was very expensive to install, requires constant outside investment to maintain, and doesn’t eliminate conflict.

Another series of solutions has promise, but currently it’s not scalable. Save the Elephants has shown that putting beehives around the perimeter of a farm is a strong deterrent; however, this too requires constant upkeep and a healthy environment for bees, something not guaranteed in southern Kenya. Another idea is planting hot peppers around the perimeter—elephants don’t like spicy smells. Again, it’s hard to deter a hungry elephant.

The safest way to prevent elephants from destroying a farm is to not have a farm. This is a reason why many Maasai keep livestock. Go figure, elephants just don’t find cattle all that interesting.

Borehole Infrastructure

The cost of a community borehole is $80,000 – $100,000. This is a great investment on behalf of our community of givers as well as the community receiving the well, as we require some form of buy-in on their part. But why are our water projects so expensive compared to other clean water organizations’ projects?

There are two main reasons:

1. The water table in this area is deep, with some of our projects reaching 300 meters during drilling. Pulling water up from so far beneath the surface requires a strong pump, generator, and infrastructure to house these materials.
2. Elephants will destroy weak construction. Sheet metal, drywall, or plastic will never last if an elephant encounters it, so concrete construction is essential at each of our borehole projects.

Sturdy, reliable hardware is an expensive but critical step for a sustainable WASH project. Saving money on one step could result in a system failure, leaving the community without water for weeks at a time. It’s better to invest upfront to ensure the water stays on.

Elephants Make Us Stronger

Most of the time, human-elephant conflict is viewed negatively. But we believe that these animals deserve our respect. It’s up to us to figure out how to prevent elephants from destroying our projects, and maybe even have enough water in the tank to give them a drink if they mosey by our projects one day.

The great power of these animals has required us to build projects and water systems that last. 82% of our projects are still online, compared to the global average of about 35%. We can credit some of that success to the stoic, ingenious masters of this environment. Elephants are animals we can respect and learn from, if we allow them to teach us.

It’s because of elephants that humans had roads to spread across the earth. It’s because of elephants that Water is Life Kenya has learned to build projects that last. And it’s because of elephants that we have learned the value of protecting endangered animals and the beautiful world they live in.

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