Jerenimo Lepirei is the STE name on everyone’s lips. Hailing from sleepy Archers post in Samburu, Jerenimo is determined to charge through as leader in conservation. After four years proving himself as a dynamic and resourceful research technician, he applied for a place on the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders program in Houston. The program brings together twenty new, emerging leaders in the wildlife conservation field for capacity-building and intense training in campaign development and skills, including implementation of a two-year group international wildlife issue campaign. The competition was stiff. Jerenimo, a high school alumnus with a university-graduate’s skill set, was up against doctoral and Masters students studying everything from primatology to energy policy advocacy. In the end, his unshakeable resolve to promote elephant conservation in the face of the grave dangers of poaching thrust Jerenimo to the top of the list and he was offered a place on the course!
As this letter goes out, Jerenimo is in the US having travelled out of the country for the very first time. He is attending the first of a three-part series which will expose him to a surfeit of issues in facing the wildlife of the world, and catapult him into the realms of leadership in conservation.
He writes: “I managed to smoothly go through all the processes at JKIA (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya) as well as Amsterdam Airport, though I was a little bit nervous being the first time… Today we are visiting the Houston Museum of Natural science! Excited! Sounds like I will have a lot to say when I come back!”
We wish him all the success in the world, and will be sure to provide updates on all his new plans when he returns!