I received a batch of photographs from Sammy Bakari last night, showing some of the new rugs being made at the Friends of Kinangop Plateau-run Njabini Woolshop. The woolshop (as regular readers hopefully know by now) is an integral part of a community-based project that 10,000 Birds supports that is trying to halt the conversion into cropland of the Kinangop Plateau’s tussock grasslands - a scarce habitat home to the equally scarce and Sharpe’s Longclaw (an Endangered Kenyan endemic).

I’ve been fortunate enough to visit the Njabini woolshop on three occasions. I’ve always been hugely impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm shown by the men and women who work there - and Sammy Bakari (who received funding this year from David Fox in the form of a Small African Fellowship for Conservation grant) has always been an oustanding member of the team.

Open to suggestions and advice, Sammy has responded perhaps more than most at the woolshop to the relatively little help I was able to give - but under the tutelage of the wonderful Janice G Knausenberger, a biologist and professional weaver living in Kenya, he (and the woolshop) has really blossomed. In the space of about a year the product coming out of the woolshop has evolved from ‘lovely but a bit rough around the edges’ to ‘beautiful and skillfully finished’.

The changes instigated by Janice and willingly adhered to by the previously relatively untrained weavers have been remarkable, and surely makes the Njabini rugs and other products genuinely desirable items: as Sammy himself says, “[When] we met with Luca and then Charlie for the first time, the quality of our products was quite low…[but] we are [now] producing a stock of high quality products ready to be shown to potential customers.”

Have a look for yourself and see what you think, and please also read Sammy’s first ‘three monthly report’ which he was asked to produce as a condition of the Grant and which I’ll be posting tomorrow:

The Unprocessed wool bought from one of Kinangop’s Farmers

A display of woolen products at the woolshop

2′ x 3′ rug by Bakari

2′ x 3′ rug by Bakari

2′ x 3′ rug by Emma

2′ x 3′ rug by Jeff

2′ x 3′ rug by Bakari

Wall-hanging by Jeff

Wall-hanging by Bakari

All photographs copyright Njabini Woolshop, Kinangop

The improvement in the quality of the wool and the ‘finish’ of the products is very noticeable, and much of this progress is due, as Sammy explains, to input from Janice G Knausenberger, a biologist and professional weaver living in Kenya.

Janice has brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Njabini (and great personal enthusiasm), showing Sammy and the rest of the workforce new techniques for producing softer wool which is more uniformly dyed, and how to turn the weaving ends to create a neat edge for wall hangings. Importantly Janice also introduced a new wool washing technique which uses uses less water and much much less soap than the existing method - and given the drought ravaging Kenya at the moment this could turn out to crucial. Higher quality products will of course make access to local and overseas markets much more likely: this would mean more income for the woolshop and for local farmers, which in turn will have a positive impact on the long-term future of the beautiful and endemic Sharpe’s Longclaw.

On behalf of all the individuals working to make the Njabini Woolshop more efficient, more productive, and better-known for quality product can I take this opportunity to thank Janice for her invaluable work. If you’d like to see a gallery of her remarkably novel and interesting work please go to JKG Designs: Albums.

10,000 Birds has been working as a project partner with the Friends of Kinangop Plateau, Luca Borghesio, and the National Museums of Kenya since June 2008.

For much more about the Njabini Woolshop and its part in the ongoing work to protect Kenya’s Kinangop Grasslands and the Endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw, please visit our ‘gateway’ page at 10,000 Birds, Friends of Kinangop Plateau, Sharpe’s Longclaw, and the Kinangop Grasslands which contains summaries of aspects of the work all of which link to longer posts and galleries.

If you would like to offer support, help, or advice please do get in touch - contributions are welcomed by all of us working in this exciting and evolving project.

We are making a genuine difference to the community on Kinangop, and without community support the future for the Sharpe’s Longclaw looks very bleak indeed.