We wrapped up our time in Kenya today with a visit to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which has been working since 1977 to protect wildlife and their habitats. At the Nairobi Nursery, we got to see how caregivers hand-raise orphaned elephants, giving them 24/7 care that’s as close as possible to what they’d get from their elephant families in the wild. The midday milk feeding really drove home everything we’ve been learning about how human actions, environmental care, and community health are all connected.
What struck us the most about the Trust is how they tackle everything—from stopping poachers to providing veterinary care to educating communities. It’s exactly the kind of comprehensive approach we’ve been seeing throughout Kenya. We’ve seen it with gender-based violence tied to failed cabbage crops from climate change, community conservancies trying to balance people’s needs with protecting wildlife, and creative health programs dealing with HIV and maternal mortality. The elephant orphanage shows the same thing: you can’t solve one piece of the puzzle without understanding the whole picture.
These baby elephants start at the Nursery, then move to places like Voi, Ithumba, and Umani Springs before eventually rejoining wild herds. One of the biggest takeaways for us from Kenya is that good public health work has the same core elements as good conservation work: genuine care, getting the community involved, sticking with it long-term, and remembering we’re all in this together. Those baby elephants at Sheldrick are proof that with the right care and support, even the most vulnerable can not only survive but thrive and become independent. And that is what we are aiming for in public health too.
Lisa and Meena
