African Voices Changemakers, a programme of the Cable News Network (CNN) sponsored by Nigeria’s foremost telecommunications company, Globacom, this week airs a compilation edition with four personalities whose interests span wildlife conservation, bike riding and feeding of school children.  

The edition celebrates three Kenyans including lion conservationist, Jeneria Lekilelei; an off-road motorcycle tour guide, Grace Mwari, and her female South African endurance (otherwise called enduro) rider, Kirsten Landman.  Wawira Njiru, the third Kenyan, takes delight in feeding school-age children.  

Lekilelei, a Samburu pastoralist, has been the face behind protecting lions in the Northern Kenya sanctuary. He grew up in a tradition where lions were killed for game but developed interest in the preservation of the animal species. Explaining his unusual passion, Lekilelei said, “Any time I lose a lion; it’s like losing a member of my family”.

The second guest, Landman, started her romance with bike-riding at age 8, inspired by her cousin and uncle. She continued to nurture the interest until she launched a professional career in bike riding at the age of 22. She has since made a name for herself globally through her exploits in the field of hard enduro racing.

Her counterpart, Mwari, an off-road motorcycle tour guide at Off-road Adventure East Africa was influenced by her friend to embrace racing. She now takes tourists for safaris in little known places to experience wildlife, culture and the most spectacular scenery.  She has ridden for five consecutive years, making her the only female enduro racer who has been consistent for so long.  She has since ridden in South East Asia, Southern Africa, East Africa, Morocco and parts of Europe.

Njiru, a Kenyan businesswoman, entrepreneur, human nutritionist, and philanthropist, is the Executive Director of Food 4 Education. The organization cooks, prepares and distributes nutritious meals at subsidized prices to poor school children in Ruiru, a suburb of Nairobi. A total of 10,000 kids get nutritious lunch every day under the programme as she believes that malnutrition and food insecurity cause health problems and impair a student’s ability to focus and learn in the classroom.

Catch African Voices Changemakers on DSTV on Friday at 9.30 a.m. and on Saturday at 12.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.  Other repeat broadcasts come up on Sunday at 5.00 a.m., 9.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m., with more repeats on Monday and Tuesday at 5.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. respectively.