Photographer who visited Kenya for 30yrs helps two villages which have been devastated by coronavirus crisis

A wildlife photographer who has visited a tiny village in Kenya for 30 years is now giving back to the people devastated by coronavirus.Brit Gren Sowerby, 70, visits the village each year to take pictures of its spectacular natural beauty and exotic animals such as giraffes, elephants and lions. He was distraught to learn the village he visits, Oleseke has been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic, so began a fundraising campaign to help them. In just one week, £2000 was raised and the money has already been used to feed the village after Gren organised a delivery of vital food.Due to a ongoing global pandemic in Kenya there is no tourism money, trade has come to a standstill and food is running out in some places. Villagers in Oleseke rely on breeding and selling cattle as their main source of income but have been unable to trade following the closure of markets. According to Gren, a lot of the youngsters get two or three meals a day at schools, which are currently shut down as a result of the coronavirus crisis. He said: "I've been going to Oleseke for years and have got to know the people there, they are incredibly nice and welcoming. "I saw on Facebook that a lot of villagers over there are really struggling at the moment because of the crisis. "Instead of watching them starve I thought I would do something to help."Gren's crowfunding page has racked up £2,100 in donations in under a week and his contacts in Kenya have carried out one delivery of vital food, with more to follow in the coming days.Villagers in Oleseke are part of the Maasai, a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.To reach them Gren, who's from Whitley Bay, Northumberland, has to drive three hours off road from the nearest main road. He said: "I have visited these lovely people for 30 years and have taken some of my best wildlife pictures in this particular village - I now want to make sure I look after the people who have looked after me for so long.  It's very basic, there is not much there but the people are great and the scenery and wildlife is spectacular."The villagers' basic diet is maize.

A bale of the cereal grain costing £13 would keep them fed for an entire month, according to Gren. The retired businessman said: "It's the price of a takeaway for people over here."My plan is to raise some money to send over to these amazing  people , in the hope they can eat and survive till the country opens up again."

A wildlife photographer who has visited a tiny village in Kenya for 30 years is now giving back to the people devastated by coronavirus.Brit Gren Sowerby, 70, visits the village each year to take pictures of its spectacular natural beauty and exotic animals such as giraffes, elephants and lions.

He was distraught to learn the village he visits, Oleseke has been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic, so began a fundraising campaign to help them.

In just one week, £2000 was raised and the money has already been used to feed the village after Gren organised a delivery of vital food.Due to a ongoing global pandemic in Kenya there is no tourism money, trade has come to a standstill and food is running out in some places.

Villagers in Oleseke rely on breeding and selling cattle as their main source of income but have been unable to trade following the closure of markets.

According to Gren, a lot of the youngsters get two or three meals a day at schools, which are currently shut down as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

He said: "I've been going to Oleseke for years and have got to know the people there, they are incredibly nice and welcoming.

"I saw on Facebook that a lot of villagers over there are really struggling at the moment because of the crisis.

"Instead of watching them starve I thought I would do something to help."Gren's crowfunding page has racked up £2,100 in donations in under a week and his contacts in Kenya have carried out one delivery of vital food, with more to follow in the coming days.Villagers in Oleseke are part of the Maasai, a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.To reach them Gren, who's from Whitley Bay, Northumberland, has to drive three hours off road from the nearest main road.

He said: "I have visited these lovely people for 30 years and have taken some of my best wildlife pictures in this particular village - I now want to make sure I look after the people who have looked after me for so long.

It's very basic, there is not much there but the people are great and the scenery and wildlife is spectacular."The villagers' basic diet is maize.

A bale of the cereal grain costing £13 would keep them fed for an entire month, according to Gren.

The retired businessman said: "It's the price of a takeaway for people over here."My plan is to raise some money to send over to these amazing  people , in the hope they can eat and survive till the country opens up again."