Kuki Gallmann
| Kuki Gallmann | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1 June 1943 Treviso, Italy |
| Occupation | Writer, environmentalist |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Spouse(s) | Paolo Gallmann |
| Children | Emanuele, Sveva |
Kuki Gallmann is an Italian-born Kenyan national, best-selling author, poet, environmental activist, and conservationist.
Fascinated by Africa, Gallmann moved to Kenya in 1972 with her husband Paolo and son Emanuele, and acquired Ol ari Nyiro, a 98,000 acre estate in Western Laikipia, in Kenya's Great Rift Valley. At the time the estate was still a cattle ranch, which she would later transform into a conservation park. Both her husband and son eventually died in tragic accidents within a few years.
Kuki decided to stay on in Kenya and to make a difference. She chose to work toward ecological conservation in the early '80s, becoming a Kenyan citizen. As a living memorial to Paolo and Emanuele, she established the Gallmann Memorial Foundation (GMF), which promotes coexistence of people and nature in Africa and is active in education, biodiversity research, habitat protection, reforestation, community service, peace and reconciliation, poverty alleviation and public health. GMF promotes environmental education of Kenyan students. She dedicated Ol ari Nyiro to this ideal, converting it into the Laikipia Nature Conservancy.
Gallmann published five books, all global best-sellers. The first, her autobiography I Dreamed Of Africa, became a feature film.
To bring attention to major environmental topics through art, in 2006 she founded the Great Rift Valley Trust together with her daughter Sveva and other Kenyan personalities. The Trust invites extraordinary world artists beyond the confines of race, nationality and religion, to create original and outstanding fusion art with Kenyan 'slum' artists at the Laikipia Nature Conservancy. Near the Cradle of Humankind, the Trust also co-produces the Laikipia Highlands Games, sports for peace, and the Earth Festival to help the environment.
In 2008, after Kenya's horrific post-election violence, she founded the Laikipia Highlands Games (Sport for Peace) to put together, through peaceful but challenging competition of sports, youth across the ethnic, tribal and political divide. The LHG won for Kenya the 2009 Event of Year World Award by the Peace and Sport Foundation in Monaco. The LHG promotes peace through sports amongst previously warring tribes.
In 2010 she founded Prayers for the Earth, to involve local tribal elders and youth to recapture the traditional respect for the environment on which their livelihood depends, and reconnect to the Earth through traditional worship.
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