About The Snake Community Action Network

The Snake Community Action Network is a group of compassionate, caring, and committed people with one mission and vision in mind: keeping every child, parent, and elder, (and even your animals) safe from the dangers of snakebite.  We do this through education - teaching people about snakes, their behaviors, and how to avoid them to prevent dangerous encounters.  When we are given the opportunity and have the resources, we also help through practical means - like driving people to the hospital or changing their bandages to keep their wounds clean. 

 

We want every person in our organization staying on mission because the more we do, the more potential there is to save lives and limbs.   What is that mission you asK?  Our mission is to educate and inform communities of Kenya and East Africa about snakes and snakebite in order to save lives.  We envision the reduction of snakebite and the conservation of snakes in these communities by raising awareness through education, assistance with prevention and first aid, and the safe removal and relocation of snakes from homes, schools, and businesses.

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The work of the Snake Community Action Network is driven by three important values.  First of all, we value human lives and want to reduce and eliminate the suffering caused by venomous snakebites in our communities.  Second, we believe that the solution to conflicts between humans and snakes can be achieved through community education and awareness.  Finally, we value snakes and their vital contributions to our ecosystems, so we seek to conserve them by reducing the conflicts between people and snakes.

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We too like to think that we are not only saving the lives of people, but we are also conserving snakes.  Contrary to how you have likely been raised, snakes are not all venomous, they cannot all kill you, and they cannot curse you.  Snakes are beautiful creatures created by God to fulfill some very specific roles in our ecosystem.  They eat a lot of rodents which get into our food supplies and carry diseases.  When humans kill snakes, they are damaging the way that each type of animal gets its food.  Snakes are also really beneficial because the cool chemical compounds in their venom can be used to make new medicine that help people fight heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.  

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Our History

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The Snake Community Action Network was founded in 2022 by our advisor, Jonathan E. Twining, an emeritus professor at Eastern Nazarene College just outside of Boston in the USA.  His initial work in Kenya on the issue of snakebite was with the Upendo Conservation Area (UCA) in Bungoma County, Kenya where he is still an advisor.  UCA teams began snakebite awareness training in April 2022, and from that work Twining developed a snake awareness training manual that is still available online for free at www.upendoconservationarea.org.  

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With the success of the UCA training programs, others from around Kenya began wondering how they could do this type of training in their communities.  Once the training manual was developed, Twining started working with a small number of future trainers using WhatsApp as a medium for training and communication.  Today there are over 80 participants in what came to be known as the Snake Community Action Network.  We are presently in the process of registering as an official non-profit association in Kenya, with the potential to spill over into other countries of East Africa.  

 

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