00:00From brutal wire traps to handcrafted adornments, all crafted by Zambian artisans, housed a small
00:10enterprise in the heart of Zambia's eastern province proving that even small things can
00:15make a difference. I like making snare jewellery using snare work because I know when I use this
00:22snare wire it will not go back into the bush to destroy our wildlife animals. As I'm doing that
00:29I am protecting my children's future. By repurposing poachers snare traps into
00:36creating them into beautiful jewellery. But wait, trap wire? How can this dangerous wire,
00:42initially intended to trap and kill wildlife, find a new purpose as wearable art? Poachers
00:48normally strew this wire from fences and create traps into the bush to trap animals, mainly for
00:55bush meat. But luckily we have brave rangers that removes this brutal wire and saves our wildlife.
01:04I know it's a very hard story to tell but this is where we try and tell it from positive light. So
01:11as the snare comes as a coil, I like that, and then it gets to be straightened and cut into smaller beads.
01:19As we can see here, this is the next step. She uncoils it straight, cut it to small pieces and then it goes into the next stage where it gets to be hammered and this is actually the piece.
01:33From that, you hammer it flat and then it looks like that. And then you take it onto our grinders and then
01:42you take out all the sharp edges to make it smooth. Your sept is very important for us. And then you turn
01:50them into smaller pieces depending on the design that you're making. So as you can see here, I've
01:55got some of these smaller pieces. This is the same snare that you've cut into smaller beads. And then as
02:04we are creating this design that I'm going to show you, we can see it's got different elements.
02:10This Zambian wire jewelry has been featured in many international media outlets and worn by supermodel
02:16Dudzin Kruz and researcher Kingsley Holgate. The Maubi Mongols have cut up over 42,000 snare traps over the years.
02:25And we've sold over 60,000 pieces of jewelry across the globe. And this has contributed to raising over
02:33$165,000 for Zambian conservation. Conservation bodies estimate Zambia lost more than 144,000
02:43elephants to poaching in the last 30 years, with the country's elephant population declining by a
02:49staggering 90% between 1981 and 2015. This grim reality highlights the urgent need for effective
02:58conservation efforts. And it's these very wire traps that the rangers on the ground are battling
03:04every day. Under Kate Wilson, the Mfooa Village's crafting community has come together and created a
03:11unique circular economy. They recycle recovered poacher snares from across Zambia's many wildlife
03:17reserves by embellishing them with local seeds and feathers that they buy from members of their local
03:23community. We also design our jewelry with such beautiful local materials like the lucky bean,
03:31like the guinea fow feathers. And this actually empowers and gives back to the community because
03:38people can actually end a living through selling beautiful beads to us. And at the same time,
03:44we are showing the texture, you know, the creativity in the landscape of this beautiful area.
03:51For the team in the Mfooa Valley, wildlife protection is from the heart.
03:56I actually was raised by one of the most talented and amazing safari guide, Aubrey, my father,
04:05who never lost an opportunity to teach me and my siblings on how to conserve our wildlife.
04:11Getting back to when I was five, one day I discovered I was sleeping on the bed with a black mamba,
04:17and I was scared to death. I screamed and called my dad to help. And he did not only take out that black
04:25mamba safely and took it into the bush. He took that opportunity to teach me about why we should
04:33actually conserve our snakes and why they're actually important to our lives. It is because of that moment
04:41that I am here today. Moabay Mungos has been supporting me and my family since I started
04:50the job here. By taking my children to school, I have two children and my brother's children,
04:57the right brother, I'm supporting them. They are in boarding school.
05:01With each sale, the powerful story of change that empowers communities and protects Zambia's wildlife,
05:08is given new life. This inspiring initiative proves that creativity and commitment really can create
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