Nazinga Video

There is a video available about Clark Lungren and Nazinga (click title above for link). Here is an excerpt from the promo materials:

"Clark Lungren, the son of Canadian missionaries, spent his childhood in West Africa. He returned to Burkino Faso in 1974, a land-locked country suffering from constant drought, poaching and government apathy. He had a plan.

The result of his work is the Nazinga Game Reserve, 18,002 square miles a stone's throw from the Ghana border. The area had a high wildlife population in the 1950s, but it had been hunted almost to the point of no return. After a U.N. development officer told him that wildlife was "history," Clark received the blessing of the local government to start a new reserve. He entered into an agreement with locals: they would help him build water holes, and, when the animal populations increased, they would be allowed to hunt an agreed amount. Eventually, 250 miles of new waterways were built in a land where even humans need two gallons of water a day to survive. Anti-poaching patrols were also added. Traps were collected, and game wardens were added to the area. After 10 years, the animal population increased tenfold."

In talking with Mr. Lungren, I found that he is disappointed that, since the Game Ranch has been turned over to the government, there has not been the same emphasis on blessing the local population through the game, as he had hoped. The Game Ranch is used primarily as a source of tourism dollars (including mine!), rather than providing food and jobs to local people has he had intended.

This just reminded me of the falleness of our world. Working from a Christian worldview, Mr. Lungren sough to bless people and treat God's creation with respect and dignity. But fallen humanity has taken a balanced, Christian approach to the environment and twisted it to be used for mostly material purposes.