How This Tanzanian Musician Made Ivory a National Campaign Issue
The 29-year-old has even gotten celebrities and scientists to join his cause.
Until Shubert Mwarabu saw a photograph of an elephant with its face hacked and bloodied, poaching was an abstraction. He didn’t know anything about ivory trafficking, or even what ivory was used for. That was in 2011, and the Tanzanian musician was 25.
The photo had a powerful impact on him, and from then on, he says, he threw himself into the fight to save Tanzania’s elephants.
Mwarabu, who previously had organized clubs in primary schools for advocating against child abuse, now started school conservation clubs. He composed songs about protecting elephants. His first, called “Let’s Talk About Poaching,” or “Tupige Vita Ujangili” in KiSwahili, was played on Tanzania’s national radio station.
His efforts have been noticed in Tanzania and beyond. The
