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The UK\u2019s decision to deny visas for two pioneering female anti-poaching rangers to attend an awards ceremony has been criticised by organisers.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwean Nyaradzo Hoto risks her life every day to protect elephants from ivory poachers in an all-female anti-poaching unit.<\/p>\n
She and a colleague were due to accept an award for the team on 3 November.<\/p>\n
But Ms Hoto\u2019s trip, her first outside Zimbabwe, was called off after visitor visa applications were rejected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t told my daughter yet. I don\u2019t want to disappoint her, she was so proud of me,\u201d the 26-year-old whispers down the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been my first time on a plane. She said \u2018I wish you good luck Mummy!’\u201d<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe International Women Awards (Ziwa) created the Founder\u2019s Award specifically to honour the unit known as Akashinga, which means the brave ones in Shona.<\/p>\n
In a rejection letter, the Home Office cited Ms Hoto\u2019s and Petronella Chigumbura\u2019s lack of financial assets and property, suggesting they were not genuine visitors and could try to remain in the UK.<\/p>\n
Ms Hoto\u2019s six-year-old daughter would not have joined her on the trip and the ranger says emphatically: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t flee Zimbabwe, I have to look after her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like many Akashinga women, Ms Hoto is a domestic abuse survivor.<\/p>\n
She says her daughter Tariro tells her how proud she is now that her mum protects wildlife.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m someone from a tough background, so I\u2019m working hard to fill in the potholes of my life,\u201d the star ranger, who featured in a BBC short documentary, explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t understand the rejection, it\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s war on poaching<\/strong><\/p>\n Akashinga women are trained to be armed soldiers, patrolling and protecting an area in the Lower Zambezi Valley, an ecosystem which is home to some 11,000 elephants.<\/p>\n Since October 2017, Ms Hoto and her colleagues have made or contributed to 72 arrests without firing a single shot.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing increasing evidence that empowering women is one of the greatest forces of change in the world today,\u201d says Damien Mander, the founder of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation.<\/p>\n The Australian, a former soldier who hand-picked the Akashinga women, believes placing wildlife conservation in their hands not only empowers the rangers but improves their communities.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen in rural Africa are often the most oppressed demographic. They\u2019re given the least amount of opportunity, it\u2019s very hard for them to rise up and acquire property and status.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Gutted\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n The group of British women who founded Ziwa say they were gutted when Ms Hoto and Ms Chigumbura were denied their visas.<\/p>\n \u201cThe awards are there to change the narrative of African women,\u201d Rhoda Molife, one of the founders of Ziwa and a former doctor in the UK\u2019s National Health Service, told the BBC.<\/p>\n \u201cOther Zimbabwean and South African nominees got their visas,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The organisation, which wrote letters supporting the rangers\u2019 visa applications, believes their socio-economic background negatively affected the outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only because of their circumstances that they are where they are, not because of what\u2019s in them \u2013 their potential,\u201d Dr Molife says.<\/p>\n The awards ceremony went ahead without Ms Hoto and Ms Chigumbura in Birmingham.<\/p>\n \u201cI was looking forward to interacting with different women from different countries, to learn leadership skills,\u201d Ms Hoto laments from her unit\u2019s camp, more than six hours north of the capital, Harare.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would\u2019ve been a beautiful event, and a great thing for our project.\u201d<\/p>\n