Francis Wanaswa — Inspiring Action for Regenerative Communities and the Planet

Originating from the Niger-Cameroun region during the ancient Bantu expansion, the ancestors of the Bukusu migrated eastward through the Great Lakes region and Nile Valley before settling around Mount Elgon (Sikulu sya Masaaba) and establishing their modern home in Western Kenya. I grew up on those forested ridges on the lower slopes of Mount Elgon, a land of rich volcanic soils, sacred groves, and the famed cave elephants that shelter within its lava-tube caverns. Biologically abundant and spiritually charged, it was the cradle of the Bukusu ecological knowledge and environmental ethics that shaped my worldview from childhood.

Bukusu cosmology, rooted in the dictates of Wele Khakaba, holds that humans, animals, forests and rivers exist within a single moral order. Customs and taboos safeguarded that balance (forbidding the cutting of sacred trees, protecting water sources, regulating hunting seasons), environmental governance long before modern conservation frameworks existed. Alongside formal schooling, elders and ritual specialists taught me which roots and leaves healed, how to cultivate ancient grains, and how to harvest bamboo shoots and chiswa with restraint and renewal in mind.

That worldview travelled with me. For more than thirty years I have led procurement, sustainability and sustainable sourcing transformation with a leading multinational across Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas, working directly with farmers in the United States, Canada, Argentina, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Kenya and 6 other African countries to prototype and implement regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems.