NEWS
Thuma Telegraph
April 2012
-> Click here to view the complete Thuma Telegraph April 2012(pdf)
Greetings from Thuma!
I have just been looking back on the newsletters from this time last year and remembering writing them! I was here only a few months! To put it mildly it was tough!
Hearing and dealing with the killing of elephants and the many human-elephant conflicts and not being in a position to assist or promise assistance was the hardest!
Now one year on we are in a very different situation! We are delighted to see we have made giant steps forward.
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Maize field destroyed by elephants |
Although the elephants are still coming out right now, we have managed to secure funding to extend the fence a further twelve kilometers later this year. This will lead to more food and personal security for the local population and the knock on effect should mean our elephants having reduced contact with humans also!
Thanks to your generous donations this year we have some new scout sponsors, which is fantastic! We are looking for 3 more sponsorships for this year so please if you know anyone or a group of friends that can pool together or a business this would be really appreciated. We will introduce our scout’s to you in each issue this year so you too will get to know them better.
Despite all of positive results we still need to keep on top of things, keep pushing to improve the protection of the reserves and their wildlife now more than ever. A vital part of conservation is to include the local population in our work. We are assisting them this year with many projects that they have requested.
As I am sure you have seen or heard in the news the demand for ivory as well as Rhino horn is increasing and there has been uncountable slaughter of these beautiful animals in severalcountries so we must be on high alert as it could arrive on our door step at any time.
We also need to look forward at other hot spot areas where our elephants are causing untold damage such as the northern boundary of Thuma and maybe extend the fence next year.
We have new challenges to deal with and some old ones!
Thanks for all your support and for taking the time to read our newsletter.
Yours sincerely, Lynn
Februar 2012
-> Click here to view the complete Thuma Telegraph Februar2012(pdf)
Dear Friends
So many things have happened since Decemeber I don't know where to start!
After our last newsletter we have received new sponsorships for the next year for some of our scouts which is fantastic news. Thank you all so much.
We have had some friends visit us. Jurgen and Leen from Belgium, Iris from Holland (it is the second time to visit for Jurgen and Iris) and Christine from Germany, so our camp was buzzing with laughter and lots of activity!
In this newsletter we have lots of photos so you can see what we have been up to over the last two months and show how a little bit of money can make such a big difference and go a long way.
Our local community have been very much involved in each activity
generating very welcome income for many, with the local carpenters making beds and tables for us, local women painting the our buildings in traditional fashion, at another village we have started a tree nursery planting over 10,000 tree seeds. We rebuilt and refurbished the old scout camp (now the new volunteer camp). Our staff slept on mats but with a donation form Holland they all now have new proper beds with mattresses to sleep on.
Our Belgium friends donated money along with lots of school materials. So we were able to donate exercise books for every child along (1500 copy books) to two schools over near our Dedza camp along with other educational materials such as pens, coluring pencils, toys, footballs and lots more!
It has been an amazing few months.
Hope you like the photos, we enjoyed taking them and participating in the activities.
Yours sincerely, Lynn