Literacy in a Box  and Chipembele

A big thanks to Geoff Lucock and Phil Chesters from the UK for the recent Literacy in a Box donations to our two local schools - Mfuwe and Kakumbi Basic Schools

Mfuwe Basic School has an enrollment of over 1100 pupils this year and Kakumbi Basic School has 500 pupils.
The schools have tiny Government grants so donations of materials to enhance the school experience and items that children in the West take for granted are much needed here in rural Zambia.

Founder and CEO of Chipembele WIldlife Education Trust, Anna Tolan made the first distribution of the Literacy in a Box materials at Kakumbi Basic School.

Fifty two pupils in the Grade 1 class were very quiet to begin with as we handed everything out. When they understood the items were theirs to keep, the children got very excited and by the time Anna was taking the pictures the children were very excited. 

The Head Teacher, Mrs Sakala and class teachers were also hugely appreciative, we left the remaining two boxes with Mrs Sakala and the class teachers to distribute at their discretion.

Maize field destroyed by elephants

Wildlife Action Group

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.

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

Note from Rachel McRobb SLCS CEO

It‟s that time of year when luckily most of the admin required for funding for 2012 is out of the way and I can dedicate more time to field work which I love. Just as well because recently there has been a huge spike in snaring activities and a lot of time is needed for our team to be in the field locating these animals in order for us to be able to treat them.

Recently, over the space of four days we had to immobilize seven elephants to be able to dart three snared ones. Unfortunately most snares are being set for buffalo and at the height they are set they are trapping a lot of baby elephants round the neck.

In addition to that, the forty six scouts we support have been putting in a lot of extra time and effort to increase patrols in order to identify and apprehend more perpetrators involved in snaring and other wildlife crimes, it‟s a never ending job and the scouts deserve recognition for their excellent and hard work, but more on that from our Operations Manager shortly.

We are excited to announce that the South Luangwa Eco Awards has finally been launched and we have a first successful applicant who achieved a silver award, which is quite a feat on its own.

We are also thrilled to have received a grant from Mfuwe Lodge for the purchase of a light aircraft to help with anti-poaching and research work and a recent grant from USFW Endangered species fund for wild dog anti-snaring.

Look out for the Elephant Charge Zambia which will take place in October this year. SLCS has been chosen as grant recipient again. This exciting event is fast becoming one of Zambia‟s top conservation fundraising events and is a major donor to local conservation projects.
Keep up to date with the progress of the charge on their website at www.elephantcharge.org.
Enjoy the rest of the read.

New Dormitory Building

Project Luangwa

With funding provided by the Bush Camp Company we are currently managaing the build of 2 new dormitories at Mfuwe Day School. The old dormitory is rather delapidated and uses a building borrowed from the nearby basic school. It is also very overcrowded. The bunk beds are jammed in next to each other and have 2 boys sleeping on every single mattress.   Thanks to the Bush Camp Company we are able to build the school 2 new buildings will each be able to house 42 boys.  

The buildings are progressing well, despite the heavy rains causing the delivery trucks to sink axle deep in mud. The first building is now at the top of window level, whilst the other building now has it's foundations and floor slab complete. We hope to complete voth of these buildings by the end of Term 1.

Contruction of new production plant

BERL Bio Energy Resources

• Malawi Bureau of Standards has started with the development of new biofuel standards based on Jatropha oil.

• We have provided direct employment to 105 people

• Our new site is now full of activity. We have started with the construction for our new production plant

• The Lilongwe district is now also included in our impact areas