2023 Challenges & Achievements - End of the Year message from Coe, Victory & the Nsefu Wildlife team!
The Year of YOUR Achievements!
Dearest Supporters of Nsefu Wildlife,
Happy Holidays! This amazing year simply would not have happened without your belief in us and your continued support. In your honor, we have titled this newsletter, “The Year of YOUR Achievements” and I am so excited to share with you everything your support has accomplished.
Here are YOUR victories in 2023:
The Nsefu Ranger team has made significant arrests of poachers this year along with the confiscation of illegal weapons and poaching gear, thus saving countless animals and natural resources.
Your donations helped build a much-needed Secondary School in the Nsefu Sector with our friends Park Lane International School and Project Luangwa.
READ MORE ABOUT THE SECONDARY SCHOOL HANDOVER
The school is projected to serve over 700 students who would otherwise have to walk many kilometers to continue their education, causing many to drop out. This new school will allow more children to stay in school and complete their education. The official handover of the school to the Zambian Department of Education was a massive celebration! Dignitaries and officials from all over the region attended the big event, including our dear friend Senior Chief Nsefu who was on hand for the ribbon cutting. Local students performed and celebrated and we are excited to have video and photos for you to enjoy....and YOU made this happen. And, just as with the elementary school we built previously, conservation education will be a cornerstone of the curriculum. We now cover grades K-12 with conservation education...which leads us to YOUR next victory.
From Nsefu’s inception, we have believed in the importance of conservation education for the children of the Nsefu sector. We are excited to share with you that we have expanded our program with the introduction of “Conservation Clubs” where local students can get hands-on experience learning about their wildlife and the importance of protecting their environment. We purchased bicycles to allow our mobile team of conservation teachers to travel throughout the sector to spread the word. The teachers have done a wonderful job of engaging students with great projects like tree-planting. Zikomo Safari provides Game Drives experiences and snacks for the conservation club kids in South Luangwa National Park. Despite living so close, most children have never set foot in their own park! This program, which is the first of its kind in the region, is inspiring the conservationists of tomorrow and would not have been possible without YOUR support.
Bonnie Dines Sewing Center
Another victory for YOU to celebrate is the growing success of our Tommy Raskin Women’s Sewing Program in the Nsefu Wildlife Bonnie Dines Sewing Center. Our established sewers are making inroads into the school uniform program and we hope to underwrite other Nsefu programs with its growing success. We continue to train women to learn a trade that helps lift them and their families up financially, which takes away the incentive to be involved in poaching.
There are many victories YOU have achieved in 2023 and we will wrap with yet another victory in the field. Your donations allowed us to drill three boreholes in the local villages. This allows locals safe access to water and in turn, we have reduced incidents of human/wildlife conflict. By installing the boreholes we were able to negotiate an agreement with locals that allowed an existing borehole in a wildlife corridor to be used exclusively by wildlife. It was a win-win for people and animals, and YOU made it happen.
Beekeeping & Honey Production
By tackling the crisis of poaching from all angles with Enforcement, Education, and Economic Opportunities, we are reducing the pressure on wildlife as a means of survival. The 3 E’s are truly working.
While we are proud of Nsefu’s many 2023 victories, there is still so much more to accomplish. Extinction never takes a day off, so we stay ever-vigilant on the ground protecting the stunning wildlife of the Nsefu Sector. Working alongside the Department Of National Parks & Wildlife has been a successful partnership and we hope to expand our ranger team and our intel operations in the future to be even more effective in the field. We are also looking to expand our bio-fencing and beekeeping programs into areas we have identified as having high human/elephant conflict as part of our overall wildlife protection program.
Currently, our biggest obstacle is the need for a good Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4 vehicle that can handle the unforgiving terrain in the area where we work. Our current vehicle is truly on its last legs and a more reliable truck is desperately needed. We began our 4x4 fundraising campaign on Giving Tuesday and will keep working hard to reach our 4x4 fundraising goal of $25,000. We are only as effective as our vehicle as it gives us access to impassable areas of South Luangwa National Park and the Game Management Area (GMA) surrounding it.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done to carry on the work of our foundation. We thank you for supporting us at events throughout San Diego county and for attending Nsefu events like Rock the Wild and the Nsefu Wildlife Motorcycle Monkey Run. Nsefu Wildlife continues to be pioneering in the field of conservation and YOU make it happen.
Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays and we look forward to a bright 2024 with love and peace in the world. We have a beautiful planet and together we can do wonderful things!
With much love and gratitude,
