A Message from Coe, Victory, and Team Nsefu!
Dearest friends and supporters of Nsefu Wildlife,
Wow! Who knew we would STILL be in the midst of the global COVID pandemic with no end in sight? Yes… 2020 will go down in history as a life-altering year for the entire planet and we sincerely hope that this newsletter finds you and yours safe in these uncertain times.
As you can imagine, these are extremely challenging times for everyone, especially smaller foundations like ours. In all the uncertainty…not surprisingly people have retreated into a “safety” mode and their donation routines have changed dramatically. Unfortunately that is the death knell for many fine organizations this year and beyond. It pains us because having a foundation like we do, we fully understand and empathize how soul-crushing it can be to see all your hard work, accomplishments, and investment in real jeopardy.
The slide towards extinction has ramped up due to the lack of conservation wildlife teams on the ground compounded with the lack of tourism which actually helps protect animals with the presence of people in the regions. Despite the downturn, our team staunchly agreed that we would do what it takes to keep our Nsefu Wildlife Ranger Team operating full-time. That means salaries, supplies, food, and fuel. These past 6 months we have kept our critically important team working, but it hasn’t been easy. Furthermore, to be an excellent example in the field of conservation…we felt it important to maintain project managers and teachers on half pay. As much as we would like to keep everyone at full pay, we simply can’t afford it in the current environment. We knew their work would be significantly altered with COVID, but we did NOT want to create a need to “survive” in an already distressed region. We are keeping them safe and keeping food on their table, thus reducing the need to poach or snare in order to eat.
Poachers have been given free rein in Africa and illegal activity has dramatically increased around the world with less organizations being able to do their jobs and cash-strapped governments. And our recent reports reflect that snaring has dramatically increased in our region, and we can assume the rest of the continent. We cannot flinch in the face of COVID. We have come so far and when we made our commitment to protect wildlife five years ago, we made the commitment for the long term. We hope we can count on you for the long term as well. There is much to do and there is wildlife to save. We thank you for your support and we are grateful for your amazing friendship,
Coe, Victory, and Team Nsefu
Nsefu Wildlife's key programs!
The Nsefu Wildlife Women’s Sewing Program Steps Up in the fight against COVID We are proud to share with you that the Nsefu Wildlife Women’s Sewing Program was the first in the region to step up to help stem the spread of COVID in the Nsefu Sector. Our women got to work making masks for our Nsefu Team as well as the community. They have been a huge hit and much appreciated by the residents of Nsefu. We are proud of our women who learned a useful trade that helps support them and their families and helps support the community when needed. It’s all part of our being an excellent community partner…being there in good times and bad times! We are indebted to our donors who stepped up to help support our women’s sewing program!
Three Nsefu Wildlife Village Scouts go for official Ranger Training!!
We know you will want to wish our 3 village scouts Maless Banda, Frank Chulu, and Mackenzie Phiri “good luck” in their National Parks and Wildlife Dept official Ranger Training Program. This is an intensive training course mandated by NPWD for all rangers working in Zambia. These three worthy scouts have longed for this chance in their professional career and we were happy to get them the training required to be part of sanctioned wildlife patrols. They will learn the important skills and training they need to be effective in the field and to protect themselves in a very dangerous job. Approximately 1,000 rangers have been killed in the line of duty in the last decade (not including 2020) and 1 in 7 rangers has been seriously injured in the line of duty. Protecting wildlife is a VERY serious and dangerous job and we want our rangers to have the best opportunities to excel with safety in mind. We are very proud of Maless, Frank, and Mackenzie!!!!
It’s Soccer time in Nsefu!!!
Thanks to our wonderful friends Danny Donnelly and Ben Protas Sr. at 5 Star Communications and the Thompson Family, the wonderful kids of Nsefu have started playing organized soccer! As part of our all-encompassing anti poaching initiatives…keeping children busy and focused is a critical piece of the conservation puzzle. Nsefu Wildlife Director Steve Zulu did an excellent job surveying the residents of the sector and it was identified that sports and after-school activities were a big need in the community. Keeping kids from being swept up in poaching and snaring is critical to our success. So it was decided to have 24 teams set up for both boys and girls and thanks to 5 Star’s wonderful donation of soccer balls…we got the program going! We’ll have more items for the teams going over as soon as we get our container sent over early 2021. Due to COVID…everything has been pushed back, but we will be sending over Team shirts and jackets and more soccer gear thanks to 5 Star Communications and the Thompson Family!
Nsefu Wildlife is there in times of triumph and tragedy.
We love to celebrate with the wonderful people of Nsefu in the good times, and we are there in the difficult times….be it flooding, COVID, and in the loss of life. As you can imagine, there are dangers everywhere including human and animal conflicts and encounters. People lose their lives to elephants, lions and more, and sadly we had just this case in that a mentally-challenged local man was killed after approaching a herd of elephants. We work incredibly hard to keep the relationship of humans and animals in harmony, and it is a real fear when things like this happen because of reprisals against wildlife, and in this case elephants. We reached out to the man’s family with a donation to help them cope with the loss and help with his burial. We are heartbroken for the family and we wanted to be there in their time of need. That is part of who and what we are. We love the people of Nsefu and when they hurt, we hurt. Your generous donations help where help is needed.
God Bless the family from all of us at Nsefu Wildlife.
