the email newsletter of the The Kesho Trust

Update - November, 2007

Welcome to our update on the activities of the Kesho Trust.  This update focuses on our partnership with the West Lunga Trust in Zambia.

Check out all the work of the Kesho Trust at:  www.thekeshotrust.org and consider donating to the work described in this update or any of the other initiatives we have underway.  You can donate by regular mail or on line.

We are always interested in your feedback, ideas and suggestions. Contact us at: info@thekeshotrust.org

Donations make a difference!

We are happy to report on the impact contributions make to our partners in Africa. The Kesho Trust received a $500. donation to support the work of our partner organization the West Lunga Trust in Zambia. They are actively involved in rehabilitating the West Lunga National Park through engagement with the local communities. They have established a system of community scouts who work to reduce poaching and monitor the animal populations in the park. The scouts are extremely committed and have made a huge difference since they were established and trained.

But patrolling is difficult and dangerous work, especially if you are not properly equipped. They rarely get paid or supplied so this donation went to provide the scouts with much needed new boots. A little can go a long way and make a big difference. Thanks to our supporters for recognizing the importance of the work of our partner the West Lunga Trust.

Rebecca Mpumba is the Project Co-ordinator for the West Lunga Trust. In the article below she expresses appreciation for the donation that has resulted in new boots for the scouts.  By way of explanation of the importance of such equipment describes her early initiation to working with the Trust by going on patrol with some of the community game scouts.

Thank you Rebecca for the insight you have provided into the work of your organization and the role of the scouts.

These boots are made for walking!

My second day at work, West Lunga Trust Director, Charles Rea and I, along with a few community members, headed off to go fishing somewhere far, far from the beaten track. It was in this breathtaking setting that I had my first briefings and discussions of what the job entailed. What should have been a three hour sortie, ended up being 5 hours, when we took an unexpected turn…literally! It gave me a first hand appreciation of the need for good walking equipment to carry out patrols in this remote area.

The scenery was breathtaking, but I learned quickly the landscape can be unforgiving, and a hazard without appropriate footwear. Patrick, one of the Trust Community Co-ordinators knows this too, with more good reason than I, as he often accompanies the scouts on their operations.

He knows the gum boots assist the scouts in their patrols because they are much needed protection against the thorns, wet grass and most dangerous, the snakes. The Ntambu Game Management Area has a large population of black mambas, which are one of the most deadly snake species in the world. Death by snake bite is almost an annual occurrence here, and the best protection is good footwear, which will prevent mamba teeth from sinking into human flesh!

Patrick explains the nature of the scouts work. “The last operation was taken in September; and I accompanied some of the Ntambu scouts on their annual transect line counting exercise. The exercise took ten days in total, and we averaged 20km of walking per day. This year’s count was encouraging and showed higher evidence of wild animals than the previous two years. This and the confessions from many of the local people that ‘it is getting harder to buy game meat because of what your group is doing’, shows that the scouts are indeed playing a truly noteworthy role in the resurgence of game in the West Lunga National Park.”

Patrick recalls one story in particular. “There was one man who people knew was poaching too much in Ntambu. He sent his son to get him some food. But when the scouts saw the son in the village they knew where he was heading and followed him a distance into the bush then apprehended him. Six months later, the scouts caught him again. We managed to get all the snares that he had, almost 140 in total of different sizes, and his guns. And now that man has stopped poaching because, he has realised that it is just too big a risk to go poaching”

Patrick is famous for his stories. “There was another time on patrol, we found a poacher and chased him to the river. He wanted to swim across, but there were two crocs sunning themselves on an island in the middle of the river…, but maybe I’ll save that story for another time.”

I now have great deal of respect for the hardships endured in carrying out patrol duties and can whole heartedly thank the supporters of the Kesho Trust for the donation of boots for the community scouts. The work of the scouts is a very important part of what we in the West Lunga Trust are hoping to achieve.  Having these safety boots will enable these good stories of improving conservation to keep on coming.

Rebecca Mpumba
West Lunga Trust, Project Co-ordinator