A boost for L&L Branding

Elewana Collection continues to market Land & Life Foundation as its only charity. To ensure that the L&L brand is prominently displayed in Elewana properties, all camp vehicles been branded with our logo. Additionally, the new guest experience cards have a section where guests tick if they have heard about L&L during their stay.

These efforts will greatly boost our fundraising and we hope that we will soon receive more donations to continue supporting the communities that we work with. We sincerely thank the operations team for all their support in promoting L&L in the properties.

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Good news for Esiteti Primary School

Good news for Esiteti

Earlier this year we received a donation of $42,000 from the A.E Reimann Foundation to fund our projects and activities at Esiteti Primary School near Tortilis camp. Part of the funds will go to the construction of 2 classrooms in the school to cater for the growing number of children in the school.

We have already identified a contractor who will be taking the project. Recently, our project coordinator took him to the school for a site survey. The construction is scheduled to start in mid August and we cannot wait to share the images of the progress of the project.

Still on Esiteti, another donor has expressed interest in funding the construction of a boys’ dormitory. We are currently working on a final quote for the construction and are hoping that we will tie this project to the classrooms’ construction.

These projects once completed will greatly improve the standards of education at Esiteti and the neighbouring villages.

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Wildlife Warrior Program kicks off in Tanzania

We are over the moon to report that in July the Land & Life Foundation launched the Wildlife Warrior Program in Tanzania. The first Wildlife Warrior session took place at Ganako Primary School in Karatu, near The Manor Ngorongoro.

Firstly, a donation of 150 text books was made to the school. This was greatly appreciated, because the school previously had no textbooks at all, and had been borrowing from other schools to hold classes. We also provided assorted stationery, notebooks and so on. This was all made possible by generous donors both international and local, and also by staff members of Elewana and Sopa who, you may recall, undertook the world famous Kilimanjaro Marathon in February to raise funds.

Following the donations, and after signing an official MoU with the School Committee, we held the first Wildlife Warrior Club conservation education session on the benefits of conservation. The session was facilitated by Lucy Evarest of Shanga Foundation, who kindly agreed to assist with this exciting event. We signed up 59 students to the Wildlife Warrior Club, and will be issuing membership cards to all the children shortly.

Ganako Primary School

The event was a great success and both the school and the wider community were delighted. The MP for Karatu, Cecelia Paresso, came to Ganako to observe the session and offer thanks for the efforts being made by Land & Life. We would like to thank Shanga for their support, and Rodgers, Assistant Manager at the Manor Ngorongoro, for his time and effort.

We hope to return to Ganako Primary with some more fun activities soon, and are looking now at Zanzibar and Arusha to start up activities there. Watch this space for more updates!

Providing a new lease for life

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Against all odds

Against all odds

He is a very brave little boy. He is only 5 years of age and he always greets strangers with a smile, despite the difficulty this causes him.  This little boy has a debilitating chronic condition which has left him confined to a bed. He finds it challenging doing simple tasks that we take for granted – like chewing and swallowing. But he is a very determined and resilient boy, and under his mother’s watchful eyes he will try to raise his hand to greet visitors and smile and laugh.

His name is Wayne Kiprop Kogei, the only child of Samuel Soi, a driver at Elsa’s Kopje – one of us in this large Elewana and Cheli & Peacock family.

Wayne suffers from cerebral palsy, a condition marked by impaired muscle coordination and other disabilities, typically caused by damage to the brain before or at birth.  As a result, he suffers from convulsions and has delayed development milestones.  In addition to this, he has breathing difficulties due to enlarged adenoids, the mass of tissue that sits above and behind the nose.

Unfortunately, his immune system is currently too weak to allow him to safely undergo surgery.  His doctors will be monitoring his progress in the next three months and reevaluate his case again thereafter.

Despite his illness, Wayne has a fighting spirit and has become an inspiration to many, and that is why we are asking you to stand by him today.

Wayne requires three sessions of occupational therapy per week, as well as a supply of anticonvulsants to help prevent or reduce the severity and frequency of seizures and monthly follow up with his paediatrician to check his progress.  Due to financial constraints, Wayne’s parents cannot afford a nurse, let alone meet his medical expenses.  His mother has been his primary caregiver since birth and so Samuel is the sole breadwinner for this young family.

To date, the Land & Life Foundation have donated sitting and standing aids to help strengthen his muscles and leg braces to enhance his mobility and help him to get around. Elewana has pledged to provide an additional 20 sessions of occupational therapy, which will cover the next six months for him to attend twice a week instead of only once.

If you would like to know more about how you too can help Wayne, please contact us today. He, and we, would appreciate your support!

A win for Shanga!

We are delighted to announce that our sister foundation, Shanga, has been awarded an award for “Outstanding Sustainability” at the 2016 Minor Awards of Excellence ceremony. Being placed 2nd from 32 submissions, Shanga was recognised for its outstanding contribution to the community and positive impacts on business, society and the environment.

Shanga, the Swahili word for bead, is one of Arusha’s hidden gems. It was started in 2007 as a small one person project and has grown into a large and effective organisation today, employing nearly 60 people, over half of whom are disabled. Shanga works to empower people living with disabilities through training and employment, giving them the chance to support their families and develop a successful career.

Shanga is now supported by Land & Life and Elewana as part of our commitment to the people of Tanzania. Shanga is located at Arusha Coffee Lodge where the workshop houses a range of disabled employees and showcases activities including glass-blowing, weaving, sewing, tinga tinga painting, bead-making and metal work, as well as a shop showcasing handmade Shanga products.

We are exceptionally proud of Shanga and all its employees and would like to congratulate everyone once again on doing such a great job. Keep up the good work, everyone!

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A well deserved game drive!

Late last month, six children from Ololomei Primary School near Elephant Pepper Camp were delighted to win last term’s Wildlife Warrior Program Poster competition. The six drew a very creative and impressive poster that captured the theme ‘Living with Wildlife’, and presented the poster as a team, discussing the many themes of human-wildlife conflict from the unique perspective of young people living on the border of a wildlife-rich conservation area. All of the students produced wonderful posters, of course, and the winning team were proud to have been chosen from such a high standard of selections.

A well deserved game drive

The winning students were awarded with a game drive to Mara North Conservancy and a brief tour of Elephant Pepper Camp.They were accompanied by two of their teachers and by the look of things they really had a really grand time! A special ‘Thank you’ to Patrick and Sophie for organising this outing for our warriors!

 

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Over $20,000 for Plaster House!

Over $20,000 for Plaster House!On Friday 24th March Land & Life Foundation co-hosted a Fundraising Gala at Arusha Coffee Lodge. With beer generously provided by Tanzania Breweries Limited and wine kindly provided by Upper Zonal Trading, there were plenty of drinks for everyone, and the lodge provided a fine spread of snacks for all guests. Prizes for the silent auction were donated from a wide range of generous sponsors including Coastal Aviation, Serengeti Balloon Safaris, Elewana Collection, Sopa Lodges, Salt Restaurant Dar es Salaam, Nomad Tanzania, Amani Forest Camp, and many more.

The event was a huge success and we raised over $20,000! This amount is being donated directly and in full to the Plaster House Arusha, a rehabilitation home for children recovering from life changing orthopaedic, plastic or neuro surgery. Plaster House will be using the funds raised at this event to purchase a Toyota Hiace van, and this will be used to transport  the sick children and their carers to and from the hospital for surgery and appointments.  Everyone is thrilled, and the staff and patients and Paster House would like to thank everyone who attended the event and contributed to the successful evening.

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Toilet project at Embiti

Embiti Toilet

Sanitation and hygiene in schools contributes to better health and educational outcome among school going children.  But just for a moment, imagine attending a primary school with no toilet!   This has been the situation at Embiti Primary School near Sand River Mara since the school was founded six years ago.

That was until last year when a very supportive group of young people staying at Sand River Mara, the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO), visited the school. Having seen the school and talked to the staff and students, the YPO group decided to donate US$ 1,000 towards a toilet project.

We are now thrilled to report that we have overseen the successful construction and completion of 4 toilets and 1 urinal for the children and staff. On a recent visit to the school, the toilet facilities were just about to be completed, and the staff and students are delighted with the improvement in their facilities. It is thanks to generous donations such as this one that the Land & Life Foundation is able to continue to make a real difference to the lives of communities living in and around wildlife areas.

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Tales from the Mara

Winning Poster - Ololomei

Last week I visited our supported projects at the Masai Mara.  My first stop was Ololomei Primary School near Elephant Pepper Camp (EPC) where I met the children and teachers and donated some textbooks to the school. Together with one of EPC’s guides Boniface, we held a Wildlife Warrior Poster competition based on this term’s theme “Living with Elephants”.   The posters were quite impressive but there can only be one winner, so we chose group number 5 who had produced a great picture which showed all elements of the complex living with wildlife challenges faced by the community – the elephants, the manyattas, the maize being eaten by elephant, the cattle under threat from predators, the tourists on a  game drive, the dams where the water is held and which attract elephant – a  great poster!  The winning group will go on a game drive on Tuesday 28th March and will thereafter have tea and biscuits at EPC – watch this space for photos and maybe some interviews with the children.

Aitong Health CentreI also had an opportunity to visit our supported health facility at Aitong Town. Thanks to the mounting support of donors the health centre has a recently completed maternity wing, with spacious facilities and new equipment. However it is lacking in power at present and therefore is not in use, which I found very disappointing. We would like to help with this situation and over the next month or two we hope to send an electrician to see how we can rectify this problem.  We also plan to scale up our annual medical camp scheduled for November, which provides free medical and dental care to the community. This year we hope to partner with like-minded organisations to expand our impact, and  we are looking at the possibility of introducing the National Health Insurance Fund to the community as well as bringing in a wide range of medical specialists. We will keep you updated as we go along.

My last stop was at little Embiti Primary School just outside the gates of the Maasai Mara Reserve and supported by Sand River Mara. The school has 115 students from nursery up to Class 4, and the top two classes impressed me by their memorising the Wildlife Warrior pledge!

Watch the video:

Here we have provided funding for the school’s first and only toilet block, which is about to be finished. I am delighted about this as it will make a real and immediate impact on all students and staff at the school who currently have no toilet facilities at all.

I brought printed colouring sheets for the youngest children with pictures of the wildlife of the Mara, and large sheets of poster paper for the older Wildlife Warriors, and set the Warriors a poster competition on the topic of “Our Favourite Wildlife”. The winners will be taken on a game drive in the Game Reserve and be treated to a picnic lunch by SRM guides and managers.