So much to report! Not had much time to blog so apologies for the gap. Dr Nyamwea who is one of the vets who was able to remove a snare from one of the elephnts recently was still around when I last visited the area. There was yet another snared elephant at the water hole that day but the group didn’t hang around long, we suspect it was becuase there was already a herd at the waterhole and then big cantankerous old buff came to join them and put them off hanging around. Dr Chege was to replace Dr Nyamwea and play the waiting game again.

This is part of the little group with a very young calf that was already at the waterhole in front of Mountain Lodge when I was last up there. The other group with the snared elephant came in a bit later but were not around long enough to let us help the limping elephant.

The youngest elephant in the middle of the group is the one with the snare. She never came close enough for Dr Naymweya to try and dart her. We hope she’ll be back with her family again soon. Pictured below is Dr Nyamwea with KWS rangers who assist him when he treats wildlife along with Humphrey (our Field Co-ordinator, and Edwin Kinjuanjui who operates from Mountain lodge and works with the Trust). From left to right: a ranger, Dr Nyamwea with his dart gun, Edwin, a ranger and Humphrey. The KWS rangers who help the vets are trained to work with vets on operations such as this one, translocation and probalem animal control projects.

In the meantime I have been trying to raise money for two guys who have become friends through my mountain bike challenge that I organise to raise funds for the Trust. They are Dedan and Ibrahim and I help them because there is so little support from the Goverment for people with disabilities and these guys have incredible will power and enthusiasm. The paralympic comittiee in Kenya is not funded and there are no offices. Another friend of mine who is blind was made president and he needs assistance so we have entered Dedan and Ibrahim in an event in Columbia and it has been up to me and the guys to look for funding to send them over there to represent Kenya. We have very little time left because the event is on the 8th Nov but I have tried my best to get support. Amazingly there has been a great deal of support from kind individuals but very little from our National corporates which includes Kenya Airways. I am rather shocked by this. Until this morning we had 200,000/- shillings pledged by individuals and one small company. Give up is not an option I am particularly fond of so I have kept at it. Today I got confirmation that Ingrid Munro from Jamii Bora here in Nairobi will support Dedan through the company. She got Dedan off the streets and says he is like a son to her. I am overwhelmed. Now I must find the money for Ibrahim to go to Columbia with Dedan. I don’t intend to let him down.

Dedan is on the left and Ibrahim next to his aborial bike. Ibrahim and Dedan both have one leg. Through the support and exposure a team of supporters have given Ibrahim and with his uncompromising willpower he recently got a sophisticated leg in the US. Dedan will get the same kind of support if he can go to Columbia. If the guys do well at this parapanamerican event they may well qualify for the paralympics in Bejing next year. There is no hope of them getting there if they don’t go to Columbia next week as this will be the last qualifing trial. I need to find another 10,000 Euros or some donated air fares and half that. I am still working on some airlines.

I just found out that the vehicle I was telling you about that we got for the Trust from a donation given by AFEW Kenya will be ready for its second lot of modifications on Monday. It is very exiting! Humphrey our Field Co-oridinator is doing his driving lessons at the moment so that he will be able to use the Suzuki from next year. In the meantime the Land Cruiser donated by AFEW USA is also being modified specifically for is work with the new Joint Wildlife Protection Team. The new Ford Ranger is pictured below on the day I went to collect it! Thanks to AFEW and CMC Motors Group we have made an initial deposit and need to find the (interest free) balance of 1m shillings over the next two years.

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