MEP had some very exciting fundraising achievements to report in the first quarter of 2017. First, we’d like to thank Alice Yu, a guest at MEP partner Richard’s River Camp, for her donation towards the collaring and monitoring of an at risk elephant in the Loita Hills area. This area of the Mara is currently experiencing high levels of poaching and needs closer monitoring to protect the elephants there. Collaring an elephant in Loita will also allow us to get a clearer picture of elephant rangelands in this area, which we can use toward intervention. The mapping of elephant corridors, dispersal areas and movement helps inform decision-making on land planning and usage, leading to the long-term protection of elephants.
The elephant collared in Loita Hills, Ndorre.
We are also delighted to report that MEP was awarded a grant of $15,000 from For Rangers that will contribute to ranger welfare over 2017. This money will ensure the salary and benefits for four current MEP rangers and was raised through MEP’s participation in the LEWA Marathon in 2016.
The Ngoswani School Project is making good progress. MEP had 100 seedlings donated by the Greenmade Movement, which is an organization operating in Narok County with the goal of reforestation and protection of the Mara’s natural ecosystem along with intense outreach and training of children and young people as conservationists. Those seedlings are planted and continue to grow.
Greenmade Movement Group recently planting seedlings at Oloolo Gate.
We continue to seek donations in hopes of planting all 4,500 seedlings with support and advice from Woodlands 2000 Trust. If you would like to fund the purchase of an indigenous tree seedling for the school please follow the link to our appeal. With your support, we were able to start planting 100 of those seedlings, together with the school children, on Earth Day, April 22. Stay tuned for more information about the success of this event.
Kids at the Ngoswani School.
We are extremely excited to unveil our first ever MEP pamphlet that is perfect reading material for hotel lobbies, lodge coffee tables or your MEP fundraising events. We would love help getting these distributed. If you have any good ideas on where to place them or want some of your own to have at an event or venue, please get in touch with MEP Development Director Victoria Fanthorpe.
We have also recently launched our MEP Wish List on Amazon filled with essential items that you can generously gift to MEP to help out our rangers. MEP’s rangers are on the frontline of protecting elephants on the ground, spending up to 2 weeks at a time in the field. It is vital that we provide them with the right equipment to enable them to do their job in all conditions. Some highlights include medical kits for patrol medics, wet weather ponchos, hydration systems, boots, flashlights and aerial night vision goggles. We would be extremely grateful for any items you could help provide!
Boots for MEP rangers featured on our Amazon Wish List.
Another way you can support us is through Amazon Smile, which you can access here. By signing up to Amazon Smile, Amazon will make a donation to the charity of your choice every time you shop via the site. To support MEP in this way, please make sure your charity is listed as “ESCAPE Foundation.” If it’s not, head to your account and select “Change Your Charity” then search for ESCAPE Foundation and select us as your charity of choice.
Finally, there are many exciting upcoming fundraising events in April that we’ll be sure to keep you up to date with on our Facebook page. The official Kenyan Launch of MEP event took place on April 27 in Nairobi, Kenya, which will allow key stakeholders to get to know more about MEP and meet our staff and trustees. Stay tuned for more on the success of this event. We were also excited to host children from The MAA Trust on April 24 at MEP HQ to enable them to learn more about conservation.
We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported our work so far in 2017!
