Elefence focuses on specific projects that will protect the villages and the wildlife. Each project is funded by donations and grants from public and private donors. Below are the most recent projects our organization has completed.
Malawi
Elefence provided the funding for completion of the solar powered electric fence around the Thuma Forest Reserve. Since completion of the fence, Thuma Forest is the most secure forest ecosystem in Malawi and the problems with escaping elephants has been reduced over 95%.
Provided the funding for the Ranger Reward Program. Rangers are given a cash bonus for successful apprehension and conviction of poachers and illegal tree cutting. (Rangers typically make only $3/day for a job that is physically challenging and dangerous. Rangers have been killed and injured by wildlife and attacked by gangs of poachers.)
Installed boreholes (water wells) in 3 villages to provide clean readily available water where before women and children had to haul water long distances, often from polluted sources.
Awarded 10 scholarships and school supplies for the last two years for deserving students to attend high school. Elementary school is free in Malawi but tuition for high school must be paid by the parents. The cost is minimal by our standards but well beyond the the means of the average Malawi family.
All funding has come from our generous donors, funding grants, and from Sea World & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.
Chipembele Wildlife Education Center in Zambia
Built an elephant-proof stockade as a holding area for rescued, injured, or adolescent elephants -mostly for baby elephants whose mother were killed by poachers.
Provide housing for two men as 24/7 caretakers for the baby elephants. Facilities included bathrooms with flush toilets and showers. Note: rescued baby elephants are very difficult to raise. They are traumatized by the killing of their mothers that they refuse to eat or drink. Many times they die due to grief and loneliness. If they can be coaxed to eat, they have to be bottle fed every 3 hours and have someone stay with them around the clock for months to keep them company.
Provide food for the caretakers and food/baby formula for the baby elephants.
Built fencing around the wildlife center to keep out dangerous troops of baboons, especially when the children are present. Elefence shipped hundreds of books and materials from the USA to the students.
Provided a new computer for Steve and Anna Tolan, owners of the Chimembele Center.
Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe
Organized construction of a fresh water solar powered “water hole for elephants” on their migratory route in Hwange National Park.
Provided food for the village school of Mambanje village.
Provided funding for the Lion Guardian Program and a portable stockade (boma) to protect livestock from marauding lions.
Installed a solar well for the village of Mambanje.
Distributed solar lamps for the school children so they could read and do their homework at home where they had no electricity.
Established a fruit orchard at the Mambanje village to combat malnutrition.
Lower Zambezi National Park
Supplied radio communication equipment for the Rapid Response Rangers of the park, GPS units for the park rangers, new uniforms and boots for the rangers, a radio tower for communication with rangers in the field and a river patrol boat for the Zambezi River patrols.
South Luangwa National Park
Provided funds for ranger housing, and funds for a school for the rangers’ children.
Installed a fresh water well and generator for an impoverished clinic at the edge of the park. The clinic was so poor the volunteer doctor had to rewash surgical gloves. Elefence also provided some medical equipment and medicines.
Elefence International, Inc. 