Putting something back
Back in the UK, in 2019 Tent with a View set up the Cumbria Eco Forum together with
Dr Emily Fitzherbert who herself spent 10 years in Tanzania working on her PHD. We brought together primary and secondary schools throughout Cumbria who each
showcased their work to a panel of prominent judges who were to judge and
announce winners at the first schools eco forum day which was to be held on
March 13th 2020 at Sedbergh School who, very generously, agreed to provide the
venue and support on the day.
Prominent speakers were to attend from the public
and private sector as well as the political stage. The event had to be
postponed due to the outbreak of Covid 19. Eventually this event did take
place in March 2022 but on a much smaller scale in The Lake District. It was a
great day nevertheless with some fabulous presentations from schools all over
Cumbria and well-deserved financial prizes to help continue the fantastic work
the winning schools were already doing. A TENT WITH A VIEW sponsored the entire
event.
If you'd like to find out more about the event please read our article:
The UK 's first regional schools environmental awards
Tara & David met Jo & Mark Topley also living in Tanzania at the time with a similar vision of helping local communities. On one social evening, Mark revealed that one of the biggest killers in Tanzania was septic teeth in remote villages where there are no dentists. Where there was a dentist they were very expensive prohibiting many of affording the fee. Bridge2Aid brought UK dentists and dental nurses out to Tanzania for a 2 week sabbatical each year with a goal to training local personnel in remote villages to extract teeth in a safe and sterile way. This has undoubtedly saved lives. Our role was to identify villages and help connect the dental team with the village council in order to arrange the training. With that came free board and lodging in our Sable Mountain Lodge in Selous Game Reserve and Simply Saadani Camp in Saadani National Park which was a welcome place to come home to each evening.
Whilst there have been periods of poaching of Tanzania's elephants throughout the last century, the last period of intensive poaching was 2009-2013 when the country lost a shocking half of its population with 2/3 of elephants lost in Selous Game reserve (now Nyerere National Park). Whilst poaching of elephants was rife throughout the country during this period, Selous suffered most with a population that dropped from 40,000 to just 13,000 in the space of a few years. Something had to be done and fast. A Tent with a View together with the late Dr Alfred Kikoti joined together to form a pressure group called the TEPS (Tanzania Elephant Protection Society) and brought together all prominent East African conservationists and government ministers together in one room and with several members of the government who were on side, we managed to persuade the Ministry of Wildlife that there was an enormous poaching problem in the country and urgent action was needed. We were asked to form a task force to present our findings to the Wildlife Division of the government, who, as a result of such findings, allocated funding to form anti-poaching patrols throughout the country. We are extremely proud to say that this is perhaps our largest achievement to date and we feel directly responsible for helping to save many more previously doomed elephants and halting the ivory trade in Tanzania for a while. The road is a long one but we have made huge headway and seen a commitment from the government.
This Tent with a View
initiative began in 2011. Doctors on Safari brought 3rd year medical
students out to Tanzania from Southampton University for a month long medical
elective to during July & August. In year 1, we received a huge
number of applications from which just 2 students were chosen to come out to
either Selous or Saadani. The students identified what medical facilities
there currently were in each village. From there the medical students
processed the data and set out what was needed in order of priority and how
best to go about getting supplies and also the best way to train local nursing
personnel.
This was a big challenge for our young medics who needed to
use initiative in a place with very little knowledge and learn to utilise what
was available. Training of village medical personnel was a big part of this
initiative. The students were looked after at Sable Mountain Lodge and Simply
Saadani Camp for the duration and rewarded with a safari or two at the end of
their elective.
