Mudslide TCS and TKEEP victims

I´m Natalia Casado Bolaños, Conservation Manager at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, located in the affected area. As part of our outreach programme, we were already commited to helping communities prior to the tragedy. Furthermore, we wish to help the schools we work with that have suffered the consequenses of the tragedy by raisaing money for the kids that are part of Tacugama´s education programme. Moroever, their families need our support as well along with several of our own staff members that have lost loved ones.  We also want to continue building awareness concerning issues related to encroachment and deforestation to avoid futures disasters. 

Your generous donations will help us reconstruct some of the affected peoples´ lives. But we need to start with the basics. For the moment we are using the funds for essential needs that the government and ngos are not able to provide. We need to start allocating the funds to cover these basic needs and once a more thorough assessment of the damages are conducted, we will start focusing on covering more long-term requirements. The funds will be transfered to the chairman and director of Friends of Tacugama UK, Paul Glynn, who will make sure that they are available for us to cover the expenses highlighted above.

Hope you can understand the delay of the updates due to the overwelming circumstances.

Please refer to Facebook for our most recent updates (www.facebook.com/Tacugama).

Floods and a mudslide shook up Tacugama axis on the morning of August 14th. The victims include several family members of our staff as well as the kids involved in our education programme (TKEEP). They need your support more than ever!

Funds raised will be directed immediately towards relief efforts where needed to the kids and families in Regent and surrounding areas. This will include food, clothing, relocation and repair efforts for housing, phone credit to locate the missing and respond quickly, and ensuring all of the displaced people are provided with safety. We will also be working with local community groups to organize efforts on the ground for maximal efficiency and prevention/evacuation efforts for future potential landslides.

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001252057/death-toll-of-mudslide-disaster-in-sierra-leone-hits-499

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/world/africa/sierra-leone-mudslides-floods.html?mcubz=1
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/14/sierra-leone-landslide-hundreds-feared-buried-houses-submerged/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-40926187