An amazing encounter with some incredible wildlife

I had the most AMAZING experience yesterday - my friend Ollie and I confiscated two baby leopard cubs from the Ministry of Wildlife and spent the day/night nursing them back to health. I'm still reeling from the shock of it all - and feel that it's not really happening. They are both female, and they're about three weeks old. Absolutely beautiful.

My good friend Ollie, manager of Safari Style Hotel, takes in antelopes, bush bucks, dik-diks and other wildlife into her care in the hotel compound. The wildlife officers often bring animals to Ollie because she knows how to take care of them. One of her staff also works in the Ministry of Wildlife, so he alerts her to the different wildlife that come in. On the weekend, he happened to casually show her a photograph of two leopard cubs that they had recently acquired, so Ollie went straight to the Ministry compound (which is right next door to us) to find out.

The story from the Ministry of Wildlife was that in the area where Southern National Park is located (but not operational), around a two hour drive west of Rumbek, some SPLA soldiers patrolling the area came across a leopard, who ran away when she saw them approaching. Afterwards, they heard the cries of the cubs in the grass, and went to investigate. They took them from their natural habitat (the worst thing you could do - the mother hadn't abandoned them!) and took them to a cattle camp, where they apparently survived for three weeks on cow's milk before being brought to the Ministry compound where they'd been for a week. Given their size, we didn't believe this story; in our eyes they only look like they were 3 weeks old. We also didn't believe that the soldiers had let the leopard run away; we think they killed her and then took the babies to be sold.

Leopards are extremely rare in South Sudan due to the war (hunted for food, driven away by fighting), hunting for their fur and their cubs (to sell as pets). They are apparently a unique sub-species that has evolved differently from leopard populations in other parts of Africa.

When Ollie saw the state they were in and the terrible conditions in which the wildlife officers were keeping them, she came to get me. The poor little critters were suffering from dehydration, malnutrition and diahorrea. The wildlife officers were feeding them every six hours - using unsterilised bowls, milk power (which lacked  the vitamins & minerals that humans need, let alone big cats!) mixed with cold water - through a very dirty-looking rubber glove. The idea was right, but the execution was poor. Given that these cubs are only about 3 weeks old, they need the right food administered in a hygienic way, as they are very susceptible to disease.

We were extremely worried they wouldn't survive the night, particularly the female who was extremely skinny due to dehydration and malnourishment, and very unsteady on her feet. The two of them certainly wouldn't have survived if we'd left them in the care of the wildlife officers who said 'oh, they're just cats' and were not prepared - nor able - to administer the regular care required to keep these rare animals alive - feeding every 2 hours with the right mixture of leopard-specific milk formula.

So we tried to convince them that we should take them with us and administer the proper care for them, to ensure they'd survive. While they weren't happy with this, they grudgingly admitted that they didn't have any money to buy the right food nor were they prepared to sacrifice the time and effort required to do so. When they said 'we don't work on Sundays, so we'll sort it out tomorrow', we got even more frustrated. In the end we promised that we'd take care of them so that they would survive the night, and to come back on Monday with the cubs. (ha! not likely)

Grrrrr ... these people are responsible for the country's wildlife, but they don't even know what wildlife is (except cows), nor how to take care of it! They didn't even understand what endangered or threatened means - nor that it is extremely important that such animals are given the highest priority for protection and care. The problem is that the Ministry has no capacity, medicine nor money to take care of any wildlife. They don't even know what half the wildlife are that they come across. In their compound are two small cages in which they keep a handful of baboons and a small red monkey, whom they let out regularly to roam their compound (and ours!) to forage for food. If they can't feed some baboons, how will they take care of two leopard cubs?! Their wildlife officers are not properly trained - nor have the knowledge - to know what to do. They are also missing another vital attribute - giving a shit.

So we took them away yesterday and started taking care of them at Safari Style. A bit of internet research found us a recipe for some special milk formula for leopards (egg yolk, milk powder, glucose and gelatin), which we syringed down their throats every 2-3 hours, as well as ORS to try and rehydrate them. We spent all afternoon doing this with these beautiful creatures. What a privilege. We continued through the night lat three-hourly intervals - 11pm, 2am, 5am and 8am.

action shot!

I'm now suffering from lack of sleep, am covered in scratches and bite marks, and I think the little critters slightly dislike me for such 'mistreatment' - but it was worth it. This morning they were lively bundles of fur! They are so gorgeous. I am in love!

    

 Ollie and her new charge                                          

       

Ollie ordered some probiotics from Nairobi, which will arrive on a plane today. We are hoping the vets in Kenya will also send de-worming tablets; the poor little guys aren't getting as many nutrients as they should because the worms are consuming them all! We may have to resort to human de-worming tabs. There is a vet in Rumbek who works for VSF (Veterinaires Sans Frontiers), and we got him to take a look at them yesterday. So far so good; we are doing the right thing for now. VSF deals mostly with bovine health, and doesn't have specialised medicines for domestic animals like dogs, let alone wild ones like leopards! 

At least our two charges are looking much healthier than they were. There is such a change in them from when we first found them at the Ministry. They have energy, they want to eat, they're exploring, playing and generally cruising around looking like fat, happy leopard cubs!

       

The next stage in the saga was the meeting with the Ministry that Ollie had this morning. The head of Wildlife Officers basically told her to bring the leopards back to them so that they can take care of them. But they said she should pay for all the medicine and food for them. Fuckers. They can't have their cake. If they're not prepared to pay for the care required, why should they be allowed to keep them, especially when they can't even demonstrate that they will do it properly?

Eventually, when they're big, the Ministry wants to keep the leopards in their compound in an existing house/cage, and charge people to come and see them. How bloody ignorant, selfish and money-hungry can you get. Keeping a male and female leopard together in a cage is madness - they'll kill each other, or escape from the compound and kill someone's cows, which will lead to them being killed. They might even kill a person. These are wild animals that shouldn't be locked up! They need acres of land for hunting. It just shows how little knowledge and care there is for wildlife here. Cows are the priority. No suprises really though - people here find it difficult enough to look after themselves, let alone wildlife - and wildlife provides a source of income if they kill them for their fur or their young to sell as pets.

So, what next? We're certainly not interested in keeping these beautiful creatures in a cage ourselves. Once they are healthy enough, we want to return them to the wild. Doing so here would almost be a death wish. We just can't guarantee their survival even if we took them out to Southern National Park, where they were found. The park is just allocated land; there is no infrastructure there, with no-one patroling any sort of boundary nor enforcing hunting restrictions. We're concerned that if we release them there, they'll either be hunted or sold for money. People just have no perception of wildlife conservation. The same thing could happen all over again.


So the plan is to try and get a CITES permit to get the leopards out of the country. We are hoping an organisation called Wildlife Conservacy Services (WCS) can help us to get these little guys out of here and safely into a national park or wildlife conservation area somewhere like Kenya or South Africa, where they can be properly protected. WCS is working with the South Sudan Government to set up a network of National Parks across the country, build ranger stations, establish park boundaries and train staff to patrol them. They are also tasked with protecting wildlife in the country. Currently though, none of this exists - WCS are only just building the ranger stations.

Hopefully, in future - which is looking like somewhere between 20 - 50 years - wild animals like our little feline friends can be reintroduced into the wild in South Sudan, once the park system is properly functional. The country is perfect for it - miles and miles of mostly uninhabited land - but it will be a long, uphill battle to achieve anything like a functional parks system.

So, we remain cautiously optimistic about the survival of these two little leopard cubs. Things are definitely looking up - compared to when we first found them. But we'll just have to wait and see. All we know is that we're going to do our darnedest to stop them from getting back into incompetent Ministry of Wildlife hands.

This experience erases all of the sh!te i've experienced working here in South Sudan. It's a rare thing to even see a leopard in the wild, let alone leopard cubs, and to have the opportunity to give them a chance to survive makes me feel like I have some sort of super power. I'm one of the luckiest people alive.

Another report on the refugee situation :(

UNHCR appeals for funds to scale up emergency refugee operations in South Sudan


JUBA, South Sudan, June 13, 2012
African Press Organization (APO)

UNHCR today appealed for donor support to scale up emergency response operations in Unity and Upper Nile states.


Speaking to members of the press in Juba, Mireille Girard, UNHCR Representative in South Sudan, stated that refugee numbers had exceeded the planning figures set out in the emergency appeal which was launched earlier this year. “Our capacity to respond to this emergency is being challenged every single day. We are anticipating a major scale-up to respond to the rapidly growing population of refugees from Sudan.”


Regarding the surge in refugee numbers, Girard noted that 70,000 new arrivals had entered the country since April. “We had anticipated there would be up to 60,000 refugees in Unity state. We have already crossed the 50,000 mark and if the present trend of 800 new arrivals per day continues, we should reach the planning figure before the end of June. In Upper Nile state, we planned for 75,000 refugees. Already, we are counting 105,000 with reports that up to 15,000 could cross the border in the coming days.”


The UNHCR Representative noted that there had been no let-up since the emergency started in July last year. “Refugee settlements are in remote areas with virtually no infrastructure. Our priority has been to relocate refugees to safer sites away from border areas. We have established five settlements in Unity and Upper Nile states where refugees are receiving protection and basic services. We had to open up new supply lines through Ethiopia. WFP reprioritized the allocation of food stocks at great cost to ensure that refugees were fed. As the refugee population grew, we encountered critical gaps in water supply, particularly in Jammam settlement.”


Girard noted that challenges are increasing with the rains. “We intend to establish new settlements close to the River Nile to ensure adequate supplies of water. Authorities in Upper Nile state have undertaken to provide new sites. We will require heavy machinery to maintain road access to and within all refugee settlements. We are launching an airlift of non-food items by mid-week.”


The UNHCR Representative said the most immediate needs before the full onset of the rainy season had been computed as USD 40 million. She noted that the emergency appeal of USD 111 million for South Sudan was funded at a modest USD 34 million, which have already been expended. She thanked the donors who contributed the funds, adding that to cover the shortfall UNHCR had activated emergency reserves which enabled it to secure immediate relief support. The funds from the emergency reserve are now depleted.


Describing the current situation, the UNHCR Representative expressed concern about the increased rate of arrival from both Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states. She noted that refugees from both provinces were citing bombings, ground fighting and depletion of food stocks. “During my recent visit to Hofra, the refugees I met were weak from having survived on leaves and roots, and drinking untreated water from open sources as they travelled on foot for weeks to escape the conflict.

Severe cases had to be hospitalized.”


Regarding ongoing operational responses, Girard noted that road conditions had deteriorated to the extent that tractors with trailers had to be used to transport the most vulnerable to safety from border areas. She described how the 32,000-strong group of new arrivals had been moved from Elfoj to Hofra, and then to Kilo 18 even as drilling efforts continued in the refugee settlements in the quest for sustainable water sources. She confirmed that two new boreholes in Yusuf Batil were producing water in sufficient numbers to cater for over 20,000 refugees, and more were being drilled. Girard announced that the final movement of refugees from Kilo 18 to Yusuf Batil has commenced; 2,000 people are being transported every day.


In Yida, the UNHCR Representative noted that expedited procedures have been put in place for new arrivals. "The priority is to check their nutrition status and ensure that those who are malnourished receive urgent treatment." Girard remarked that the burgeoning population was putting a strain on water and sanitation infrastructure. She said water and sanitation activities (wells, latrines and hygiene promotion) are being upgraded amid concerns about congestion and risk of disease.


“We need additional boreholes. The water table in Yida is good. We are working to complete these interventions before the roads are completely closed. Together with WFP we are pre-positioning food and non-food items in order to avoid costly airlifts. We are confident that stockpiles will be ready on time.” Girard was referring road conditions which will deteriorate drastically rendering ground access impossible as the seasonal rains set in.


The Representative reiterated UNHCR’s continuing concerns about refugee security in Yida. She recalled that the settlement had been bombed and shelled directly twice during attacks in Jau, the disputed border area. She conceded that UNHCR could not force refugees to move.

“We will continue to advocate for refugees to relocate to areas where the risk of attack is lower. On the other hand, as long as refugees choose to remain in Yida, we will continue to provide life-saving assistance and basic services to maintain conditions of dignity.”


South Sudan is currently hosting over 150,000 refugees from Sudan. Over 105,000 of these are in Upper Nile State, while over 50,000 are in settlements further west in Unity State.


SOURCE

United Nations – Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Work woes and wankers

I'm not so happy with Oxfam right now.

Things are not looking good on the project front. We missed out on half our funding due to UNICEF tightening their purse strings, so we are having to limit the scope of our new WASH project in Rumbek North and not include a schools WASH component. Most importantly/sadly we also have to end the contracts of six of our staff because there isn't enough money to keep them all on - nor is the project big enough. It also means there is only enough money to fund my position for six months. Hopefully some more funds will come out of nowhere sometime soon. (!)

I really don't want to have to 'fire' our staff. It's just a shite process. But it sounds like I'm not really going to be part of deciding who should stay or go - to apparently avoid bias in the decision. Considering I manage and work with these guys on a daily basis, and know who those are that work hard, and those that don't, it all seems rather f#cking illogical to me. Our HR and funding departments are really starting to piss me off.


I'm fighting with HR about my contract too. Our Deputy Country Director is being a dick about the whole thing. I will soon have a new title - Coordinator, Public Health Promotion, instead of Advisor. I'll be required to get more involved in national-level strategic development of PHP approaches and strategies, and work more across the Oxfam South Sudan program. This is effectively what I do now, but it's designed to remove my involvement in the staff management side of things by taking me out of the field, and get me focused on these higher-level activities. One part of this is being based in Juba, but I'm not really keen; I prefer Rumbek and I can do more here in the field. There, I just sit in the office and attend meetings and don't really feel like I belong there. That's not why I signed up to work here.

Our Public Health project manager, Moses will be leaving soon, so I may have to act in his position in Rumbek til they recruit someone new anyway, which could be around two months. I'll miss him a lot. He's a great guy to work with, totally chilled; I enjoy his company and respect his professionalism and experience. Still, I feel like I do a lot of his job for him; when I'm here I basically manage the Public Health team, and initiate all the planning of the project; yet it is him that should be doing these things.

That said, it could be a blessing in disguise 'moving' to Juba. With my Rumbek social network dissolving in front of my eyes, going to Juba where there is a critical mass of people could be a good thing. It will enable me to focus on what I should be doing, and remove the distractions of managing the team. But what I find most frustrating about the whole thing is that I will get to the field less often and be expected in Juba more often. And they're asking me to go 'immediately', because they want me to cover for the absent Public Health Coordinator, whose position has been vacant for around three months now. Not my f#cking problem, Oxfam. You've failed to recruit someone for this position. I'm not going to sit behind a desk in Juba doing this person's job if you're not going to compensate me for it. I'm refusing to go until I'm good and ready.


And for many reasons, I just don't like the place. It's big, dirty, unsafe and I don't have a good feeling about it. But maybe I just need to give it time. It's not like I don't enjoy it when I'm there; I've just never really got a reason for being there apart from passing through... but now... another bonus: I've met a nice Kenyan guy there, who I really like, so hopefully I'll get to spend some more time with him. And I have some other friends there with whom I'll get to spend more time. And there's constant phone network, electricity and decent food, unlike Rumbek. So it has its advantages.

Plus I get to decide how much time I spend in Juba vs the field, even though it's supposed to be 40% Juba, 30/30 Lakes/Upper Nile. I don't think I'll get to Upper Nile in the near future though.We have over 60 staff there now, working on the refugee emergency response and a lot of Hygiene Promotion experts to provide assistance. In some ways I'm happy about it - it means less moving up and down all the time - but in others I'd still like to go there and be part of the response. But I've tried to make contact with the managers there, to find out if they would like me to come and support the team; even my request for a ToR has fallen on deaf ears. If they don't want me there, fine, just let me know! For now, it suits me fine though. I can support the team with planning our new Public Health intervention in Rumbek North.

Funnily enough, just yesterday I got a request from one of the PHP advisors to come there and 'share my experiences' working in Jamam. They could have done this 2 months ago when I got back, and the scale-up there was 2 months younger than it is now. Such a cop out. They only want me to do this now that I have a new title. Directed from Juba no doubt.

Still, we'll see how things pan out. You have to stay optimistic in this place, otherwise it drags you down. Hopefully we'll get funding. Hopefully our little dog will survive. Hopefully a new social contingent will come in to fill the gaps. I do love Rumbek and I'll be sad to leave. But Juba brings with it a number of new opportunities. So let's see what happens.

Ok! Rant over.

Basketball, broken noses, dog sitting and adventures in Rumbek North

So, here in Rumbekistan, everything's just fine and dandy. Here's the contents of my brain for your enjoyment.

My enjoyment is coming from being able to stay in the one place - I'm not moving up and down so much between Upper Nile and Lakes, and am enjoying being able to spend my weekends with the crew here. have been getting into playing basketball in Freedom Square. We've been playing a bit of badminton and  watching the French Open and UEFA Cup football on the 'big screen' in the Safari Style hotel compound - a carefully erected bedsheet.

I've also really been enjoying basketball practice. A couple of mornings a week, I go out to the court in Freedom Square with my friend Dak, or if he's a no-show, whoever turns up - be it the street kids, an Ethiopian soccer player or two skiving off from training, or kids on their way to school. On Saturday mornings I go out for a run with some of the local guys. They're all way taller than me, and driving on them is a bit like hitting your head against a brick wall. Pointless and painful. So I've had to improve my outside shooting...

I'd been practicing for a week or two; then one Sunday evening I went out to play my first game. Five minutes into the game, I managed to break my nose due to an errant (and sharp!) elbow from an opposition player retrieving a rebound. I'd forgotten how red my blood was. I was lucky that one of my colleagues happened to be passing the court on foot and was able to call the car; I had no phone. I didn't head to the hospital - they wouldn't have been of any help - but went straight to the fridge in Safari Style for some ice! I now have a nice little lump on the bridge of my nose. Nice. I got a couple of nice little black eyes, and wearing sunnies was painful for about a week. I was actually annoyed that I didn't get better bruising on my face. I want the pain to be worth it. Give me BLACK EYES!

On the social front, everyone seems to be leaving over the next few weeks - including my good mate Rach, who has been working for Oxfam for the past six or seven months. She's leaving on Wed, which I'm really sad about. She's been such a good friend to have adventures, be silly and watch movies with, give & receive hugs, and most importantly, vent to - because we both understand each others' frustrations! I may go partly mad without her here! We are throwing her a big farewell bash on Tuesday night and have invited all the staff to come, as well as the khawaja crew. It should be really fun - there will be nyama choma and dancing, of course!

The three musketeers will soon become two ...

A couple of others are leaving by July, so our contingent is shrinking by the day. Even Ollie, the social glue of Rumbek, is fed up with the difficulties of managing a hotel here and is considering going to work in Mozambique. So I'll just have to wait and see how many friends I'll have left. It's the usual cycle of humanitarian workers. New ones will come... Insha'allah...

Rach and I were on dog patrol last weekend. We were taking care of a friend's puppy while she is on leave. On Thursday the puppy started getting really sick; by the weekend she wasn't eating or drinking anything and had bloody diahorrea.... so we took her to the vet at Veterinarians Sans Frontiers, who diagnosed her with parvo virus, something that commonly affects puppies. We've had to keep her hydrated by syringing water into her mouth - which she promptly throws up. She's now at the compound on a drip and it's not looking good; the vet says she may only live a few more days. We're absolutely mortified. Yesterday she disappeared in the compound and we were petrified she'd gone off to die somewhere. We were so relieved when we found her.

Work-wise, Oxfam is moving into a new county for 2012-13: Rumbek North. This county is quite remote and not served by many NGOs. It's insecure due to cattle raiding and inter-tribal fighting, and the one road leading there is already getting muddy with the impending rainy season, and soon will be impassable in sections, not to mention the villages we plan to work in, most of which are deep inside the bush. There are loads of trucks carrying marram northwards for road construction ... as well as loads of trucks carrying soldiers up to the border areas to fight the North. There are some training camps on the road for the new recruits to learn how to fight; on the other side of the road are the ramshackle villages which house the wives and children of the soldiers.

We spent last week doing a Needs Assessment there (checking the status of boreholes, visiting communities without boreholes - often over an hour's walk on foot because the landcruisers can't reach there (mud!) - and meeting with authorities) and this week we'll be doing baseline surveys with households in these same villages.Most of the villages we've visited have no hand pump, or their existing hand pumps are either broken or need some sort of rehabilitation, and no-one has a latrine in their home. People drink water from the river an hour's walk away, where they also take their cows to drink; during the rainy season they take water from pools on the ground. The schools are mostly simple benches under trees with a single bamboo shack that doubles as a church. It's very much a subsistence agricultural community. So it will be an interesting - and challenging - place to work in terms of implementing infrastructure and changing behaviour.

Rumbek North is isolated, but it's also really beautiful. The countryside is so green due to the initial rains; there are loads of birds everywhere - I've seen egrets, crowned cranes, ducks, ibis and other water fowl; and bucket loads of cows! We pass cattle camps - or remains of them - regularly, and a lot of small boys herding their cattle to the next site of green pasture. The cattle camps look like amazing places, even though I've never been into one. They are temporary settlements out in the open, with no houses, just temporary shelters to protect the mostly men and boys from the rain. They stay there with their cows - often in the hundreds; there are stakes in the ground to tie up the cows at night, and sometimes they put branches around the outside to mark the boundary and provide a temporary 'fence'. They keep dogs with them to help protect the herds from hyenas and burn cow dung to keep away the flies and mosquitoes. The people live - almost exclusively - off the cows' milk, use the urine to bleach their hair, and cover their faces in ash.

 

The community is currently in their fields cultivating the land with their huge white cows with the even huger horns, which pull simple ox ploughs behind them, and are planting peanuts, sorghum, sesame, maize - all by hand. Unfortunately the moving herds of cattle don't mix well with the villagers' crops, and cause all sorts of problems when they eat their way through.

And soon enough, we won't be able to get to any of these places, so we'll spend a few months in hibernation - planning our activities and hopefully improving our approach from last year. My gumboots are definitely going to get a work-out.