Shockingly one team did think Ireland and England were connected by land, obviously they never got the memo that Ireland is an island!!

25 tough questions later the winners emerged, aptly named “The Green Team”. When compiling the quiz, we thought the questions were pretty easy. In hindsight we should have made things a lot simpler!

I think it’s safe to say we all had a great night. We even brought a tri colour, face paints and badges from back home to paint Sri Lanka and MEF green for the night!

Susan & Karen.

Last week we took on the project of spiffing up the fruit shop! Previous volunteers had painted over a fresh coat of orange paint, but we figured it could use a little more life to attract more tourists to help raise money for our freedom fence! We had a lot of fun with this job and think it turned out really well! Some of the other girls also painted a beautiful new sign to hang on the front which should be up in no time! This will help let everyone know that they can have their elephant eat yummy fruit right out of their hand after their ride, and will help us to raise the funds to rescue another elephant!

Kjira

Last weekend we went to Kuliyapitiya to see the Pera Hera Festival. There were hundreds of elaborately dressed dancers, different music, dressed up elephants and so much more to see. It was such a amazing night for all of us. We were almost as much part of the parade as the procession, the locals had seen that all before multiple times a year, but its not very often that a group 11 white girls show up in their town! We felt like movie stars with all the stares and attention we were getting.

Stella and Kjira

Chandrawathi, a local farmer, lives in the village of Weragela, a village frequently visited by wild elephants. Chandrawathi lives alone with her 11 year old daughter, and with the help of her brothers, grows onions and rice for a living.

One evening in early September, the start of elephant season, her house was attacked by an elephant. A wild roaming elephant had left the jungles and entered the village, and at around 10:30pm had been drawn to Chandrawathi’s house by the smell of rice that she had stored within. She heard the dreaded sound of the elephant attacking her house, and ran for her brothers house across the road. With the help of them shouting and waving torches they managed to scare off this dangerous intruder, but not before it had smashed down part of her wall.

We were called to the scene the morning after to access the damage.

Millennium runs a compensation programme to help people like Chandrawathi. We provide compensation to villagers who suffer a loss from elephant damage. Chandrawathi was the first person that we were able to assist.

With the help of the local mason and a group of hardworking volunteers, we helped Chandrawathi rebuild her home. Millennium covered the cost of all the materials needed and paid the local mason for his time. We first had to knock down the parts of the wall that were still standing, but unsafe. Once this was done, we started helping the masoner mix the concrete and helped him lay the bricks in place.With everyone pitching in a helping hand, the wall was reconstructed within 2 days. Chandrawathi was extremely grateful for our help. We already have a very good relationship with the community of this village, but this is an example to them of how committed we are to helping.

Our aim is to help mitigate the human-elephant conflict, and to help the lives of those most effected by it.

Halina Pokoj and Wayne Beaumont

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On Thursday evening, three of the MEF volunteers were lucky enough to accompany Dr. Dangolla on a visit to a sick elephant a few hours away from the center. This elephant had been suffering from a condition that occurs when an elephant eats too much food too quickly (similar to human constipation). This leads to improper digestion and a large sum of undigested food left in the elephant’s stomach and intestines which is unable to move through the system properly. The result is that the elephant is in pain and cannot eat or rest properly until the food passes through the digestive system. The volunteers got to watch Dr. Dangolla, along with his two assistants, administer an IV treatment to the elephant which helped the food pass through. After the treatment was completed, they also watched the mahout perform an enema on his elephant, during which he inserted a local herbal mixture inside of the elephant’s rectum. Within minutes the elephant was passing gas again, a good sign! Although the volunteers only got to participate minimally in the treatment, watching the whole process of treating a sick elephant was quite the memorable experience!

Amber Backwell

Kandula has worked in Habarana giving tourist rides for the last 15 years. Because of the constant use of of howdahs, he has developed a muscular back problem. His owner has sent Kandula and his mahout, Sunil, here to MEF to recover using a specialist treatment advised by our doctor. Over the past 3 days I have been fortunate enough to watch the healing process begin.

The treatment began with fermentation. 3 times a day I would bath the top of Kandula’s back in hot water. The problem worsens when his muscles became cold so heat is vital (especially first thing in the morning). The first time I treated Kandula Sunil asked him to lay on his side so I could reach his back. The second time, and every treatment since, I have climbed up Kandula’s leg where I sit straddling his back. This is a very rare opportunity and one I am enjoying immensely.

Yesterday, the mahouts grinded a paste using a giant pestle and mortar, which I later learned was for Kandula. The ingredients were exotic-coconut, strong smelling leaves (I need to find out what they were), medicinal syrup and monkey beans. The ointment was laid onto pieces of cloth and tied up to create three poultices.

Later, at Kandula’s bed side, Sunil created a small fire on which he placed a tin bowl of water covered in cloth. He placed the poultices on top to heat them up with the steam. I climb up Kandula’s leg once again where Sunil throws me the first steaming hot poultice. I massage the top of the back releasing the hot, soothing oils. Sunil re-heats each poultice once, the whole process takes about 15 minutes. I then climb down, Sunil thanks me and I leave.

Prior to Kandula, Sunil has worked with 12 other elephants. His last elephant before Kandula killed 12 of his mahouts. Kandula and Sunil have now been together for more than 20 years and it really shows. Sunil never raises his voice to Kandula and only uses his ankus when necessary. Watching Sunil wash Kandula in the river is beautiful, even the other mahouts watch on from the hut as Sunil murmurs commands which Kandula swiftly reacts to-no ankus, no shouting.

The relationship between man and elephant, in this case, is solid, loving and respectful. I feel insanely happy to be a small part of it and to witness them working together every day.

I will continue treating Kandula twice a day until I leave. The time I spend with him and Sunil is truly magical, time I will never forget.

Sally Welburn

Over the next couple of weeks we have plenty more seeds to plant… Beans, White Cucumbers, Carrots, Pumpkins, Corn, Beetroot, Cabbage, Melons and more. The harvests will be used to supply the fruit shop with fresh fruit & veg and used in the Elephant Enrichment Programme. Produce will also help to feed the ever-hungry volunteers!

Working alongside “Chesty” and under the guidance of Senna, volunteers are able to learn traditional farming methods they would not learn anywhere else. It’s amazing what you can produce without using a single chemical!

By ensuring that the Eco-farm is working efficiently and productively will help the Millennium Elephant Foundation to become more self-sufficient and sustainable. Money that would otherwise be spent on buying-in produce can go towards helping another elephant.

After months of organising and help from some truly fabulous friends on October 7 we held a charity screening of Horton Hears a Who with a small mini market in the foyer.

We had a bakery stall with various elephant themed snacks, a craft stall, some elephant themed games and then watched the film!

All in all it was a fun day and we raised $1000 Australian which amounts to £645!

-Emma

Note from MEF

Thank you Emma  for your hard work and dedication! You are truly inspiring and we wish we could have been there ourselves, the craft pieces look incredible and the cakes delicious! Hero.