With the help of Willie, the camp supervisor, Posseh gets down to answering all your questions
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How did you come to work at Tacugama?
I came to work at Tacugama as a cook by Mr Bala, and then later joined the sanctuary as a full member of staff dealing with the chimpanzees; deployed in the quarantine section as a foster mother.

Did you ever think you would be a foster mother to orphaned chimpanzees?
No, the reason is that I was in the first instance scared of chimpanzees. I thought they would intimidate me if I came close to them.

How do you feel when a chimp bonds with you?
I feel happy, because their behaviour reminds me of kids at home.

Do you feel that humans are so different from other apes, or do we have more in common?
Chimps and humans are not very different; chimps are closer to humans than any other great ape. They are very intelligent and can use tools.

What is the hardest thing about your job?
None! Nothing seems to be hard about my job, I love it.

What is your favourite thing?
I like to stay close to the chimps, making sure their cages are thoroughly clean.

How many hours a day do you spend with the chimps?
Quite a lot, around twelve hours.

Posseh also works in other areas with the sanctuary, here she is helping at the Tacugama Film Night
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What does a baby chimp eat?
Cereal, milk, bananas, cucumber, oranges and lots of other fruit and vegetables.

What is the most surprising thing you have learned about chimpanzees while working with them?
One thing that surprises me is when a chimp falls sick, it loses its appetite, becomes dull and tends to stay away from the rest of the group.

What stories were you told about chimpanzees as a child?
According stories I was told back at home chimpanzees were human ancestors thousands of years ago.

What were yours and your community’s understanding of these primates and other apes in and around your area when you were younger?
When I was younger I always heard of people saying that monkeys and chimpanzees are very destructive to their crops.

Were they something that you were told about in school or through your family and friends?
I learned about chimpanzees through my family.

Is it your understanding that today people are more aware of what is happening to them and their dwindling numbers and the reasons you are conserving them through Tacugama for example?
Yes, one way is that Tacugama has set up a rehabilitation programme geared towards confiscating orphaned and abandoned chimpanzees from people within Sierra Leone. Tacugama helps to implement the wildlife laws of Sierra Leone.

What does your family and friends think of your work at the sanctuary — do they understand and support this urgent importance of your vital assistance and work helping the baby orphans?
Yes they do, they appreciate by paying regular visits to the sanctuary to see the chimps and my efforts.

Posseh’s grandchildren come to visit the sanctuary
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What time do you start and end your day normally (if there is a normal!) at the sanctuary?
I start at 6am and finish around 7pm. I check on the chimpanzees throughout the night if they are sick.

I understand there is a level of trust and bonding that you develop and acquire with each baby — has there been an instance where you have gotten attached? Or visa-versa?
They get attached to me when they have problems such as sickness; they always need my presence when they are in trouble. I got attached to a chimp called Mac. When he was in quarantine he was very shy and even when he moved into the group of infants he was still very shy and not very comfortable.

Posseh takes Mac to the forest to play

Can you tell us something that you do to help calm, reassure a scared baby?
First I hug and pamper them, and groom them. I reassure them with words also.

I imagine it is difficult for you and the young chimps, after their quarantine period, when they move onto the next step/stage of their life and have to leave you — if possible, could you tell us who was the easiest (strongest, most courageous) to move on and why, and who took it the hardest (most dependent, scared) to move on and leave you?
Bimbo and Spana were the most easily integrated and most courageous to join the other members of the group, they were very brave and strong. Bidi, and infant female chimp was very scared and stubborn to join the group because she was very close to me.

Spana
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Bimbo
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What can you tell us about your work at the sanctuary and how it makes you feel?
My work at the sanctuary is very demanding but very interesting. I always feel very proud to work with the chimps.

Is there a funny story/incident that you can tell us about that made you laugh? (We know how intelligent, curious and mischievous young chimps can be!)
Yes, Gaura is fond of tickling himself, using a small stick in his ear.

Do you communicate with the chimps in their language, like food grunts and pant hoots? If so, is there a greater response?
Yes I have learnt to communicate with them in their language, like “ooh-ooh”!

Do they know their names?
Yes I know all their names.

When you are not working/helping the chimps at the sanctuary, and if you have the time, what do you like to do? Any interests/hobbies?
I like going to church

What is YOUR favourite food/dish to eat?
My favourite food is rice and beans.

What do you think is the most important thing you do or provide, to help them recover from the trauma part of their ordeal?
Giving them care and attention that they never got from their real mothers after being taken from the wild.

Posseh helps to give milk to the juvenile group, where some of the chimps go after quarantine
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Do you still recognize the chimps as they grow, after they have been released from her care? Do they continue to recognize you or communicate you?
Yes I still recognise all the chimpanzees. After they have left quarantine they usually go to one of two groups, which I sometimes help to feed so I see them regularly. I never forget their faces.

Posseh works at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary with a team of over 14 other staff including care staff. All the staff work incredibly hard to ensure the chimpanzees are looked after with the best possible care. The dedicated team help to make Tacugama what is is today.

Watch this space for personal accounts from Willie and Moses, two members of staff who have shown amazing dedication and hard work over the years at Tacugama!

Bala Amarasekaran, Tacugama’s founder and Programme Director will be speaking at two fundraising evenings being organised on our behalf and if you could come along and give us your support it would be great to see you there.  Also in Barcelona there will be a launch of the Catalan book Un Estiu a Tacugama (A summer in Tacugama), which has just been published.The trip to Europe is the result of an invitation from the Sierra Leone office of the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) for Tacugama to take part in an awareness raising event (click here for more information) for donors and investors in the country. It’s a great chance to raise our international profile and make new friends for the sanctuary. We’ve also been lucky that friends of Dr Rosa have organised events in Barcelona especially to coincide with the trip out of Sierra Leone.We’re looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the following events - please tell your friends and family and bring them along with you also!BARCELONA - for more information on both these events telephone +34 669 866204)Wednesday 11th November, 7pmLaunch by Pilar Garriga of her latest children’s novel: Un Estiu a Tacugama at the Abacus Cooperativa - Sala Juli Vela, c/ Còrsega, 269, Barcelona.Friday 13th November, 9pmDinner at the Hotel Catalonia Barcelona Plaza, Placa d’Espanya 6-8. Tickets are on sale at Euro 25 each.LONDONSaturday 21st November, 7pmFundraising supper evening at the Royal Over-Seas League in central London.  Tickets are on sale at £50 each through the International Primate Protection League (IPPL UK), phone 020 8297 2129 and email enquiries@ippl-uk.org. For more information click here to download the PDF invitation.We look forward to seeing you there!!

This is Pilar Garriga’s third novel for teenagers following the work of Dr Rosa! The first two were based on Dr Rosa’s earlier veterinary work with orangutans in Indonesia - they’ve become very popular in Spain and are used to support the Catalan school curriculum. We are very proud of having Tacugama as the main subject in a book and we hope that it can soon be translated into English for others to read and enjoy.

As some of you know Mama Posseh is the responsible for the quarantine section at Tacugama where she looks after the new arrivals for their 3 months quarantine period. She gives them lots of care and attention during their stay here, acting as their foster mother. The new chimps are often weak, distressed and their backgrounds unknown. Posseh works very hard, an important part of her job is keeping the area clean to prevent any spread of diseases, preparing their food as well as helping the chimps recover from their trauma. She also helps Dr Rosa to administer any medications needed.

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As you often mention Mama Posseh in the blogs we thought it would be great for you to have the chance to ask Posseh some questions about her work, how she finds working with the chimps and what she loves about them! Please let us have any questions that you would like to ask Posseh directly and she will answer them for you! We will gather all your questions for Mama Posseh this coming week and publish her replies in a blog in two weeks time. She’s looking forward to hearing from you.

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Also we wanted to let you know that we now have a page on FACEBOOK where you can find more updates on Tacugama and the chimps. Please check out the site, become a fan and invite all your friends and family! The more people who know about Tacugama the better! Click here to join - thank you!

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We received a donation through their Charity Pot scheme which has allowed us to buy some digital camera traps and will also help us to replace our aging supply vehicle. The camera traps will play an important role in helping us to record and confirm wild chimpanzee movements and which other species share their environment. We’re first using the camera traps around Tacugama and in the future we’ll move them further afield to expand our knowledge.

With the help of Joko, our patrol officer, we set up some initial trials with the cameras and we’ve been pleased with the results. Some of the first shots we captured were of Congo – the wild chimp who occasionally visits the sanctuary – together with her two daughters. It’s been very difficult to get images of Congo in the past and it’s great that the traps have done the job for us! Joko’s also very pleased that the cameras should help him with his important patrolling work that protects the forest reserve areas surrounding Tacugama from hunters.

Congo moves into view
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Congo with her youngest daughter
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Congo’s oldest daughter gaining in independence
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Here are some photos of other species we have caught on camera so far. We removed the cameras from the bush during the heaviest of the rains. Now the rains are receding we’re about to position them again and look forward to sharing more results with you in the months to come.

A Campbell’s monkey
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A bay duiker by day….
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…. and by night
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A brush tailed porcupine sweeps by
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A genet is captured …
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… and investigates!
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Thanks again to the Lush team for their support - remember to look out for the Tacugama Charity Pot lotion in their North American stores!

In the last blog I mentioned that we were in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm. Dr Rosa happened to be passing the infants group when thunder hit and frightened Gaura and friends. This has to be a record for the number of chimps in a hammock when they jumped in together for comfort.

Tombo, Gaura, Bain Nyaa, Mac and Bruno in view, Yoyema was also on board!
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They’re loving being out with their new friends everyday but are sadly suffering from colds as the change in weather brings cough and cold bugs with it. Hopefully they’ll make quick recoveries.

One of the schools that we’re pleased to be welcoming to the programme this year is Hope School which was started by Mr Bundu, a qualified teacher from the local area. He found several children who were unable to go to school but were willing to learn, so he decided to do something about it. Most of the children are girls from very poor homes, where only the boy gets to go to school. Others include orphans and those living in displacement camps. Originally starting as occasional reading classes for a few enthusiastic pupils, the project began to grow with the help of voluntary teachers, and many more children ranging from 3 to 15 years old joined. The project, housed in a large semi-constructed house quickly became overcrowded. The makeshift rooms held several classes at once, some were so full that the children spilled out of the building, attending their classes through open windows.

Overspilling classroom at Hope School…
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… with different lessons taking place at the same time…
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… in an unfinished building
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Teaching carried on with almost 400 students in these appalling conditions, through dedication of the teachers and the children’s eagerness to learn, until news of the school’s predicament reached us through a local councillor. We helped the school to liase with the village committee, where it was agreed they could relocate to the community centre which had a bit more space and toilets available. We were able to apply for a small grant on behalf of the school and thanks to funds given by IMATT (International Military Advisory Training Team - a British led training programme for the Sierra Leone Army), we were able to make desks, benches and screens for every class. A colourful library has also been installed for the school, supplied with donations of some books and art materials.

The furniture is delivered
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The library is ready for more resources
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Posters help to share good information
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Thanks to great support from IMATT …
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… everyone is a lot happier!
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The school is still a long way from perfect conditions but at least this year the kids all have a place to sit and write and some more resources to help them learn. We’ll keep looking for ways to improve their library and through their involvement in the TKP they will learn how they can help us to protect the Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve that is home to Tacugama’s chimps.

Classrooms ready for the new school year…
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... and children ready to learn
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Meanwhile back at camp Joko, Kouze and friends enjoy the remaining rain to make the most of their rope slide!

Tess Wiggans - a volunteer who has been at Tacugama since May - writes more about their introduction below, she’s taken some great photos for you! Tess will help us to stay in touch with you and will write some more of our blogs over the coming months:

The youngest group of chimps, consisting of Gaura, Tombo, Jessica, Mac, Banyaii, Bruno and Yoyema are finally having more freedom. The babies were first introduced to the two youngest in the group, Chica and Joyce along with Nita, a very gentle female. The first meeting couldn’t have gone smoother, with Joyce making friends with Jessica right from the start, and Nita acting as foster mother to the youngest ones!

Nita gives Tombo a hug
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Nita with all the babies
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Chica was a little hesitant at first, not interacting much with the newcomers. Once she realised how much fun she could be having she began to play with her new friends!

Chica (centre) surrounded by the babies
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After the babies were used to playing with the gentlest of the bigger chimps, Alex and Bidi were introduced. Their rough and tumble was a little bit rougher! Bidi took like a duck to water with the youngsters, carrying Yoyema everywhere she went. Alex wasn’t quite so caring and his communication involved a smack on the back for most of the babies!

Bidi carries Yoyema up a tree
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Even thought Tombo is one of the smallest, she was having none of a playful attack on her and her friends from Alex – she gave as good as she got, and Alex realised he should be careful when Gaura came to Tombo’s aid. You can see how brave Tombo was on this video clip:

Finally the next day Spana and Bimbo, the older ones thought to cause the most trouble, were added to the mix to finish the integration. Gaura made an intelligent move and started to make allies with Spana, whilst Bimbo lived up to the assumption he would play rough, not letting the youngsters out of his grip!

Looking like old friends, Gaura and Spana on their first meeting
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Bimbo is not going to let go of his new playmate!
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The two groups are continuing to sleep in their own separate dens; they are not yet at the stage to be left alone with no supervision! However Joyce has now become so attached to Jessica, she refuses to sleep in her own den and is now sleeping with the babies, sharing a hammock with Jessica.

The group are settling into their routine, deciding who to make friends with and who to avoid. Everyone at Tacugama is over the moon to see the babies enjoying their space to play on a daily basis. We’re still working hard behind the scenes to get funding for new enclosures so that these growing chimps can have a close to natural environment.

As you can see from looking at the Wildlife Direct blogs, East Africa is suffering a bad drought yet in West Africa we’re getting almost too much rain. It has been more than two weeks since we have had the pleasure of seeing the sun…. rain, rain and yet more rain has filled the skies. Good for water reserves but so many grey days can bring down even the most optimistic! Yesterday the sun made an appearance giving us a splendid sunny day. The locals (both man and animal!) took advantage of the heat, putting things out to dry…. See for yourself!

Tarmac (on one of the best roads in Sierra Leone!) makes a great place to dry clothes when washing lines are scarce
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Large vultures ignore passers by while drying out their feathers!
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Kouze and friends enjoy lying out on a dry platform…
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We hope that the lack of rain critically affecting so many of our fellow bloggers and many others on the continent comes to an end soon.

After our last blog posting we’re happy to confirm that Babe’s new baby now has a name thanks to all of you. As her big sister is called Bintu, some of the suggestions we received fell a bit too close in sound, so we’ve opted for Theresa’s suggestions of … BASMA; in her comment Theresa told us that this was Swahili for smile, let’s up she provides many smiles for us in the future. We’ll have a new picture of Basma for you soon.

Just to let you know that all of our newest arrivals are doing well and settling in under Posseh’s careful care and receiving the best of attention with the recent return from her well earned break of our resident vet, Dr Rosa. Here they are:

Thulani
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Chippe
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Abu (with a toy hammer as he used to play with tools in the garage where he was found)
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We’ve got some great news on its way to you soon on our next post about Gaura and friends…!