Support APOPO's HeroRATs' life-saving missions!

Warm greetings and welcome to your latest update on your generous support of the HeroRATs!

Your generosity in the last quarter has helped our HeroRATs sniff out 202 landmines, explosive remnants of war, and cluster munitions across their countries of deployment. As well as removing these deadly legacies, your support has released over 1.7 million square meters of land to local communities. Thank you!

Your support has allowed us to celebrate ten years of mine clearance in Cambodia, and, in the last quarter, we have also secured a new office for the Mine Action team. On Monday, October 14th, a ceremony was held to bless the new office for the team. 

Our Visitor Center in Siem Reap, Cambodia has also welcomed record numbers of visitors, who have been delighted to watch our HeroRATs demonstrate their landmine detection skills. By visiting our Visitor Center, you gain valuable insight into the country's history and the huge successes of your support in Cambodia.

If you or someone you know is visiting Cambodia, do keep our Visitor Center in Siem Reap in mind - we would love to see and welcome you there!

In other news, our Research and Innovation team has been busy organizing the next stage of training for our RescueRATs. Our RescueRATs are ready for their next stage of development, and we launched a campaign to send our rats and the team to complete search trials in mock debris sites in Turkey in collaboration with the Search and Rescue organization, GEA. These trials will be used to test the rats’ ability to locate and indicate a mock victim and return to the basepoint upon cue in this location. The local GEA staff will also be oriented to our rats as well as our training and health and welfare practices.

The rats will then be deployed in search efforts alongside GEA in response to an earthquake to move onto the most critical part of this program – seeing them save lives in real-time.

You can find out more about our RescueRATs here: https://apopo.org/rescuerats
We hope you will consider supporting this important project!

In tuberculosis detection, our HeroRATs have continued their mission to quickly detect the disease so it can be treated quickly in Tanzania and Ethiopia. Our HeroRATs continue to detect, on average, 40% more cases of TB than microscopy alone.

Your support truly has achieved great things, and our teams of humans and animals thank you from around the world!

If you have any questions about our work, do not hesitate to contact me. In the meantime, we very much look forward to updating you next time!  

Links:

• Read About The Incredible RescueRATs!
• www.apopo.org

Welcome to the latest update on your incredible support of the HeroRATs! 

Landmine Detection

Thanks to your continuous support, our HeroRATs and manual demining teams have cleared land previously contaminated with landmines and other explosive remnants of war, which threatened the lives and livelihoods of the people living nearby. Your support has freed people so they can now safely grow crops, graze cattle, develop infrastructure, and most importantly play freely knowing they are safe. Tuberculosis (TB) patients have been diagnosed and continue with treatment, and our TB detection research programs enable getting patients on treatment thanks to your help. Your contributions truly do save thousands of lives every year.

Across Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and South Sudan a total of 1,687,709 sqm of land has been released and 153 landmines, explosive remnants of war, or cluster munitions have been detected and safely removed since your last update. An impressive achievement in just one quarter – thank you!

In this update, we wanted to highlight our visitor center in Cambodia, which saw record-breaking numbers of visitors last year. Our visitor center lies in the shadow of the glorious Angkor Wat temple, amidst the bustling charm of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Rather than focusing on Cambodia’s majestic architecture and history, here the stars are, you guessed it, our HeroRATs!

Managed by Sambat Meas, the APOPO Visitor Center captures interest through the demonstrations of the rats’ landmine detection skills. Seeing them at work challenges visitors’ preconceptions about rats and highlights their contribution to humanitarian work. “People most enjoy seeing the rats in action,” Sambat says, noting the transformation in visitors’ perceptions from skepticism to admiration. Visitors also get a chance to handle and take pictures with the adorable APOPO rats. “Everyone walks out of the door with their minds changed. Some people who arrive hate rats, but then they end the tour loving our rats!”

The landmines are remnants of Cambodia’s 20th-century conflicts and while it is safe for tourists to visit the country, daily life in rural areas is still fraught with danger, which is why your support of our HeroRATs' is so vital. If you or someone you know is planning a trip to Cambodia, please spread the word about this incredible stop on the way to, or from, Angkor Wat.

Tuberculosis Detection

Our HeroRATs continue their screening of tuberculosis (TB) in Tanzania and Ethiopia, saving not only the patient who can start treatment immediately but also the community the patient lives in from infection. 

Did you know that previous patients now form a large part of our community outreach program? These volunteers in Tanzania formed a community-based organization called MKUTA. Like HIV, there is much stigma surrounding TB because of the lack of understanding of the disease and these volunteers spread awareness. People often think that there is no cure and many fear social isolation because they can spread the disease through the air. MKUTA works to educate patients and their communities and support patients so they finish their full course of treatment, which is vital for health.  

APOPO and the HeroRATs continue to find on average 40% more tuberculosis cases than the clinics using microscopy alone,  making the rats a vital part of tuberculosis detection in these countries. 

Research and Innovation

Our Research and Innovation Team at Tanzania Headquarters continues their groundbreaking research into new ways our HeroRATs can be applied to save lives. Our search and rescue project, where we are training the HeroRATs to detect people buried in rubble is set to make some advances this year, so do keep your eyes peeled for RescueRAT initiatives later this year! 

Thank you so much again for your dedicated support – we honestly could not do what we do, without it. 

Links:

• Website