TBBC Eco- Flash

TBBC Eco-Flash - Update 28 March 2013
It’s another time that we have come to the end of the month. We humbly present the below activities that took place in the course of the month of March.
Collaborative Action for Sustainable Tourism-Web-raising event
The event was held at turtle bay Beach club with the main intention being dissemination of information to people about the demo site as well as the information about the community. From the meeting, it was clear that the name Watamu does not feature prominently in the worldwide web search related to tourism. This means that all the tourism activities especially the eco-projects that happen in this area is not known to many across the world. It was therefore imparted to the Demo-site management committee to come up with a clear way of communicating what watamu offers. Clear and conscious selection of words in the various websites could work in improving the presence of businesses and the community to prospective visitors.
Chafisi Baptist Church medical camp
The medical camp held at Chafisi was meant to improve the healthcare of the people in watamu and at large the majority who cannot afford the expensive healthcare provided by the government and private sector hospitals. The program stems out of the auction carried out on the 28th December last year which had a theme of providing healthcare to the less fortunate to the community.
To date, massive decline in the jiggers’ infestation is a testament to the importance of carrying out these medical camps. General improvement in the health of the people could be noted as decline in the hospitals visitation for common illness has been recorded. A healthier community means less dependency on the most available resources thereby reducing the impact of pressure on the resources.
Waste management
Waste generation is something that cannot be ignored. Turtle Bay concedes that with no proper plans, waste can create a menace. As an eco friendly hotel, Turtle Bay has adopted its own kind of waste management. The use of the recycling facilities together with effective sorting has ensured proper segregation of the wastes and reduction in the bulk of waste that is disposed. Vegetative waste from the kitchen always ends up in the compost for composting. Other kitchen wastes are dried by the use of the locally made oven before being added to the Compost Bays. This process has virtually eliminated nearly all the wastes produced at Turtle Bay.
The management through the eco committee is working on a plan that will see Zero waste generation from the facility. This will not only save the facility in terms of the monetary value for disposal but also help in enhancing better resource use and management in line with the hotels brand.
Mzizima Horticultural farming
The main intention of the project is to have constant supply of food around the area and also get money which would finance the salary allowance for the teacher engaged at Mzizima Primary school.
Preliminary visitations to the agricultural offices have been done to identify what are the prerequisites that would be needed by the whole subcommittee that is steering the project. The project is aimed at teaching the locals on best farming practices as well as spreading conservation message to the neighbours of the Arabuko Sokoke Forest that has faced massive destruction.
Kenya United Against Poachers Walk

The Local Ocean Trust in collaboration with the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya held the Kenyans United against Poaching Walk in Watamu. The Walk began at Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters and proceeded to Watamu Village Beach; a distance of 7km. The event was a big success having been graced by the attendance of young and lovely school pupils from local schools; Watamu Primary and Dongo Kundu primary school, members of the WCK. The participants Chanted slogans and singing conservation songs, that were aimed at demonstrating the wanton killings of Rhinos, Elephants and sea turtles while the number of arrests of the perpetrators of this offence is actually dropping.
At the various meeting points; the KWS and watamu Village Beach, speeches from conservation lobby groups were all aired and urged the government to take a stern and firm action on the poachers and particularly to ensure that all the offenders are caught and treated concurrently to the laws and regulations. Several of the speeches also urge the locals to take lead in policing the various parks in order to protect the wildlife. Turtle Bay Beach Club, being a leader in environmental conservation not only took part in the walk by sponsoring but also urging conservationist and other guest who are staying with us to take part. As earlier stated, the event was successful and shows how much majority of people detest poaching.
Energy management Assessment
Energy as a resource forms a basis for production in the hotel industry. Consumption of energy has adverse effect on the environment in terms of the carbon emissions and general destruction of the forest cover to provide some forms of energy. Turtle Bay has been in the forefront in the management of this resource and has a team mandated to look at energy consumption. Use and performance is reviewed and strategies put in place to check on the energy dependency. We are very proud to have achieved several awards for our impressive record in energy management in the past. This month we welcomes energy management assessor from The Kenya Association of Manufacturers and hope more award will be won.
Waste Management
As an eco friendly hotel, Turtle Bay has been very much aware of the waste that it produces. This waste can generally be categorized as kitchen waste, housekeeping waste and plastic waste. The hotel has been able to successfully facilitate the recycling of its plastic waste from within the facility. This has been a very effective way of sorting out and managing the high amounts of plastic waste generated. The hotel also recycles some of the waste produce at the kitchen like vegetable waste, potato peelings, and meat trimmings to make compost. Sorting waste and recycling most of the waste has enabled the hotel to save a lot of money that would otherwise have been paid to the council to collect and dispose these wastes.
Jiggers Campaign and the medical camps
The jigger campaign is still on with the below figure being the number of people that have been treated in the last months of January and February.
Our main campaigner Lynn Elson is still visiting school and villages in the community. Her visits targets people of all ages from children to the elderly provided they are infected with the jigger flea.
Many people from the villages around Turtle Bay have been treated and some are still receiving treatment. Repeat of the treatment course is necessary making education to be an integral part in the whole campaign. Therefore Education has been incorporated in the exercise to help in prevention jigger infection by maintaining good hygiene standard in the houses and the home compounds.
The visitations happening in school also plays an important role as the information pool on jiggers reaches more people through this avenue

Cases treated by communal Health workers Jan-Fe 2013

	1-5	6-10	11-15	16-20	21-60	60+	Totals
Females	85	87	35	20	50	19	296
Males	98	108	64	17	42	20	359
Totals	183	205	99	37	92	39	655

Two more medical camps are planned to take place at Jimba Primary and Chafisi Baptist church in the next month (March). It is our hope that the benefit receive from this camps will be of importance to everyone by improving the health standard of the people suffering from treatable ailments.
True Valentine to SP & K kids
February 14th is a day destined as day of affection and love. Turtle Bay Beach Club gave out the love to the destitute and the needy in the community by giving children from the SP & K children’s home & School, commonly known as “Munyaka” a chance to come and enjoy themselves on a day pass. This offer resulted from a Valentine’s Day art competition was meant to motivate the kids to attain higher academic results as well as engage actively in any competition at the home. As an hotel working for the community, we are very proud of this and will continue to work for the benefit of the local people and ensure that everyone feel the love including the destitute.
The Kids Art Workshop

Turtle Bay Beach Club in collaboration with Watamu Marine Association and Watamu Turtle Watch all had a fantastic time teaching children about how to use art, theatre and marine debris. The Objective of the Workshop was to show our kids that rubbish can be used to create something beautiful and fun - our subject sea turtles. There were many conservation messages too from the artists Larisa Sjoerds, Andrew McNaughton and actor Lucile Ford to convey the very real and increasing global plastic threat to our oceans and marine life.
Participating kids were the local schools and visiting tourists in the hotel. This is the beginning of a series of kids’ workshop that Turtle Bay will be hosting in the future.
The Kirepwe Island

The foundation of the First aid Centre at Kirepwe Island has been put up. The hotel in collaboration with its guests is working around the clock to provide medical services to the island residents. Medical camps have been carried out regularly and a water reservoir built up. This is within Turtle Bay’s long term vision of improving the living standards of Kirepwe residents.
Beach Clean Up

What a colossal effort was made by all the residents of Watamu in a grand beach clean up. Turtle Bay was part of the crew that took part in organizing the beach clean up hence collecting 3204.5kgs of beach debris. This came as a climax to the traditional weekly beach clean up by Turtle Bay, a program which brings together local conservation groups, schools, and hotel guests.
The Get Netted Campaign

Turtle Bay and guests of Turtle Bay are joining hands to fight Malaria other diseases in Watamu. The hotel collaborates with Timboni Community Dispensary in a series of medical camps aimed toward providing medical services to the local residents who cannot access medical services. Tests are done and free medicines given. Mosquito nets distributed to children and expectant mothers
Poultry Farm for Watamu Women.

Turtle Bay is supporting women of Watamu make a leaving in one of the most sustainable approach ever. The women who have organized themselves into a group called ‘Mwamko Mpya’ provide financial assistance for members as well as supporting bright needy girls through school. Turtle Bay has supported the women by setting up a poultry farm which is now helping the women raise more funds for their activities.

Saturday	+90°	+77°
Sunday	+90°	+79°
Monday	+90°	+77°
Tuesday	+90°	+76°
Wednesday	+89°	+76°
Thursday	+89°	+75°

Turtle Bay Beach Club

TBBC Eco-Flash - Update 28 March 2013

Collaborative Action for Sustainable Tourism-Web-raising event

Chafisi Baptist Church medical camp

Waste management

Mzizima Horticultural farming

Kenya United Against Poachers Walk

Energy management Assessment

Waste Management

Jiggers Campaign and the medical camps

Cases treated by communal Health workers Jan-Fe 2013

True Valentine to SP & K kids

The Kids Art Workshop

The Kirepwe Island

Beach Clean Up

The Get Netted Campaign

Poultry Farm for Watamu Women.

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