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In This Issue: Establishment of the Visitors Center Heath Research and Treatments Update Contact The Itgel Foundation In Mongolia: The Itgel Foundation In the US: The Itgel Foundation Telephone:
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The Itgel Foundation is proud to announce the establishment of the Tsaatan Community & Visitors Center!
After more than one year of planning and extensive discussions with Tsaatan community members, Itgel began construction of the first-ever Tsaatan Community & Visitors Center (TCVC) in July 2006. The nearly-completed center is located in Tsagaan Nuur village of Hovsgol province in northern Mongolia, home of the Tsaatan reindeer herding ethnic group. The facility serves as a hub for those wishing to visit this community, offering information on how guides, horses, food, and lodging can be secured in a manner that is sensitive to the herders and offers them a source of cash income. Furthermore, the facility will be home to a series of herder-requested educational events such as guide and handicraft training workshops, English language lessons, and introductory medical and veterinary workshops. More than just a place for information, the TCVC promises to bolster local economic and social scenarios, ensure sustainable human and herd health, and offer Tsaatan herders the chance to represent themselves as they have always wished to.
Itgel continues its tradition of conducting cutting-edge health research and treatments!
Over the past five years, Itgel has made great progress towards understanding and mitigating the health challenges that threaten the Tsaatan people and their reindeer. We’ve researched never-before-seen ailments, and trained local veterinary and health professionals to prevent and treat diseases and injuries. We’ve conducted screen tests for Brucellosis, a terrible disease that affects the Tsaatan and their animals, and offered information to herders about prevention and treatment. This year, with our biggest team yet, Itgel made it a priority to propel our health projects farther than ever before. We continued our diagnostic program for Brucellosis in reindeer, and with the help of Mongolian medical professionals, we offered herders free blood testing for the disease. Results will be delivered later this month, along with treatment options for herders and their deer. Meanwhile, our laboratory research on Brucellosis continues to bring us closer to creating a specialized vaccine for the Tsaatan community, which could realistically wipe-out the disease within a handful of years. With continued support from donors and research partners, this vaccine could be ready by summer 2007.
While disease initiatives move forward, the challenge of restoring the Tsaatan’s herd to its pre Soviet-era size continues to be addressed. Currently, the community does not have enough deer to yield sufficient food supplies, and it is common for families to go for weeks without meat or milk, instead subsisting entirely on flour and rice. Motivated by this reality, Itgel has undertaken ambitious projects to understand herd nutrition, population dynamics, and forage availability in hopes of increasing the depleted herd. This year, team members spent weeks studying the forage in the Tsaatan’s home taiga region, complimenting this research with one-on-one dialogue about pasture selection and reindeer nutrition with members of the community. We also conducted detailed surveys about calf mortality and herd demographics to inform specialized consulting with herders. This information revealed that the population has increased since our last census in 2004, an encouraging sign that Itgel’s dynamic approach is working. Did You Know…?
Thank you to each of you for being part of Itgel’s global network! |
