November 2009 Newsletter

Contents

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Introduction

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APOPO Named winner in Lien Demining Challenge in Thailand

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APOPO Launches new Website

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Braintree Scientific is first Corporate HeroRAT Sponsor

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Interview with Inne, APOPO supporter and volunteer

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Support APOPO’s work

Introduction

Hope all is well this fall for you. The rains have come here in Tanzania, bringing nourishment for crops and muddy roads. This month we have somegreat news to share.First off, we are happy to report that our HeroRATs detected 70 cases of tuberculosis in patients missed by microscopy and 10 new rats passed theirfinal test in landmine detection.Second, APOPO won the Lien i3 Challenge for social innovation in Singapore,meaning soon we hope to be training rat teams to demine along theCambodian – Thai border!Third, the HeroRAT program has launched a pilot corporate sponsorshipprogram with our first corporate adopter, Braintree Scientific, Inc! As part of this program, Braintree has named their HeroRAT ‘Sniffles’ and will providefor her entire training.

We are excited to announce our new APOPO website! We hope this willimprove our communication with supporters like you, as well as interestedparties worldwide. Long in need of updating, we are proud to show off ourhard work and the hard work of Inne Ten Have, a long time supporter, volunteer and consultant. To hear more about Inne, please read his interview included in this issue.Finally, we are gearing up for the holiday giving season. Thank you as alwaysfor your support and keep APOPO’s HeroRAT adoption program in mind when you are looking for creative gift giving ideas.

APOPO Named winner in Lien Demining Challenge in Thailand

The Lien i3 Challenge “aims to catalyze social projects that are innovative,implementable and impactful in Singapore and Asia. It has set aside up to onemillion Singapore dollars for a prize fund to spur ideas and make possible new social models. This latest initiative furthers the LCSI's mission to enhance andgrow the non-profit sector primarily through social innovation.”This March, APOPO submitted a proposal to engage in demining alongThailand’s Cambodian border for the Lien i3 Challenge. In September, we were selected as a finalist, and now APOPO has been honored as a winner forour uniquely simple approach to a complex problem. While the details of ourfuture operation there are still being worked out, APOPO is pleased that the judges in Singapore selected us for our proven and efficient low-techsolutions.

APOPO Launches new Website

This month, APOPO is proud to announce the release of our new website www.apopo.org! It is now completely re-vamped, updated and re-organizedto get our message out in an accessible way. Furthermore, the new website will have increased navigability, making it simpler for users to find what they are looking for.The old website was created in 2003 and in flash rather than html, making itdifficult to search for and difficult for many of our supporters to access.Theses upgrades are crucial for APOPO’s communication with the public and

will help facilitate both our supporters and those previously unaware of our work to search and find the information they need to get acquainted with us.Please check it out at apopo.org!

Braintree Scientific Inc is the first Corporate HeroRAT Sponsor

Braintree Scientific, Inc. has been serving the needs of the Life ScienceIndustry for over 30 years and this fall, they are the first corporation ever tosolely sponsor a Hero Rat! APOPO is excited at the possibility of expandingits corporate sponsorship program, which covers the cost of food, care, andtraining for the duration of one’s rats life. This amounts to approximately 6,000 euro and APOPO is deeply grateful for Braintree Scientific’s support!Braintree stated, “We are grateful for the opportunity to follow our Hero Rat'sprogress and witness it's role in the safe keeping of innocent lives from thedevastating and cruel actions of others. We proudly accept this leadershipposition and challenge others to do the same.” Their little HeroRAT was giventhe name of “Sniffles”. She is currently eight weeks old.

Interview with Inne, APOPO supporter and volunteer

Inne Ten Have currently runs an IT communications firm in the Netherlands, but he has been involved with APOPO since the beginning. In the mid 1990s,Inne received a one-year Dutch grant in recognition of his excellent industrialdesigns. He traveled a lot during this year and became interested in studyingprosthetics in Cambodia, where they are mainly utilized for landmineamputees. He also went to Angola and in 1996, he met Bart Weetjens at aconference for the electronic detection of landmines. Here, they firstdiscussed using rats for efficient and cheap landmine detection. He and Barttalked about going further with this, but as Inne says, “I’m good at helping todevelop ideas, but not good at building an organization.” This however wassomething Bart could really run with! After his year traveling and learning, once his grant money ran dry, Innestarted an Architecture firm and then an IT firm. Both grew quickly, buteventually he chose IT and made the organization “slick and slim” by scaling itdown to two employees. Now he lives by a small lake in Rotterdam with his wife and two young children. At times he misses working abroad, especially indeveloping countries, but he is happy doing his work, helping companies