Hondenopvang

Sarajevo 23-09-08

Eerhard, Rob, Elvira and I went to Sarajevo to meet some people, talking about everything that is happening and visiting a shelter. I did not feel enthusiastic. Going all the way from Orasje to Sarajevo by car. I installed myself safely in the back of the car, so this way I would not see much from what was to be seen outside of the car. I had seen dead dogs on the side of the road for too many times, seeing dogs in the streets or chained. I am well aware of this image, and it is no need to be confronted with this all the time. My place was in the back of the car.

After a drive of 4,5 hours we arrived in Sarajevo and went to the location where we had an appointment with several people. Among others Jelena, she does a lot of work for the abandoned animals in Sarajevo, and Haris, a young Bosnian veterinarian. We had so much to talk about that time was by before we knew it. And we had to visit the shelter in Sarajevo too. If we did not stop talking and leave for the shelter now, it would be much too late to return to Orasje.

Together with Jelena, who is helping the shelter, we went to the shelter, to finally arrive , after going through really tiny, impossible streets. A wooden fence was the only thing between us and the noise of barking dogs.

Goga, the manager of the shelter, came towards us together with a couple of cats. The cats were apparently living at the shelter. Passing the wooden fence we got at the terrain. The noise of all the barking dogs was immense but we did not see a lot of dogs. Two of them were chained and had their own doghouse. They told us it were mother and son.

When we went on further on to the terrain, we finally saw where all the barking was coming from. Three long rows of kennels packed with dogs. Every kennel was approx two by two meters. There was a big doghouse inside, brand new and looking very nice, but at the same time it made the space for the dogs much smaller. The dogs never leave the kennels.. They rarely come out. And that made it terribly sad.

Where one dog would long for some attention, the other one even more. The almost squirm through their cage to get someone touching them. Most of them were big, beautiful, sweet and touching dogs that I would have gladly taken all of them. They were all looking fine, nice fur, not skinny. They are well fed and the medical care is okay. Goga has good contacts with a vet and the university from Sarajevo where the education of vet is..

But it is so sad and heartbreaking to be locked up all day as a dog, in a kennel that is maximum two by two meters, and not being able to get out sometimes. They are just not enough volunteers to spend time on every dog in the shelter. Taking care of these animals takes a lot of time, this is being done by Goga, and one lady that helps in the morning, so there is simply not enough time to get the dogs out of their cages once in a while. And there is no space for the dogs to be able to run, dig or play with each other.

For the past years over 1500 dogs have been re-homed by the shelter, but most of the time this are the young ones and pups that will find a home. The older dogs, as of 1 year and older don't stand a chance.

Goga manages this shelter for 9 years. A couple of organisations from several countries take dogs now and then and re-home them in their own country. For these dogs a donation is given like for example food. There is one organisation that donates money each month but it is insufficient to pay the costs made by the shelter, with over 150 dogs. So they need help desperately.

We did a tour around the shelter and seen and heard a lot. We were all moved. SDB decided o support this shelter. We will help to improve the environment of the dogs and maybe help medically wise. (dozens of dogs have to be sterilised/castrated). So there is plenty of work that we can do to make their life a better life.

SDB is deliberating on how we can deal with this the best way and how to start doing this. If we have more news about this project, we will certainly let you know.

Little Dog Pusa

During our tour around the shelter I heard a loud howling a couple of times, and it dominated all the other sounds. At a certain moment I found the source of this noise. There were three benches lined up and in one of those benches there was a small black poodle, crying her heart out to be released. Inside there was a box with litter, a small basket and some food. The little one was standing on her back legs in the litter box up against the side of the bench. Goga opened the bench and got her out.

She was so small and skinny that I immediately fell in love with her. I felt so sorry for her. Apparently she was found on the streets some weeks before by some people. She was dehydrated and emaciated. I decided I had to arrange something for her and I had to find a way to get her out of there because this was an awful experience for her. After making some phone calls arrangements were made. Pusa would be on a plan to Holland next week. I was able to go to Orasje feeling relieved.

The next day we got the news that our solution for saving Pusa was cancelled. Now what? I had to find someone else. Suze offered the solution by fostering Pusa. Now we had to arrange Pusa being brought from Sarajevo to Orasje, a 4,5 hour drive. The man who found her in the streets was prepared to take her from Sarajevo to Orasje. The day before our return to Holland little weak Pusa arrived at the shelter.

Pusa came to Holland with us and she had a hard time recovering. She was very weak and barely survived. Fortunately she has the persistence of a pit-bull and with the excellent care of Suze and Fred she made it and she is now part of a sweet family in Holland. Pusa is now called Sira and you can find an update on our page "onze honden".

Educational project

When the principal escorted us to the classroom I felt extremely nervous. There would probably be waiting 5 children that applied voluntarily to listen to our story.. Our story, which is in our opinion THE most important subject. We entered the room and the children were bored after ten minutes……..

This was the worst case scenario, the one that scared me when we entered the first school to start our educational project. But reality was totally different;

The principal gave us a cordial welcome and after having a small conversation we were brought to the classroom where approx 40 children were waiting for us. They had combined some classes to reach more children in one go. Oh my god, I felt so nervous. Whenever I have to tell something about the foundation it is never a problem, I never lose any sleep over it. But this time….in front of a class full of children. How were they going to react? Would they be interested?

Suze, Elvira and I made up a list of questions that we were going to ask by turns to stimulate the interaction with the children. Elvira was going to translate everything from English to Bosnian, and the other way around. Because of my nerves I started asking the questions which Suze was supposed to ask and because of that I became more nervous, and my hands were getting more wet because of the transpiration. Does anyone here the beating of my heart? I heard it, pumping in my ears!!

The children reacted really enthusiastic to the questions and most of them participated. "Who loves animals?" Suze asked. All hands raised. "Who knows how to take care of an animal, dog or cat" was my key question to continue the story about sterilisation/castration. Again a load of hands went up in the air. These kind of reactions were way beyond my expectations and I had to control myself to not give them all a big hug to thank them for helping us by listening and being all enthusiastic.

For every group of kids we needed about half an hour. When there were more questions from the kids we stayed a little bit longer. At the end of our visit we handed out the educational booklets and our flyer, both translated to Bosnian. The kids were eager to get the booklets and after this we asked them if they thought it was an interesting session. Every group replied by giving us a loud "Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh".

Every school we visited, seven in total, gave us a warm welcome and they turned all classes upside down to get the children together in one room. In one school they even got the gym involved, because this group was too big to fit in one normal classroom.

Everywhere we were the feedback was excellent and time after time I went outside after the session all numb because of the incredible success and because this made me feel so happy. We visited schools for two days, and we have spoken to almost 400 children. One school even wanted to see us a second time because the principal wanted us to do the same with other classes. It was really tiring, but worth every bit of energy. A special experience.

Someone told me, when I went to Bosnia as a volunteer for the first time in 2000 to help people, that you have to start with one person. My wish is that we have been able to motivate at least one child, that we have been able to save one dog, that we have been able to have one family started thinking about what to do and then take action. That it had made a difference.

03-10-08 Back from Bosnia
It has been almost a week since we came home. Our week in Orasje went by so fast. What did we do an what has happened?

04-09-08 Donations electricity
WAUW !! We received amazing feedback from people that react on the electricity project. We have received half of the amount we need to install the electricity in the shelter of Orasje. We could not have imagined this many reactions in such a short period of time. More and more light bulbs are burning, there is light at the end of the dark tunnel.
We hope this positive feedback will go on and that we will soon have the amount of money we need. We would like to thank everyone that has already contributed, thank you so much!!

03-09-08 Was this Dorris ?
Sometimes you receive and email from someone with stories that touch your heart. We want to share this email with you.

Hey, my name is Gorica,
I was born in Tuzla, and I regularly visited the city...about 4 times a year. But I have not been there for two years now.
Every time I was over there I was struck by the situation of abandoned animals. Cats, and especially dogs.
It has been approx 5 or 6 years ago, when I saw a very young dog around the building where we had our apartment, I believe I was about 11 years old. Because of me going 4 times a year to Tuzla I got attached to this dog. I called her Twister(I don't know why), and every time we met I gave her some food, and I gave her something against worms(I don't remember how I got this).
There was a small supermarket at the entrance of the building. People that worked in this shop told me that she was waiting for an entire year in the morning in front of the shop.
When I would walk outside the would follow me. When I went to shops she would follow me too. We were not able to take her with us, because we have a big dog at home and we had no idea how his reaction to this dog would be. The next year I was unable to trace her. I was scared of her maybe dead, or shot by hunters, because they shoot dogs in the winter, people with guns are asked to shoot dogs.... and then I checked out your website and choose the name Sorris, one of the re-homed dogs....she has so much resemblance... it has been a while, and I can make mistakes, but if this is the dog I have hugged so many times, I would like to tell the owners that gave her a new home can look at themselves as the luckiest people in the world ;)

3-9-08 Petition against the new law concerning aggressive dogs
If it is up to our Minister Verburg, there is a new law, from 1st of January 2009, that tells us that every dog that shows "unwanted aggressive behaviour" has to be seized and do a special behavioural test. If the dog does not succeed, it will be put to sleep, as she states in a letter to the parliament.
Read more about this ...

An event called Buitenlandse hondendag(day of foreign dogs) 31 Augustus 2008
For the first time the forum for foreign dogs held a special event organised for everyone with or without a dog adopted from countries outside of Holland. Several foundations got the opportunity to present themselves and the work they do for the animals in other countries, the help they can use and to sell their merchandise to raise money for the animals that could really use all the help they can get.
We were also present on this sunny day with many of our enthusiastic volunteers.
Dutch games of fair like a grabble bag and pulling ropes, and the selling of beautiful items like t-shirts, blankets, dog leashes and collars, toys, it was all really popular.
Many people were obviously feeling sorry for the situation of abandoned animals in Bosnia, and this gave us positive feelings. The benefits of the day was approx 300 euro, a wonderful amount that will be used in the right way.
We would like to thank everybody for supporting us by being there and making a contribution. It was a big success.

Educational program and permission
Behind the screens of the SDB it is always hectic. For the past few weeks Elvira and Alisa have been very busy making letters. Letters that have to be send to the Minister of Education and for the schools in Bosnia.
We want to organise the educational program the right way, and getting support from the Minister and his department would be excellent. Evira and Alisa drew up a wonderful letter, and we have send this from Holland to the department of Education by fax. The feedback we received is amazing !! You can read this HIER and HIER
We are extremely proud of this and we will do our utmost to let this project succeed. By educating children (and adults) more animals will be saved.
Dogs Trust gave permission to use their educational booklet, which we have translated to the Bosnian language, Dogs Trust also sponsored the costs for printing the first 5000 booklets.
We would like to thank Dogs Trust very much for their help and support time after time. Dogs Trust is the biggest organisation for animal protection in England, they have meant a lot for us. You can find Dogs Trust on their website www.dogstrust.org.uk

Trip September 2008
The crew is ready to go to Orasje in September. On the 19th of September we will leave for Orasje to be working for an entire week. Several plans are made and of course castrations and sterilisations will be performed.
We are going to visit schools, build a wooden house, making kennels and all other things that have to be done.
Meanwhile Conny and Paul went to the shelter in Croatia for a week. You can find the report on this trip on our page reports.

SDB Walking the dog on the Rozendaalseveld near Rozendaal (Gld)
On the 26th of October we will have our annual walk, with all the Bosnian and Croatian dogs and their owners.

14-08-08 All sorts of news
It has been almost two weeks since they have returned from their trip to Bosnia.
Suze, Fred, Cokkie and Winanda went to the shelter in Orasje. They have been busy with all sorts of things and you can find a report on this trip on the page of reports. They brought ten dogs to Holland and we will do our best to find the best homes for these sweet dogs.
SDB is very happy to have permanent volunteers who are doing so much for the dogs in Bosnia. The things they do, the trips they make to Bosnia, at their own expenses!! This makes the volunteers even more special than they are already.
Suze, Fred, Cokkie and Winanda thanks so much for going again!

Electricity in the shelter of Orasje
The previous large project, building the fence around the shelter, is finished, so it is time to introduce the next project.
The shelter uses an aggregate to get electricity. This aggregate uses a lot of fuel and is having problems working all the time.
With the winter coming it is time to have genuine electricity.
We have a proposal from the electricity company so we could start to install it. The problem is that the instalment will cost at least € 8000,00, this is a substantial amount.
SDB has not asked her supporters for extra donations over the past few years. We are about to change this because we really need your support this time.
SDB wants to ask you to buy 1 meter electricity wire.
1 meter will cost you € 10,00. Of course your name will be mentioned on the website and in the shelter of Orasje. On top of this all you will receive a certificate and a surprise gift.
We hope you will support the SDB financially, so we are soon able to make a start with the implementation of the electricity.

Trip September 2008
We have already created our team that will go work in the shelter in September. We will be accompanied by a veterinarian and of course we will do a lot of odd jobs. Plans are made already. We have to make new kennels. The wooden house that is on the shelter has to be assembled, the storage has to be made into a mouse-free, so it will turn out to be a busy week.

30-07-08 "Ademloos " by Kim Moelands
In 2005 I had an interview for a magazine called Linda, this interview was performed by Kim Moelands. Talking about the foundation is easy so we were talking for an hour soon. At a certain moment Kim asked me what the procedure was when someone wanted to adopt a dog, because she had seen a cute dog on our website Klempara (Balou). While telling my story I explained the way we work with adoption and told Kim that Balou was staying with a foster family in Utrecht. Kim was clear about her thinking that Balou was a remarkable dog. At the end of the conversation Kim left and would keep me posted about her maybe visiting Balou. She desperately wanted a dog, but she thought it was not the right moment. Within one hour Kim called that she really wanted to see Balou.
Balou quickly found her home with Kim, it was love at first sight.
By adopting Balou, Kim and I(SDB) stayed in contact. Kim helped us in any way she could and became a volunteer with the SDB. Thanks to her dedication and support the SDB was noticed by Dutchy Puppy and we are now receiving support from them.
Kim has Cystic Fibrosis and is trying to get everything out of her life, together with Balou, in spite of this horrible disease.
Kim has written a book about her life, even Balou is part of the story. This book is really worth reading, it will take your breath away!!
You want to know more? Check out the website www.kimmoelands.nl

18-07-08 Bosnian student in Holland
Nedim is living in Tuzla, he is 16 years old. Nedim is familiar with the SDB, because his father used to work in the shelter in Tuzla. Nedim helped us many times when we were working in the shelter of Tuzla. He gave us the impression he was sincere.
Nedim started an education program to become a veterinary assistant and is eager to become a vet himself. Because he is so enthusiastic and wants to see and learn more than he is learning in Bosnia, he asked us if we could help him. We were able to let Nedim come to Holland and he had two weeks of internship in the clinic of Hendrik Ido Ambacht and the animal hospital in Dordrecht.
Nedim had an awesome time and did an excellent job. He is learning really fast and very interested in everything he experiences. We hope that Nedim had two useful weeks in Holland.

Event: "Dag van mens en dier" on the 26th of July
For everyone that wants to have a nice day we can recommend the event "de dag van mens en dier". SDB will be present to sell items for their own foundation but also for Dutchy Puppy. More info www.dagvanmensendier.nl

15-07-08 New boradmember SDB
During our last board meeting on the 13th of July we decided to add Rob Mulder to our board as one of the new members. He will fill in the vacancy caused by the resignation of Marco Sijstermanns.
Rob Mulder is working as a manager of a car fleet.

The board currently exists out of :
Wilma de Joode, chairwoman
Henny Bax, Secretary
Eerhard van Vliet, chamberlain
Wille Koppelaar, member
Rob Mulder, member

14-07-08 News concerning the board of the SDB
Because of a difference of opinion between Marco and the other members of the board, the decision was made that Marco will resign as a member of the board and will no longer be an active member working for the foundation.

All members of the board support this decision. Marco accepts this decision. We do want to mention the fact that Marco contributed substantially to the SDB, and we would like to thank him for this.

Lovely gesture of dogs association Walcheren
We received an email of the dogs association called Howa from Vlissingen. Every new season they collect money for a charity and this time the choose SDB. This means that they will collect supplies with their members and others for the dogs in Bosnia. This of course sounds magnificent and we are pleasantly surprised by this initiative. IF you would like to know more about HOWA, please check their website www.hondenverenigingwalcheren.nl

Donation of a freezer unit for the shelter in Croatia
Conny and Paul, who are volunteers with the SDB, went to a shelter close to Zagreb with a couple of friend. Last February Wilma and Conny visited this shelter and Conny decided she had to do more for them. SDB is considering to do something for this shelter, because the hardly get any support and there are staying more than 250 dogs.

When Conny called from Croatia and told that they needed a freeze unit desperately because the meat they stored was crawling with maggots we decided to donate a deepfreeze. Conny ordered the necessity, with a capacity of 400 litre, and had arranged that this was delivered at the shelter right away. The people working at the shelter were very happy with this.

26 July, The event "Dag van mens en dier"(Day of humans and animals) in Dordrecht
This year it will be the anniversary. The sixtieth "dag van mens en dier" in the area of the Biesbosch in Dordrecht.
Horses, pony's, parrots and dogs, it will be hard to not miss anything. Enjoyable shows, booths and fun. The SDB will be there for the third time and we hope you will be there too. We look forward to it.

31 August, "Buitenlandse Hondendag"(Foreign dogs day) in Zaandam
Everyone who has a dog from outside of Holland....
Everyone who cares for a stray animal wherever it is.....
Everyone who is interested in helping stray dogs....
Everyone who does not own a dog, pedigree dog or cat.....
Everyone who would like to know more....

So really everyone is welcome to join us at this event called the Buitenlandse Hondendag in Zaandam. The SDB will be there too, with their volunteers and a booth. We hope many people will be there and it will turn out to be a lovely day.

"Rasloze dag" (day for dogs with no pedigree)the 6th of September in the Wouwse Plantage
This year the SDB will be at the lustrum edition of the day that is especially for dogs without a pedigree. Everyone that owns a dog is welcome to join us and we hope to contribute a little to this fun day. Website of this event: www.raslozedag.nl

Thanks to people who support us through the adoption on a distance and the sponsoring of doghouses we are able to offer a lot of help to the shelter in Orasje. Tanja, who is responsible for all the activities around this project, is always keeping people posted on the latest news on "their" dog in the shelter and on the houses built thanks to them. The past trip Tanja has spend a lot of time studying the sponsored dogs and many pictures were taken during this week. So it will not take long before everyone will receive an update on their dog(s).

Meanwhile we have returned from our trip to Bosnia for more than two weeks. It was a special trip where we have accomplished a lot in the shelter of Orasje. This time we were a group of 21 volunteers and the last Thursday and Friday we were joined by Alexander and Alisa, who decided to go to Orasje for a couple of days.

We had nothing to complain, especially when it is about the weather, sunny and pleasantly warm.

DIY team
The DIY team had an extreme challenge this week, which was placing an entire new fence around the present shelter and their new piece of land. In total they have been able to put 260 metres of fencing, 2 sliding doors and 2 entrance doors in place.

Jusuf, Peter, Eerhard, Marco, Fred, Rob, John, Marino and two Bosnian employees have worked their buts of to finidh it in time.

They became so fanatic that every volunteer had to be on the shelter at eight in the morning, and left not before six in the evening. But they did finish the job, the only thing that has to be done is making an extra concrete frame so the dogs cannot dig their ways out. After this they can start to make the new piece of land suitable for using this to give the dogs much more space to run around.

There was also a small DIY team in the shelter itself. Maartje, Hilde and Ronald painted all the beams of the wooden cabin that has to be built. This wooden cabin was donated by one of our benefactors and was transported to Bosnia. The paintjob is almost done and Fred is now busy trying to solve the puzzle of building the cabin in September, because we miss the building plans. Svjetlana cannot wait until the cabin is ready, because this will be her new office.

Medical team
The medical team consisting out of Mirjam, Willeke, Inge and Henriet have sterilised and castrated 60 animals during the week. Next to these they also performed some other surgery's. This time more people have made their appearance at the shelter compared to last year. Mainly friends and acquaintances of Svjetlana and Jusuf, people who visited us last year but for whom the decision to act was too hard that time. This is a big step, and we hope they will inform their friends and everyone they know to convince them to do the same. We did have a calling on the radio to drop by for free, but only one person showed up.

Assistance for Svjetlana
Lilian, Cokkie and Winanda devoted themselves the entire week to the daily job of cleaning and caring for the dogs. They have cleaned the pens every single day, they removed droppings from the shelter terrain, fed the dogs etc. The intention was to give Svjetlana a week of complete rest, but it is hard to keep her from working, she is literally in her system to care for the dogs and we must be fair, her presence is crucial when it comes to getting the dogs back to their kennels.

You can make an attempt by putting the door open and calling the dogs, but the chance of getting a dog in by itself is very small, unless it is Svjetlana who is calling them.

"Jack-of-all-trades"- team
Wilma, Suze, Veerle and myself (Tanja) have been busy in the entire shelter this week, where someone would need our help we would come immediately. Wilma gave several interviews and gave the mayor a tour around the shelter. It was very special to hear him thanking us for all we have done and all the supplies that were given by the Dutch people.

Suze made sure there was plenty of drinks and food every day and made a new facility to put all the screws and tools.

Car
We had collected money in 2006 to buy a car for the shelter in Tuzla. Because of all the problems in Tuzla we never did buy a car, so the money was still waiting on a savings account. And after building such a bond with Orasje, and the Yugo which is the car Jusuf drove is breaking down, we bought a second hand Caddy this week.
Queens day
During our national holiday Queens day, we were in Bosnia, but the day did not go by without something special. In the morning the shelter was decorated with all kinds of orange festoons and in the evening we went out for dinner with Svjetlana and Jusuf. Marco and Veerle had ordered special t-shirts with a print in front: Svjetlana's day. When Svjetlana arrived at the hotel she was very surprised to see 21 silly Dutch people wearing orange t-shirts, and some of them even having orange hair or little flags on their faces.

It became a very special evening. Dzjana, one of the interpreters of the shelter, joined us in the restaurant together with her kids dance-group. She convinced the kids to perform a dance for us. The room was filled with joy and happiness.

To celebrate the anniversary of 1 year of cooperation with Svjetlana and Jusuf we gave them a photo book with pictures and stories of the dogs that we brought to Holland from their shelter, and found their new home in our country.

All these stories were translated to English by Suze and after that Alisa and Elvira translated them to Bosnian. It was successful surprise for Svjetlana and Jusuf.

All other things
By this we would like to thank once again all the adopters on a distance and all the people who support us financially for their contributions, because without you we would not be able to do the work in Bosnia that we are doing now!

It was an amazing week for all of us, so much has happened and that we could write an entire book about all of this, but this is not possible, so Fred made a special report on our trip. On the page of the reports you can find a lot of pictures this in the map of 08-04 Orasje.

All the pictures are already exchanged among the volunteers, so we will write the updates on the dogs on a distance soon!

We would like to say a special thanks to the people who supported the SDB, and through that directly also the dogs in Bosnia, by sponsoring a doghouse.

Suze and Fred made a beautiful sign with all the names on it from people who donated a doghouse. Thanks to these contributions we can make a lot of the jobs done in Orasje.

So everyone who supports the SDB financially as well as with supplies and materials...... THANK YOU SO MUCH, on behalf of the dogs in Orasje and Bosnia!! We cannot say this too many times!

23-05-08 All sorts of news

SDB has been on the Bosnian Television

It has been a couple of weeks already since we returned from our trip. Several volunteers are planning to go the end of July to Orasje.
You can find all the pictures and reports from this trip on our website. Fred made a special photo and video report which is published on YouTube. This “report” gives a really good impression on the entire week and will take you with us to Orasje. You can find the link on the page “reports”.
During our week in Orasje a camera crew of the federal television company came by. We had already returned to Holland when the item made was broadcasted, so we were not able to see this. Fortunately the medium Internet exists, and we were after all able to watch it. I am so proud that this was on the national television, and I am even more proud of all the volunteers that do make the difference in this world, and it doesn’t matter how small or big their contribution is!!
Of course the broadcast is in Bosnian, but the images speak for themselves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZGvDi9UcgI

WSPA Member

After having to fill in loads of question, handing over our annual reports and all sorts of other information we were finally approved to become an official member of the WSPA. We are extremely proud of this, because there are not many organisations which are approved in Holland. We hope to accomplish many beautiful things with our cooperation with WSPA.

Educational booklets printed

We have 5000 booklets ready to be distributed among schools in Bosnia. We are starting to explore the best way to handle this, so we are sure we reach the schools and their children. The books are meant to be as an educational material for kids that are around ten years old. It is full of questions about strays and how to deal with them the right way. The books have a design that is pleasant for children, with a game in the centre page and a certificate in the back. We hope, and we will do our utmost, to make schools, municipalities and people all around enthusiastic about this booklet.

Annual Report 2007

Soon our annual report of 2007 will be published on our website, and I can tell you already that we of course are proud to have this also.

Wilma de Joode

06-05-08 Back from our trip to Orasje

The week started with raining cats and dogs, so we were a bit anxious because when it would keep going on like this, we would not be able to do a lot. But the second day the sun showed up, and it stayed with us for the rest of the week. It took some time before everyone found her/his spot in the shelter, but after that everything went just fine.

Over 60 dogs and cats were operated on. From castrations to amputating a leg with a Pekinese. From sterilisations to an abortion with a dog and a cat. Dogs that live in the shelter, but fortunately also dogs and cats from people around Orasje. Most people have no clue about the benefits of castration and sterilisation. So we provide everyone with a full explanation and the were all happy and relieved about taking the step to perform the surgery.

We installed 260 meters of fence. We dug everything by hand. We made all the concrete manually and placed every stake ourselves. A beautiful entrance gate, galvanised, 2 meter high fence, what does a shelter need more. What a job the handymen did in Orasje!

Almost the entire wooden cabin was painted. Day after day some of us painted to get it finished. It will be quiet a puzzle to figure out the way to put it together. But I am sure this will work out fine.

Every day we helped cleaning the kennels. Giving the dogs the necessary attention. Helping Svjetlana having it a bit less hard. Making the lives of the dogs a little bit easier. It was clear that dogs that were a bit shy at the beginning of the week, were more relaxed and approachable at the end of the week. The dogs that were to afraid to be petted at the beginning of the week, begged for a hug at the end of the week, sometimes careful. This is a joyful experience.

The major visited us again this year, he was very positive about the way the shelter looked, and thanked us for our support and materials. We of course hope the municipality will support us by helping with the installation of the electricity to and in the shelter. Last year they donated the extra ground, so we hope for a "present" this year.

We are going to see together with the municipality how to reach the schools with the educational program. The educational booklets are finished, we are very happy with this achievement. 5000 booklets have been printed and will be distributed among the schools in Bosnia. Hopefully this will make a difference in the life of the animals too.

There were journalists at the shelter, and we were filmed by a camera-crew of the National Television.

We have bought a car. We had made a reservation for this and it was about time to buy a car for the shelter. It ended up to be a VW Caddy.

It was a week where many things happened. And it is too much to tell you everything. The pictures will speak for themselves, some of the pictures you can already find in the gallery. We will add more through out time. We will of course also have reports made by the people who accompanied us.

Dear all of you that came along, Thanks so much for all your devotion, warmth, involvement, hard work and friendliness!!

Tomorrow, 25 April, we leave together with a group of 21 to help the shelter in Orasje. This is the biggest group ever.
We are all looking forward to it. And we will do our utmost to complete as many jobs as possible.
This week will mostly be about castrating and sterilizing, building the fence, pooring the concrete, picking up the droppings, cleaning and taking care of all the dogs.
We will of course write an extensive report on our journey when we have returned to Holland, as you are all used to see.
Because of the fact that almost all our permanent volunteers will join us this week, no mails will be answered. After the third of may we will reply your emails.
If you need us urgently please call 06-46198579

20-03-08 All sorts of news

Easter market 24 March
Marco and Veerle will do their utmost to sell as much stuff as possible at the eater market in Brunssum on Monday the 24th of March. The benefits will be for the SDB. If you would like more info on the event you can check www.euregiobazaar.nl Maybe you will be visitor number 75.000!!

Interview Radio Ridderkerk 25 March
Tuesday 25 March Cokkie and Wilma will be interviewed by a reporter of Radio Ridderkerk. By this way we hope to reach more people that might be willing to donate something, or are willing to do something for us. If you want to listen to the interview, it will be broadcasted from around 10.10 until 10.30 in the morning, you can receive this through www.radioridderkerk.nl
If you are not able to listen on that specific moment, it will be available through “Uitzending Gemist”.

Article on Betsy the dog in a local newspaper of Bihac
Elvira found a mother dog a couple of months ago. Betsy, who had 4 pups. The shelter in Orasje was packed, and Elvira was not able to take care of them because she has a full time job. Luckily Jelena and Agneza were willing to shelter Betsy and her babies.
Jelena and Agneza are two young girls from Croatia that work hard for all the stray dogs over there. At their own home there are at least 10 dogs living and just as much cats. Many dogs found a way to their new homes through these girls by taking them of the streets, fostering them and re-homing them.
A couple of days before Elvira would bring Betsy and her pups to Croatia, Betsy was hit by a car. She was hiding for almost two days. Fortunately Betsy showed up, and she was brought to Jelena and Agneza by Elvira.
Betsy clearly showed agony created by the collision, and she was operated in Croatia to cure her back leg. Unfortunately two of the pups got sick soon after all this, it was canine distemper. They tried everything to cure the little ones, but it didn’t work out. They were both euthanized because or else they would have had a horrible way of dying. We are happy that Snjeska and Kelly, the two other remaining pups, were healthy.
At this moment, some time later, Betsy is doing fine, and Snjeska and Kelly are in Holland. Betsy is still in Croatia with Jelena and Agneza and had undergone several operations on her beck leg, it seems to be alright now. Eventually we are hoping to find a home in Holland for Betsy also.
A local newspaper in Bihac(Bosnia) printed an article about Betsy. Elvira got in contact with them, and made sure they printed the story. This story shows that stray-dogs are not violent, ferocious or anything else that people think. This story shows that stray-dogs are special and that there are still people that care about these animals.

Marco and Veerle on their trip
Marco and Veerle went to Orasje and came back with 6 dogs. The visit to Orasje was, again, a big success. You can find their report on that category of the website. Pictures of their trip are to be find on the website under pictures. Marca and Veerle……you did a great job!
Linda back after one month of Orasje
Linda is back from her month of working in Orasje. It was the first time someone was going by herself for a longer period to Bosnia to help out. It was a bit exciting, as well as for Linda as for the SDB. Thanks to Linda it was a huge success, Linda, we would like to thank you very much for your devotion and hard work!!!! You did an excellent job. You can find her story under our reports.

Visit to Croatia and Bosnia by Conny and Wilma
Conny (foster parent) and Wilma have paid a visit to Croatia and Bosnia. It was a short but intense trip. In Croatia they visited Jelena and Agneza. These two ladies help Elvira(volunteer SDB in Bihac, Bosnia) with fostering dogs and they assist a shelter in Croatia by re-homing dogs and also for the shelter they foster. Wilma and Conny have been at that shelter also.

Next to visiting the shelter they went to Bihac, Bosnia for a day. Elvira organised a get together with a variety of people that already do something or are willing to do something for the stray dogs in and around Bihac. Many people showed up, and all sorts of topics were discussed. We all had a positive feeling about it.

It was a very special weekend we had in Croatia and Bosnia. We have seen, talked, and done a lot and it was worth all our energy. You can find a short report on this trip made by Conny on our website.

Trip April
We are getting closer. The last week of April we are going to the shelter of Orasje with a group of volunteers to do the necessary things. The fence has been ordered, and we hope it is finished in time so we can put the fence around, hopefully, the entire shelter, including the new piece of land. There is some deliberation going on about the wooden house and the tin shed.

Also a medical crew will join us that will sterilize and castrate the whole week. We hope that people from Orasje will bring in their animals to get the necessary medical care.

The group of people that is going in April is the largest ever. We are going to do our utmost to make it an excellent week.

18 February 08 Cokkie as an extra at the aftercare team
Because more and more dogs are coming to Holland to find a new home, it is becoming too much for Willeke to do the aftercare by herself. Cokkie will start doing this too. All the owners of the dogs that came from Orasje will stay in contact with Cokkie. She has send her first email to inform already.

Tuzla articles in newspaper Bosnia
Today an article was printed where it was stated that there is an excessive amount of stray dogs and they are planning to shoot the dogs. We will let the municipality and the newspaper by sending them faxes what we think of all this. We will try to shake things up. If it will contribute we don't know, but we cannot accept it and do nothing.

The English translation of the article:
Article published in Dnevni Avaz (daily news from BiH) on 18.02.2008.
There is no space in Tuzla's animal shelter any more…therefore Municipal Service for housing and Utilities will start to purchase rifles for performing of euthanasia…
Stray dogs presents big problem in Tuzla's Municipality. Lot of people had negative experience with groups of stray dogs attacking on them. Day by day there are more and more doggies. So far this problem was approached on two different ways: the first one to place them into the animal shelter and second one to kill them when there is too many and there is not space in the animal shelter. Than they hire utility service "Komunalac" to "take care" of the stray dogs. The big problem is that nobody wants to do this job anymore (to kill dogs) therefore it's difficult to find somebody- said by Aid Berbic, deputy of Municipal Department for Housing and Utilities.
Capacity of animal shelter is 100 animals what is not enough to take care of all stray dogs. Service for Utilities needs to purchase rifle for euthanasia so this problem can be solved on the more human way than to kill them with hunter's rifles. All Municipalities of Tuzla's Canton are facing the same problem.
Bad experience of Mr. Ilic (citizen of Tuzla)

Mr. Ilic is the one who was attacked by the group of stray dogs. While going to work wild group attacked him from behind and he was fortunate to survive this attack only with some scratches and bites.

Containers donated
Hilda did it! Twenty big waste containers were donated for Orasje. These containers are excellent for keeping food, and they will be used a lot. You did a great job Hilda!!

Regarding the shelter, I was surprised with the way it looks now, you can really tell there is some investment put in there…We saw the storage and it is really well done. It is big and all the stuff is nicely and neatly stored in there.

In the little part there is like a room with a table and chairs and a wooden stow for heating. The only problem is that there are still some mice that somehow get inside; they are trying to solve it.

Moreover, I noticed there are much more threes in the middle area, there are changes in the protective sheets on the kennels. Looks really colourful because they are in red and other bright colours.

The storage is full of blankets and food and it is clean and smells nice, nothing like moist or anything similar to that. All the kennels are clean and blankets dry in the dog houses. We had a great time with the dogs.

Jusuf showed us the place where he wants to construct medical room for surgeries so you guys don't have to do it outside on a table. Svjetlana got you the approval that Dutch vets are able to work in Orasje without any problem. She can't wait for April. Now she realizes what you were saying. Sterilization/castration is the only solution.

They told us about the plans for the fence and the gate. They are planning to use the old fence for dividing areas in the shelter so that the dogs could on fact spend the whole way outside and they would be sorted in groups. Sounds really good how they imagined it.

Linda, oh, she is so nice and modest. We talked to her about everything, she told us about the work she does as stewardess, how she came here and will be for 3,5 weeks and she likes it very much.

10 febr 08
News from Linda from Orasje

I will write a quick report on my adventures in Bosnia. I keep trying to get my pictures on the internet, but unfortunately I did nor succeed yet and the computer quits every time I try.
I have been here for a week now, and I have to admit I am settling down quite easy.

It is a totally different world compared to ours, and it is really strange living with people who I am not able to understand!!

At the shelter everything is going okay. It is hard work, but the wagging of dog tails and the slobbery kisses after a hard day of work makes it all worth it.

Unfortunately I will bring 10 extra kilos of bodyweight back to Holland……..I am being stuffed with food, and they don’t understand the meaning of the word NO.
Yesterday Elvira from Bihac paid a visit, a city approx 5 hours away from Orasje, and she had a nice way of explaining their habits……… “that’s what we do... we feed people.”

Linda

10 febr ‘08
Get together of Volunteers SDB

Sunday the day had finally arrived, the get together of volunteers.
It was a fun happening, and really nice to see eachother. “New” and “Old” volunteers, all mixed.

Esther and Tom, we thank you for your hospitality and the fact you opened up your home for all of us.
It was partly because of you guys and the superb food a wonderful day, and worth repeating!

Everyone that was present, thank you for coming!! We will do this again this summer!

9 Febr ‘08
Elvira brings pups to Orasje
Elvira and some people in and around Bihac are taking care of more and more dogs. Many time they find pups that were dumped. The past Saturday Elvira brought three pups to Orasje where they will be looked after. Soon pictures from her visit to Orasje will follow.

Marco en Veerle naar Orasje
19 February
Marco and Veerle will travel to Orasje to spend some days working in the shelter. They will bring back some dogs to Holland also. The report of their trip and the pictures made will be published on this website after their return!

Last year we were approached by Linda van den Engel, a stewardess. She was eager to work at the shelter in Bosnia for one month.
After having a conversation with Linda, and some deliberation with Svjetlana, we decided to give her the opportunity.
Yesterday Linda arrived in Bosnia, Orasje, to help Svjetlana and Yusuf with all the work that has to be done in the shelter, for the entire month of February.
When I spoke to her this morning she told me that she was impressed with all the dogs in the shelter(over one hundred at this time) and told me that Svjetlana and Yusuf did an excellent job organising everything.

It happens more and more that materials are donated to use in e.g. the shelter in Orasje.
Cokkie went to pick up some special parts for making kennels and some food the past weekend in Moerkapelle, that was offered by Jet.

Dutchy Puppy received food from the Dutch Animal protection society in Den Hague. And we got food from several locations ourselves, like Utrecht and Wijk bij Duurstede.
We are almost ready to have our next transport to Bosnia, because the containers are getting swamped again.

Elvira found some kindred spirits as it comes to loving animals in and close to Bihac.
So she is no longer by herself.

More and more pups and mature dogs are found on the streets. Elvira even has one of them at home, as an extension of her ‘family’.
At this moment there are several pups that are temporarily in home-situations, and there are lots of pups living on the streets that are taken care after by Elvira and some other people.
Three of them will probably brought to the shelter in Orasje this month.
Elvira got in contact with other people and a couple of dogs and pups are re-homed by the help of Jelena, a young Bosnian woman, with good contacts in Austria and Germany.

SDB reviewed the design for the new shelter in Bihac that is planned to be built.
A lot has to be changed if this can become a good and efficient shelter, at this moment it appears to be more something like a vet clinic.
SDB asked Chris Lawrence for help, he works for Dog’s Trust.
We hope to give a good advice to the Vet in Bihac that wants to start this shelter, an advice based on the input from Chris and others.
The municipality is willing to support the shelter and reserved money for making the plans.
We will try to monitor this as good as possible and help wherever we can.

In case you planned to pay a visit to the event the “Huisdierendagen” in event centre Rai, this is cancelled. This happened because of lack of applications.

11 jan 08 The beginning of a new year
New owners, thank you so much!!
During the first days of this new year a couple of dogs got a chance for a new live at the homes of new owners. Re-homing the dogs is going well and I think it is very special that the new owners and their dogs fit in that good. In the world of the saving of animals and all the horrible things we experience, the new owners are salve on our wounds, because we find a lot of wonderful people. Dear all of you, thank you for given ‘our’ dogs a good and safe live.

Elvira is lobbying
Elvira is busy trying to gather as many people as possible to start a shelter in Bihac.
She has already arranged two meetings, and some people have shown up there.
Especially young people are interested to help to solve the problems with stray dogs.
Some of them seem to be very motivated and Elvira thinks she found a couple of persons that are seriously willing and able to help in Bihac.

Recently the NoKill policy started in Bihac. That of course is excellent, but this is not so great if we don’t have a shelter to give the dogs a safe place to stay and where we can perform castrations.
Without the shelter and the castrations the dogs will breed, and the problems will only get bigger.
A lot of work ahead on us in Bihac. The municipality admits there has to be a shelter, and the veterinarian clinic and municipality asked the SDB to support this.
We would like to do this, but only when this is all planned properly. We will be anxious to see what will happen in Bihac.
To be continued

Educational booklets.
Next to the activities around the shelter, Elvira has been busy with the educational booklets that are translated to the Bosnian language. We received the offers to print them, and we will try to find companies or foundation that will take part in paying the costs, so we can print lots of them.
We will let the booklets print in Bosnia. We are planning to hand out the first set of booklets in April in a school in Orasje.
But when we come to that point, we will inform you.

Suze in ING magazines
Our volunteers will do anything to get the SDB in magazines. Every magazine that is printed in a company will do to tell about the SDB and the work we do. This time Suze was is two magazines of the ING.
Artikel 1 pdf van Suze
Artikel 2 pdf van Suze

Orasje
We have spoken about the priorities of the shelter in Orasje during the latest board meeting.
Do we have to fix the fencing first, or is it better to arrange electricity.
A new fence has to be placed around the old and the new piece of land. The cost will be at least 7000 euro. This will be a fence that will stand lots of decennia and that will not have to painted over and over again and collapses after a short period. This kind of amount of money is huge for such a small foundation.
Also electricity had to put in place, and we have received an pricy offer for that too. The shelter is situated far from the main road, and therefore the electricity has to bridge a long distance to reach the shelter. We are trying to find a cheaper way to do this, because the money we are talking about is extreme.

We have to make decisions because we can’t do it all at once. We decided to do the fence first, because we have the aggregate, and that will do for now. We will try to put the fence in place before April, this will be done by a Bosnian company.
In April we will be working with a big group of volunteers in Orasje, and we hope to be able to help getting the fence ready.
But we are talking about Bosnia, so we will be sure of everything after our week over there.

The new storage is being used already. The materials and food that was brought in December are stored in this new building. At this moment the construction work is inactive because Yusuf had a hernia, he will be operated in January so we hope he will be better soon, and he will be able to do things he likes to do.

There is also e new area where the pups stay that have been brought is the past months. Because small puppy dogs are growing all the time!!!

20 dec 07 Looking back on the happenings in 2007

It was the year where we had our own television documentary.

The year where we had to distance ourselves from Tuzla and the dogs we all loved/and still love so dearly.

The year where we gave some Bosnian dogs a new opportunity in Holland.
The year we were joined by new volunteers, but also had to say goodbye to others.

The year where we designed and produced our own t-shirts.
The year we started supporting Orasje.

It was a stormy year with a lot of emotions. It was the year when it became clear that we form a solid team and that we can cope with many setbacks, accomplish a lot together, in spite of the fact we don't always agree upon decisions. So many things happened during 2007, to many to list them all, 2007 was a year to remember.

By this I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone that is involved with the SDB for their support and help.

All the companies and people that donated money or aid supplies, and perform activities for free like printing folders.

The veterinarians that support us again and again, and give the dogs the best care possible.

I wish you happiness, all good things, love, confidence, courage and fun in 2008.

We would like to thank everyone for sending cards and emails. We are unfortunately not able to reply them all personally by lack of time.

These are a couple of the wishes we received:

Thursday 20th of December we are having a party! At that day Baloutje is living with me for two years. Two years ago she was the best Christmas present ever, and she still is!
I had never had one second regret of adopting her.
And neither has she as you can see on the picture! Balou has brought me so much joy.
Together with her we wish all the Bosnian dogs and their owners a merry Christmas and all good things for 2008. Balou says WOEF!

Hi there!
Just a small message concerning Victor. He recuperated from the surgery and he is doing great. He is now showing a lot of juvenile behaviour (provoking Nova and eating everything that is not fixed!!!) but during the puppy course he behaved like a model dog! He grew up to be beautiful, with long paws and an amazing sweet face.

The transport arrived

The transport arrived properly in Orasje. Because the materials had to be unloaded from the truck very quickly, it was getting dark, there are not many pictures. Everything is now at the storage in the shelter. Svjetlana has send us this email:

Please allow me to thank you and all the donors for the goods that arrived in the army truck. It is all so great and I am so happy as I know that these dogs will never be hungry again!

Best,
Svjetlana

Today a truck, loaded with all sorts of food and materials, left for Orasje.
The past Thursday the truck first went to Harskamp, to pick up a lot of materials donated to the SDB. Among other things we got refrigerators, lights to hang outdoors, heaters and kitchen working tops.
Cees, owner of Bika, and the father of Cees, we would like to thank you both, it is amazing!!

The past Friday we loaded the truck, and I can ensure you, there was not a tiny spot left to be filled. We used the entire space.
For the last period we received a lot of supplies and food, so much we were not even able to transport it all this time. The most important goods, in particular food, is being transported anyway. We hope it all goes well, and that the truck will be unloaded next Friday in Orasje.
Of course we will publish pictures when the truck successfully accomplished its job.
We would like to thank Sonja Deckers for arranging the food.
We would also like to thank www.greenheart.nl for the three pallets of food we could pick up for free. This is excellent!! Thank you Ben.

NoKill seminar
At the 1st and 2nd of December we had the seminar organised by NoKill Europe.
You can find a full report on www.nokill.eu . It was a remarkable event for Willeke, Anita, Peter and Wilma to attend this the whole weekend, and to experience it by organising and watching it this close.
Also the volunteers who joined us the second day were impressed.
We would like to do this again some day. We do think it is a shame that so little interest was shown by all the other foundations that fight for the foreign animal rights.
Many foundations state that they support the NoKill principles, and they say that sterilizing is the only solution, but they do not show up to learn more about this during these days.
We hope that there will be more foundations represented the next time!

Short trips
Meanwhile Tanja, Eerhard, Marco, Veerle, Lilian, Suze and Fred returned from their trips to Bosnia, and several dogs came along with them back to Holland. These dogs are now staying with their foster families.
The shelter in Orasje is packed, because a lot of mama-dogs and their pups and many pups without a mother are found and brought to the shelter.
Svjetlana and Yusuf had 19 dogs in their own home at one point in time, because there was no space in the shelter.
It is wonderful that the shelter is now getting more name known, but the dark side is that more dogs are now dumped there. People feel sorry for putting the pups on the streets, so they bring the dogs close to the shelter, and it will all end up fine, they think!
Yusuf's health is not okay at this moment, so most of the work has to be done by Svjetlna, it is too much to do this all by herself.
In the shelter there are now approximately 100 dogs.
All the construction work is stopped now because of the poor health of Yusuf.
We hope that he will feel better soon, and that they will find people who can help them with all the work that has to be done on a daily basis.
It is hard to find employees that are willing to work in the shelter.
We hope this will change when everything is build properly.

This morning Peter left with a trailer on the way to Lienden.
Suze got in contact with a company that sold dogfood, and we were allowed to pick up 3 pallets of food. This is excellent.
The truck will leave for Bosnia soon, and we are happy to get so much food, because the truck is able to take it all to Bosnia.
The upcoming winter the dogs are assured of having enough food.

Veerle and Marco returned on the 25th of November from their trip to Orasje.
You can read their report of the report-page of our website.
At the 26th of November another job was waiting for them!
300 kg of dog food had to be brought from Betticourt to the storage in Moerdijk.
When they arrived in Betticourt there was a lot more than the agreed 300 kilograms.
It was more than their car could handle.
So to be sure they asked Valerie if all the food was really given to the SDB.
They were given a heartfelt 'yes'.
Fortunately they were able to use a trailer by Valerie. During loading the trailer they were counting, and it was a huge amount of 825 kg.
The Bosnian dogs and the SDB are really happy with this immense gesture.
Monique and Valerie, again thanks for this enormous load of food.

Cokkie had been very busy collecting all sorts of materials. Winanda also made a lot of effort to collect the necessary supplies. Cokkie picked up all the stuff at Winanda’s place, and she arrived in a fully loaded van at the storage in Moerdijk..
At the 28th of November Rob left early in the morning to pick up three pallets full of food and other aid supplies at Sonja Deckers.

With a heavenly loaded trailer Rob arrived at the storage in Moerdijk. Together with Wilma he drove of to the storage in Dordrecht, to get the supplies out of there and take them to Moerdijk, so it would be easier to load the truck for the upcoming transport.

New trip in April '08
We are making arrangements for our next trip to Orasje in April 2008. We have major plans, constructing as well as castrating and sterilizing.
There is a shed to be build, a wooden log cabin to be assembled and I am not even thinking of the kennels that have to be build, the concrete that has to be poured and the dog houses we want to make.
But the biggest challenge is to get people of Orasje motivated to neuter their cats and dogs by our vets.
Svjetlana already received multiple requests from the locals if we would be able to neuter their animal, so we will see what we can do in April.
Anyway, we look forward to support Svjetlana and Jusuf in this way, and we will help in anyway we can.

Educational Booklet
Right now Elvira is getting in contact with printing offices in Bosnia to check out where we van print the booklets, against the best quality and price.
Dogs trust helped us getting these booklets. They made these booklets especially for kids and their teachers in Romania, to educate them about stray dogs and the problem around stray animals.
Elvira and Alisa translated the booklet to the Bosnian language and Dogs trust assembled it with the right layout.
By this way a beautiful book is created. There is an example to use by kids, and one for their teachers. All sorts of facts are in there, and the problems are explained in a playful, but serious way. All the things that are true and not true about stray dogs, and how to deal with these animals in the bes way.
The teachers get a book with all sort of tasks which can be given to the children.
We are planning to distribute the booklets among the children at the schools of Orasje.
We hope we can show the people by this way that the problem with stray animals can be solved in an acceptable way and that stray dogs are not horrible creatures.
The children are our future, do we have to focus on them!

Hilda visiting a well known lady called Imca Marina
December the 2nd Hilda visited Imca Marina after receiving an invitation after the election of most attentive person from Groningen.
Hilda ended second. A small trip was organised for all the contestants, and the trip was a visit to Imca Marina. During the election Imca stated she supported the SDB and would become a donator. We of course hope Imca will not forget the SDB.

Tanja and Eerhard arrived safely, together with five dogs. Tanja has written a report on this trip, you can read this on our report-page.
The dogs that came to Holland have been brought to their foster families, and they are all doing very well.

Tanja and Eerhard, you did a GREAT job!!!!

These volunteers will leave for Orasje tomorrow, they will pay a short visit to Orasje and bring back some dogs.
In the report Tanja made you can read about Mickey, this is one of the dogs that will be brought to Holland. This is a Pekinese dog that has been brought to the shelter and that was bitten by another dog. His eye is badly injured and it will probably be necessary to be removed. We rarely bring a dog to Holland that has medical problems, but this is an exception, because it would not be possible to treat this in Bosnia.
Of course pictures and reports will be published when Marco, Veerle and Lilian return from Bosnia.

Elvira has attended this conference for three days and has met many different people, from several countries.
Next to Elvira also Jelena joined the conference. Recently Jelena became more active in Bosnia for the SDB. Elvira says: “I am glad that I met with all those people and it was quite interesting to watch them and read their behaviour/interaction. All in all, I can positively say that it was useful and interesting.”

Elvira and Jelena hope to be able to achieve more in the future with the contacts they made during the conference. But one thing is clear, it is not easy to cooperate in the right way, even though we are working to reach the same goals.

There were a lot of people joining the conference. The participants made the trip to Berlin from different countries. Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania and many more countries were represented.

Tanja, Eerhard, Willeke, Peter and I represented the SDB. Nathalie Klinge and Eelco, her boyfriend, participated also. Nathalie is working for FPCC in Romania among other organisations.
Last year we also joined this conference(after we were told about it by Nathalie) and we enjoyed it very much. There were a lot of organisations, which were involved in animal welfare in the eastern part of Europe, just like us, so we decided to visit the conference again.

When we arrived we immediately saw a lot of familiar faces, and we were given a warm welcome by the people of Dogs Trust.
When we were handed the program it was clear that it would be some busy days.
Workshops, a tour around the shelter of Berlin, lectures etc. We would not be able to get bored these 3 days.

We were reunited with some of the people we had met last year.
One of them is Urshka. Urshka fights for animal rights in Slovenia.
And also Anita form Kroatia. Anita originally comes from Germany, but moved to Kroatia years ago and makes out a case for the animals in Kroatia.

Dorothea Friz, a veterinarian, was there too. Dorothea is a specialist in castrating animals as early as possible, and has been working in Italy for many years.

We also met “new” organisations. Sara Turetta from Romania.
Sara is founder of a foundation called Canibucarest.
This foundation is supported financially by Dutchy Puppy.

People from Russia, China and Japan participated. There were people visiting the conference from more than 30 countries. We talked and talked until we all had husky voices, just to get in contact with as many organisations as possible, and to catch up with the people we already knew.

This time, next to us, there were also two Dutch veterinarians at the seminar, and through them we got in contact with Ted Brewer. Ted appeared to have experience with Bosnia, and he had heard about the SDB. Ted was eager to hear our story, so we had dinner with him and his friend Beth.
Ted is very enthusiastic about the SDB and is happy to write an article about us.
Ted is a writer for the Best Friends Animal Society in America.
This is a huge organisation, who manages their own shelter in America and is trying to fight animal abuse worldwide.
We talked for hours with Ted. And after arriving on Wednesday, we were surprised to see an article on the Best Friends website the next Friday. You can read this article on: http://network.bestfriends.org/international/news/

This week Ted promised us that the SDB would get a donation of $1500 from Best Friends, and of course we are very happy with this gesture. Who knows what the future will bring us.

The three days went really fast. Before we knew it was over.
We did the T-touch workshop that Sarah tought.
We attended the lecture of Analeise Smillie of Animals Asia Foundation. There were horrible pictures of dogs that are caught and are butchered alive. We saw positive result and pictures of dogs that were saved by this foundation and who live now a happy life. We experienced the fact that this foundation started out small, and now years later, accomplished so much.
That gives us strength!

We can not mention all the things we did and see, but we can state that it was a very successful conference!

We would like to emphasize that it is important to join this for all the foundations next year.
Not because you are given tools, this is not the way it is working. But to get in contact with lots of people who manage shelters in countries where animals have no rights, and are willing to do anything that is necessary to help these stray-animals.

Elvira at the conference held by the WSPA in Sarajevo
From 13 until 15 November a conference organised by WSPA is being held in Sarajevo.
Elvira will be representing the SDB. We hope she will get in contact with lots of people, and that the outcome of the conference will be positive for all the stray animals in Bosnia.

Design Bosnian legislation for animal welfare
The Bosnian government is working on a legislation concerning animal welfare.
Organisations working in Bosnia are free to review this design and give their feedback.
Elvira and Jelena, one of our new volunteers in Bosnia, made 10 pages full of comments.
The design counted many pages with a huge amount of articles and almost every article was commented. Elvira and Jelena used the knowledge from legislation of other countries and by that we came to "our comment".

Meanwhile we have send the document back to Bosnia. We got an immediate reaction, where we were thanked for our review, and that they would use this, together with the feedbacks of all the other parties involved, to eventually get o a new animal welfare law.

Hopefully the problems in Bosnia around the government at this moment, because of the resignation of the president, will be solved soon, so everyone can go on governing the country and draw up laws.

Short trips to Orasje in November
This month 7 volunteers, will travel in 3 separate groups, to Bosnia.
New issues will be discussed with Svjetlana and Yusuf.
The main goal of the trip is checking out the shelter, how things are progressing, and a couple of dogs will come to Holland.

Of course pictures and reports will be published when everyone returned safely from their trip.

Transport of collected aid-supplies to Bosnia
On the 11th of December it will happen again!
A truck will leave for Bosnia to transport all the collected aid-supplies.
We are doing our best to collect as much as possible at the last moment.
So, if you have anything for us that is suitable for Bosnia, please let us know, we will figure a way out to get this to the storage.

On the 7th of december we are going to load the truck. We hope this will be packed!

Urgent call for Pups in distress
A Dutch company which has a furniture factory in Bosnia phoned us recently.
One of the owners spotted seven pups walking along the road, and he could not leave them to their selves, he knew they would not survive.

He decided to take them to the factory.
He phoned us to ask of we could do anything to help the pups.
Meanwhile Svjetlana was in contact with the factory and the pups will be brought to the shelter soon. The shelter is packed at the moment, but the pups need our help.

Svjetlana is not sure where the pups will stay, but as always she will find a solution. If necessary she will take them home. We hope the story will have a happy end, we will do our utmost to help them.

30 Oktober 2007

Hilda van Dijk is one of the volunteers, she lives in Groningen. She tries to promote the SDB in her region as much as possible. She is very dedicated and spends many hours working for the SDB.

She has accomplished a lot already, she collected so many supplies that one of her rooms and the garage are completely stuffed. She was in the local newspaper for three times representing the SDB.

Thanks to Hilda even a second volunteer in Groningen applied, Maya.
Hilda was nominated for the most attentive person from Groningen. She came in second!
We would like to congratulate her with this position!

31 okt + 1 en 2 nov 07 Animal Conference Berlin
The annual Animal Conference organised by Dogs Trust is held in Berlin this year.
Last year we attended this conference in Ljubljana (Sloveni