April 2010

What has Iceland got to do with our trip to Bosnia?

Usually nothing! But after months of preparation, careful planning and tight arrangements with the municipality of Zenica, the ash cloud from the volcano seems to have a huge role!

Back in time:
Thursday, April 15, 2010:
the last day before our leave, always hectic. There is still much to be done, but it seems reasonably under control, until ... ..
12 o’clock in the afternoon, the phone rings, one of the fellow travelers, maybe some final questions about the trip. But no, unfortunately, the two handymen decided to cancel at the last minute. Stress strikes and it feels like the end of the world.
Fortunately Cokkie and John can help me (Suze) to help pick up the most important stuff which we really need, and which were already waiting to go with the two guys who cancelled. The stress Is increasing at this point, because this was not calculated in the limited time I have.
Being at home the stress reduces a little, but the last home-cooked dinner got burned in the oven and our own dogs, got rebellious due to the chaos in and around the house.

Anyway everything was under control, and it was all okay, until ... ..
John called, if we had heard that a volcano in Iceland caused serious traffic problems. The burned food stayed untouched, cause the appetite was taken over by nausea. This could not be happening?
The biggest part of the group was going by car, but the two vets and an assistant (Henny, Carstien and Elisabeth) would go by plane.
Nervous moments began, and this would continue for several days, because the uncertainty would only increase at this point.

The journey itself went smoothly, everyone came to the meeting point on time. A wonderful group of people, all enthusiastic and motivated.
Henny decided to go by car after he heard that is flight was canceled. Unbelievable, because we were really having doubts on getting the job done? But Henny did not let us down, he also arrived in Bosnia on Friday.

The first weekend we were in Orasje. The operating room was packed. Henny, Renee and Alma from the Netherlands, Haris from Sarajevo, Alen from Travnik, one vet from Bihac and one from Odzak. In addition, assistants  Nedim and Ymke, big help Henriët and Tanja, who tried to make everything run smoothly.
Besides the club in the OR Cokkie and Winanda immediately started working in the shelter. They would stay all week to help with the care of dogs so Safet and Sheida could take some days off. Nicole and Suze did all sorts of things  and Fred started with doing small construction work.
All dogs at the shelter were sterilized, and some animals from outside were done also. In total 61 animals were sterilized. A great number!

On Monday we launched the major sterilization project in Zenica. Still without Carstien and Elisabeth who did everything to come to Bosnia. At last, with success, cause they arrived Tuesday afternoon, three days delayed but still motivated en very welcome.

Next to having the sterilization project, I've been visiting 11 schools. We had an average of 50 children per class, so this is a nice number of children we were able to address. We have distributed booklets and our lesson was very well received by the children and their teachers. I had two of the best girls ever from SAPA with me, who translated and gave explanations about the work of SAPA. There was only one school where it was stressful, cause there was who attacked me verbally. To put it briefly: I was worthless and should take care of the children first and give money, I did my utmost to stay calm, I succeeded, but the rest of the day I was angry, I could not let go of the negative feelings, and cursed her many times.

Halfway through the week, we had five Dutch visiting our project. They study journalism and were asked to make a small movie about our work, take photos and write articles. It was wonderful to have them there so I could speak Dutch in between my visits to the school instead of English all the time. I am very curious about the results.

The days rushed by, and the team worked extremely well. A great achievement, because the environment and dogs are still completely different from the familiar situation at their own practices.
Eventually, a total (Orasje and Zenica) of 170 dogs and cats were sterilized.
Besides all sterilizations a large number of dogs received medical care. They are street dogs and after the break they get during the project, where they are cared for, they go back onto the streets. Therefore it is important to give them some extra care. Unfortunately, there is one dog we had to put to sleep when it was found that she had a malignant tumor.

The last day we ran out of anesthetics, so we finished Friday at twelve o'clock and head back to Orasje.

In Orasje we still had a lot of work in front of us. No well-earned break for us in the shelter. Henriet trimmed two dogs with great difficulty. Their fur was so thick and matted, it was time to relief them. What a job.
In addition, every dog was treated against fleas and some lucky dogs were prepared for the trip to NL.

At the last minute we had a talk with Svjetlana. It is a little unstabile in the shelter because of her health Svjetlana is not allowed to work, and we can not afford to pay for additional staff. The mayor will now really have to meet the expectations and take responsibility for the shelter. It's really hard to say no, but the cost of food are huge and we are just unable to do more, even if we want to.

Saturday night we returned home, the trip was somewhat slower as hoped, but eventually everyone arrived safely. The welcome committee at Bregje and Cees was excellent, and as we understood the welcome at Marjon in the northern part of Holland was also fantastic.

Meanwhile, we are busy with day to day business, it is time for us to prepare for the upcoming trips, because we have plenty of work left!

All volunteers, who travelled with us or stayed home, thank you for all your help!

The team, f.l.t.r. Winanda, Nicole, Renee, Alma, Suze, Tanja, Ymke, sitting down Henriet, Cokkie and Fred and in front Lisa!

unfortunately without Henny, Carstien and Elisabeth

If you want to support us, you can sponsor us, for info email info@hondenopvang.com.

Orasje

161 dogs ....

It is getting out of hand, and Svjetlana can’t find a place in the shelter that is free to take them in. What we all fear is that the shelter will eventually become one full of boxes. The strength of the shelter in Orasje is that there is an enormous freedom the dogs at this point. We refuse to give up that freedom.

One solution is to split fields. They keep their own range, although slightly smaller, but still big enough to enjoy. Another solution is re-homing. Unfortunately, local re-homing is almost impossible, and we cannot and we do not want to take too many dogs to the Netherlands. It is difficult, because it is a choice of various solutions that are not ideal, but if it continues like this the shelter will be packed.

So we will start to separate some fields. This will keep them to have the space, but some dogs, like Prle will even get more space and get the chance to come out its kennel more often.

To separate the fields we need to buy materials. Per field this will cost around 500 euros. We need equipment 6 fields! Can u helps with the dogs at the shelter?

If you would like to participate in this campaign, please make a donation to our account number 9474694, and mention “creating fields”.

And do not forget that every euro makes the difference! So even with a donation of 10 euro, we are happy.

Will you help us?

We would like to tear down the kennel of these dogs. They're in a kennel made out of nailed pallets, they have too little light, it is unsanitary and too small. For these dogs, we would like to make a proper kennel. But we cannot do this without your help. We would be very grateful!

If you would like to participate in this campaign, please make a donation to our account number 9474694, and mention “creating fields”.

For more information about the possibilities of donating, email us!