Welcome to the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust Website

GAMBIA HORSE AND DONKEY TRUST

Registered Charity No. 1096814

Please Donate Here! Thank You

 

Home

What We Do

Contact

Our Animals

How To Help

GHDT Shop

Notices & Events

Latest News

Information

 
 

The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust
Fighting Poverty- Feeding Families
Registered Charity No. 1096814

Autumn Newsletter 2007

Five Years On ...

As I write this letter the charity is one month short of its fifth birthday and we have achieved so much in this short time. We have to be very proud of our achievements and we are continuing to develop our programme, currently:

  • We are teaching donkey care and management in 8 local schools.

  • We have 14 students embarking on a 2 year equine paravets course at college.

  • We have well over 100 donkeys on the donkey scheme.

  • We were able to assist the Government with vaccines during a recent outbreak of African Horse Sickness.

  • We run an annual horse and donkey show to promote better breeding, care and handling and to encourage and reward those who set an example by managing their animals well.

These achievements are on top of the day to day training we are giving in equine care and management. We continue to run regular clinics at the markets and attend to patients that are brought to our centre. Having two resident volunteer vets broadens the scope of the services we can offer to the community.

The horse and donkey owners know that they have an organisation that is there to help and support them. We strive to make a real difference to the lives of many people, and of course their horses or donkeys

Everything is aimed at a broad equine education for the Gambian communities. It is important that the communities are learning about good management and preventative care, so that their animals remain fit, healthy and ready to work. Working with communities is seen as key to all this and a long term aim is to have a trained Gambian equine support team of Paravet, farrier and harness maker in every district.

We appreciate the encouragement that we receive from The Gambian Government and we have recently worked closely with them in the initiatives mentioned above. All this has been achieved as a result of your generosity and as a result of the hard work of our volunteers. Above all it is the perfect example of what can be achieved when organisations and individuals are prepared to help each other and work together to achieve results.

Thank you all so much and on behalf of everyone at 'Horse and Donkey' we would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.

Horse and Donkey Changes

We were very sad to say goodbye to Janet Thurnheer, our volunteer working in The Gambia. She has worked with us for a year and had opted to work for a second year but for personal reasons had to leave half way through. Janet was incredibly hard working and energetic and we are immensely grateful to her for her help. Her departure left a very big gap for us to fill. The work involved in administering all the projects is now far more than any one person can be expected to cope with and it is a tribute to Janet's energy that we now have 3 volunteers working more than full time in The Gambia. Recruiting more Gambian staff to complement them is a high priority when funds permit.

However, every cloud has a silver lining and we are delighted to welcome Michelle Connolly, Laura Craighead, Lesley Steele and Momodou Cham. The first 3 are volunteers who have come to help us out. And Momodou has joined our senior staff in The Gambia. We welcome them and wish them a very happy stay with us.

Michelle and Lesley are both vets and though they originally came for shorter stays, both of them have very kindly opted to stay on for longer as they have enjoyed their time with us so much. Michelle is also helping at the nearby Chimp Rehabilitation Camp while Stella, the director, is unwell and we are very grateful to her for helping us out. These new additions to our team have had an incredible impact and the yard is now really buzzing again. The Donkey Club has re started after a lull. The staff are all having riding lessons again and the programme of teaching in schools is going well.

Jibril, our manager, has taken a two year sabbatical to attend the new scholarship course at The Gambia College and Borri is embarking on his second year at College on one of our scholarships. M'Bye has also returned to spend more time with his family so there have been a lot of changes in the last year.

African Horse Sickness

African Horse Sickness is a problem that appears from time to time in our equine press. In the comfort of the British climate we assume that it is somebody else's problem. The "tropical" Blue Tongue virus that appeared in our midst shows us that these things are no long 'other people's problems'. Working in The Gambia, African Horse Sickness is something that we always have to be concerned about, and an outbreak occurred in September.

This is a nasty disease which is fatal for horses and can make donkeys very ill. Thanks to help from The Donkey Sanctuary, RSPCA International and ILPH we were able to buy sufficient vaccines for the Government Veterinary services to carry out a vaccination programme.

We invited Philip Ivens, a vet from the Royal Veterinary College who has an interest in tropical diseases, to come and monitor the vaccination programme. We are extremely grateful to him for taking time out from his work to assist us.

There have been no deaths due to African Horse Sickness for several weeks now and we would like to express our sincere thanks to those who funded the vaccines.

I would also like to extend my thanks to Dr Jaw, Director of Veterinary Services, Demba Jallow, Saloum Jallow and Michelle Connolly for administering the programme, which has been a great success.

Another partial goodbye and our thanks go to Saloum, who has worked with Horse and Donkey as our part time para vet since the charity began. Saloum had left us to become disease surveillance officer. We offered him our congratulations but that we hoped to continue to work closely with him.

A little donkey means so much

The Donkey Project

I continue to be moved by some of the partnerships that have been formed as a result of this project. I am constantly telling people that though the donkeys cannot speak, they can still tell me a great deal and the way little Spot snuggles up to his mistress and only responds well to her and her husband speaks volumes. Spot's carer's husband is blind and depends upon his donkey and cart to get around.

Lucky too speaks volumes. He is a fat and fairly lazy donkey, whose carer has even gone to the trouble of whitewashing his stable. Most donkeys are either so down trodden that they show no reactions at all or they are totally headshy and its impossible to do anything around their heads. I was pleased to see that our project donkeys are different. Lucky is happy to discuss things with his carer without fears of reprisals.

Lucky is among some of the donkeys who have gone to a school. This gives the children the opportunity to learn about them and appreciate them more. They perform useful tasks, ploughing in the school garden, taking unwell children to the clinic and fetching supplies from the nearest main road as the school supply lorry's are sometimes unable to reach the more remote schools and are forced to offload supplies on the edge of the road.

Joy is another donkey who has formed a close bond with her carer who is a widow struggling to raise several children. Thanks to Joy she has managed to cultivate a very large farm which she says is seven times larger then the one she had last year. Joy is covered in scars from her previous home, but now she has confidence in her new carer and listens to every word that Fatu says. When I pointed out to Fatu that the donkey seemed to be constantly listening to her when she spoke, Fatu put her arm round the donkey and said "She's my friend, she has suffered, I have suffered and we understand each other." It is moments like that which make me realise what a valuable contribution the donkey project makes to everyone, donkeys and recipients alike.

To everyone waiting for news of their donkeys, I must apologise, events are conspiring to delay the chain of information. Janet and M'Bye were running the project so when they left there was the essential hand over period. Michelle was really getting the hang of it when the African Horse Sickness outbreak struck and her duties took her to the vaccination programme and though I would love to use Sue Adams, the scheme's administrator's, house move as an excuse, I can't as she is as efficient as ever and is simply awaiting the information and pictures from me. On each trip I take several hundred pictures and it takes time to sift through them. I can only apologise and assure you all that we are working as hard as we can to get the information to you more quickly and smoothly.

The Donkey Project is back up and running and if you want to buy a donkey and/or a plough and donkey cart, please look on the web site and contact Sue. However, you will need to be patient as we have to reorganise the staff at Sambel Kunda to provide a Manager for this very worthwhile project.

 
This article appeared on the web - A volunteer working in The Gambia wrote:

A month ago we wrote an application to the Horse and Donkey Project NGO, which provides donkeys and sometimes ploughs to poor farmers who cannot afford their own. Somehow the application was lost in the mail. I went to their headquarters and talked Musa up enough that they agreed to give him a donkey and a plough. Here is how Musa got his donkey:

Someone in the UK saw a poster at a horse show offering the opportunity to sponsor a donkey in the Gambia. His small act of generosity - a gift to a man he had never met in a country he would never visit in his wife's name, that cost him the equivalent of maybe 5 hours of work (he stipulated that the donkey must be named "Poppy") - was sent thousands of miles south. The UK volunteer who administers Horse and Donkey put in some of her time to do the necessary paperwork and training in exchange for a feeling of time well spent and intercultural experience. I showed up, fluent in the language and the customs of the powerful, using a small part of my time and influence on Musa's behalf to lobby, successfully, for him to have a donkey and a plough.

Three rather small acts of generosity from a class of people in the top 5% of the worlds powerful and wealthy that will mean a world of difference and possibly the first step out of abject poverty for a good friend and a great person. It would take Musa at least 2 months labour to earn enough money to get a donkey, in the unlikely event that he could find the work.

So...do not be afraid to donate. It can end up making a drastic impact on someone's life that you will never meet and mildly assuage inequitable world we live in.

 

Scholarships for Para vets

Thanks to the generosity of the Donkey Sanctuary, the RCVS Trust, Ernest and Betty Brown's executor, Mr. and Mrs Jim Richards, Jane Lennox, The Anvil Veterinary Clinic and Mrs Thiemann, 14 young men have just been given the opportunity to embark on a 2 year course for animal health technicians with equine speciality.

This is the first time this speciality has been taught at The Gambia College and we would like to thank Dr Senghore, the College Principal, and Mr Cham the Head of the School of Agriculture, for making it possible.

The equine content of the curriculum will be provided by visiting specialists from the UK, mainly from The University of Liverpool and from The World Transport Animal Association (TAWS). Philip Ivens from the Royal Veterinary College has also expressed an interest in taking part in the training.

This means that our students will have the benefit of really top class training and we would like to express our thanks to all those taking part and every one of you, who through your donations have made this exciting venture possible.

We also appreciate the time put in by Professor Ramsay Hovell of TAWS and Rob Christley of the University of Liverpool, for their part in developing.

A donkey called Roy Keane

Everyone who has visited Sambel Kunda will know Roy Keane one way or another. The dawn chorus (and late night attention seeking) was his forte. His loud and very determined braying made sure everyone in the village was wide awake as the dawn came. We are extremely sad to announce the sad death of Roy Keane, the donkey character of Sambel Kunda.

Roy belonged to a boy called Cally, who was extremely fond of him. Cally's deep affection and care for Roy changed what had been a really aggressive little donkey into a well mannered and amiable little fellow. He was certainly a character and Cally's father said he was amazed to find that people from the village were actually coming to his home to pay their respects and give their condolences as if a person had died.

Cally was devastated at the loss of his friend. We decided to ask him to look after a young donkey called Rosie and her foal Salieu. Cally is taking his duties seriously and is preparing Rosie for the show in December. Although a post-mortem was carried out on Roy by our 2 vets, they could find no obvious cause for his death.

The Show

In addition to providing training, we believe it is also very important to reward people for getting it right. Last year we held the first show for horses and donkeys and it was a huge success. This year we are holding two shows in two different regions due to so many requests. At our shows we give the winners big prizes, but all participants go away with something, either a rosette, advice, a new bit or one of the donated headcollars. We make in a community event and the ladies make doughnuts, drinks and pots of rice and sauce to sell to the visitors.

This year the shows are being sponsored by Animal Friends Insurance and we really would recommend visiting their website if you are looking for insurance for your animals. They give all their net profits to animal welfare charities and have helped a lot of charities and even more animals. It's a brilliant way of raising money for charity and receiving a really good service for your animals as well.

This year, in addition to money prizes and rosettes, we will also be presenting trophies and a shield for the winner of the inter schools gymkhana championship. This shield has been presented in memory of a very special dog, Kipper. If any one would like to sponsor a cup for future shows, we would love to hear from them. We shall have a team of our supporters coming out to help with the organisation, running and judging of the shows and we are very grateful to them for their help.

Breeding for Tomorrow

When we first started working in The Gambia some 5 years ago, most of the horses that were brought to our clinics were very poor. (The donkeys on the other hand usually looked well even if they were not well treated.) The negligence was not generally through cruelty but lack of knowledge and poor management. However there were significant things that we did not understand. The horses in particular certainly have poor conformation, but how much of this can be attributed to poor nutrition of the foal in utero and after birth, how much to working too young, working in sandy conditions and how much was due to genetics and in breeding?

With no breeding programme in place, finding the answers is not going to be easy. Almost all the animals work in the same circumstances so it is difficult to evaluate anything when we have no 'normal'.

We have noticed that young horses that come into our care early enough do develop better conformation than most, but we are unsure if this is due to better nutrition or the fact that they do not work till they are mature. What we are not sure about is how much better they would be if their mothers had been better nourished.

Over the last three years we have hand raised a number of orphan filly foals, some of them were so poor that they were unable to stand when they arrived, but they have all grown into fine specimens and it will be interesting to see how their offspring develop when the time comes.

Both the mares and the stallions will have come from very poor beginnings so it will only be with the second generation that we will know how much is due to nature and how much is due to nurture. When we have some answers, we will not only have living examples to demonstrate with, but we will also be better able to advise the horse owners. In the meantime, our fillies can grow and develop and enjoy their youth.

 
Just Giving

We've teamed up with Justgiving.com, the UK's leading online fundraising website, so you can donate and raise funds for the GHDT online.

Using Justgiving saves us costs and reduces our admin burden, so going online is by far the most efficient way of supporting us. It's easy to make a single or monthly donation with a credit or debit card online: To see the latest fundraiser for us, please click here.

 

Happy Christmas, Happy Christmas

In addition to Christmas cards, we can offer you a range of very unusual gifts to give over the festive season. Not only do these gifts give satisfaction to the receiver, they also provide a benefit for a horse or donkey and its owner. They are "feel good" gifts and we would urge you to consider them this Christmas.

A bit for a horse or donkey...£5
A Gambian made headcollar...£5
A worming dose...£5
A swingle tree...£10
A set of harness made in Gambia...£12
Sponsorship of a prize at the annual show...£20
Sponsor a donkey or a horse (see website)...£20
A cart or plough...£160
A 2 year scholarship for an equine animal health technician...£1600

Nothing you have read about could have been achieved without your kind and generous help, we are immensely grateful to you for support. If any of you would like to hold fundraising events or have suggestions for ways that we could fundraise, we would love to hear from you and if you make a donation, please consider gift aiding it.
Thank you from us all!!

Thanks

We would like to thank the following people and organizations for their valued help this year. Our supporters. All our volunteers who work so hard for no monetary reward (and they really do work hard!)

Animal Friends Insurance
Arnolds & Dechra Vet Products
Bridge House Equestrian Centre
Carriage Driving magazine
Faculty of Veterinary Science University of Liverpool
Stephanie Gallo
Gambia Experience
Hickstead Ltd
ILPH
Mayes and Scrine Veterinary Surgeons
Mission Fish
Peace Corps
RCVS Trust
RSPCA International
TAWS
The Animal Protection Trust
The Anvil Veterinary Clinic
The Donkey Sanctuary
The Gambia College
The Inn on the Green, Ockley
The International Wine Event
The Ocean Bay Hotel - Gambia
The Ruth Smart Foundation
The Shirley Pugh Foundation
Vetxx Ltd
VSO
Worldwide Veterinary Services
WSPA

Sue Adams
Ernest and Betty Brown
Laura Craighead
Alex Coombes
Michelle Connolly
Rob Christley MRCVS
Mr. E. Cham
Professsor Ramsay Hovell MRCVS
Philip Ivens MRCVS
Ali Newton
Anna Pugh
Mr and Mrs Richards
Dr Senghore
Lesley Steele
Liz Serinken
Mrs Thiemann
Ann Varley
Diane Wilkinson

Back to News Reports

 

Follow the GHDT on Facebook

The GHDT on YouTube

Email the GHDT

Follow the GHDT on Twitter

Join the free online mailing list here

Donate Online Here
 

Top of page

Back to Home PageHome

Copyright © GHDT. All rights reserved

 
X