Our third full year as a
charity has been very full and exciting and considerable progress has been made on all
fronts. Whilst we are extremely pleased with the developments so far, the more work we do,
the more we appreciate how vast and complex the problems are.
During the last year we have managed to treat,
distribute harness or attend to 6,760 animals, four teams of 3 veterinarians have visited
to conduct training courses, 3000 bits and many other types of harness from our tack
appeal has been distributed. We have had visits from two volunteer horse trainers and four
courses in farriery and harness making have been completed by the ILPH at our centre.
There have been considerable developments at
our centre in Sambel Kunda. A new stable block has been built for donkeys, thanks to a
grant from The Donkey Sanctuary who continue to be very supportive. They have also very
kindly supplied dentistry equipment and wormers for donkeys and have assisted us in many
thoughtful ways for which we are very grateful.
Buildings for training farriers and
harnessmakers have been funded by ILPH who carry out the training courses for farriers and
harness makers. They have also built a tannery on our land. They visit four times a year
for two weeks at a time and we were very pleased when the first group of farriers
completed their training. What is even more encouraging is the fact that the Gambians are
prepared to pay to have their horse's feet done professionally. This means that in
addition to benefiting the animals, jobs are being created in the rural areas for the
newly qualified farriers.
Laboratory.
We were extremely lucky to be awarded grants
from The Petplan Charitable Trust and the RCVS Trust, which meant that we could build and
equip a small laboratory at our centre. We are in a very remote area and unfortunately due
to pressure on the only builder for miles around, our full plans for the
laboratory/treatment room have not yet been completed. Whilst we wait for the builder, who
has been otherwise engaged working on a clinic and the school, we are working in a more
modest building. We are extremely grateful to Rob Christley and Gina Pinchbeck from the
University of Liverpool who came out with Worldwide Veterinary Services to train our staff
how to take blood and test it. Having this facility means that not only can we make far
more accurate diagnoses but we can also contribute to the pool of veterinary knowledge in
The Gambia. It will allow the prevalence of trypanosomes in horses and donkeys presented
for medical problems in the Central River Division to be established and a comparison
between horse and donkey levels to be made. In addition analysis will be conducted to
examine if any of the presenting clinical signs and/or blood parameters are associated
with a diagnosis of trypanosomes.
Accommodation
The house to accommodate trainers and
volunteers was finally completed in December 2004. It has running water and the only two
flushing toilets in the area! It has been decorated and furnished using locally made
furniture and it would be very comfortable if we had a means of cooling it down! I have
applied for grants to install solar power, but have only been awarded half the amount
needed to complete the project so far. We require power to run the computers,
refrigerators as well as the fans. The heat can be very intense and is not conducive to
making the best use of our wonderful volunteers, who, being unacclimatised, tend to wilt
in the heat. If we could provide them with a good night's sleep, cold drinks and a cool
retreat I feel sure it would be to our advantage. More money will need to be spent on the
water tower for this house as there is a bit of a problem with the water flow to the
showers, which can be somewhat erratic. It is a problem that needs to be addressed as soon
as funds permit.
The house is now known as Bridge House as a
large amount of the money to build it was raised by an equestrian centre of that name. It
is built on 'stilts.' This was done in an attempt to catch whatever breeze is available.
We plan to block in some of the area underneath it in the next year to provide more
accommodation and storage.
We have also begun work on fencing exercise
paddocks for the horses and donkeys staying at the centre. This should be a simple
operation, but due to our remote location, it is not possible to purchase fence posts in
our area, so they all have to be shipped from The Kombos, (170 miles away) which involves
hiring transport and time spent down river supervising the purchase and loading of the
timber. The first paddock to be erected proved to be so expensive that we are even
considering shipping decent posts from the UK.
Following my visit to The Gambia in May, I was
yet again amazed at the speed at which progress is being made. It was the end of the dry
season and food was very scarce. Some of the cattle were pathetically thin due to the
shortage of grazing and the fact that last years hay had run out. It was like this in our
area three years ago for the horses, you only have to look at the picture of Lazarus on
the front of our leaflet to see that, but this year the horses in our area looked much
better.
It seems that a great deal has been learned
about horse care in our area in three years as there is a very definite improvement in the
condition and welfare of the animals generally. We still see 'shocking cases' but these
are a minority now and I was pleased to see that many more people were visiting the centre
simply because the animal was losing weight slightly or 'off its food' This is a very
encouraging start, BUT this is just one small district, we now have the rest of the
country to tackle!
I spoke to one man, Jibby, who had bought his
pony at about the time we started our work and I asked him if the animal had made a
difference to his life. He told me that as a result of our training the animal had become
gradually fitter and more productive. Last year not only was he able to cultivate much
more land and therefore plant a bigger crop, but he also hired his little horse out to
others in the village to help with their farm work. During the dry season the pony has
been hired out as a taxi and is the equivalent of 'the man with a van' as he collects
timber, runs errands, takes goods to market etc. The money made from the pony meant that
Jibby was able to buy some sheep. These bred successfully and he was able to sell at good
prices at Tobaski, the big Muslim festival. By the end of the most recent farming season
Jibby was sufficiently wealthy to buy not one, but two cows and he is now considered to be
one of the wealthy people of the village. I am glad to say that though this little pony
works hard, Jibby has had the sense to realize that it is in his best interests to take
good care of the pony. He has built a mosquito proof house for him (we helped him to
purchase the mosquito netting) and he has a good harness and a swingle tree on his cart.
When I heard that story, I really felt that we were on the right track.
I know I may be just a little biased, but
Lazarus continues to develop and is really such a lovely horse. He works well, in fact at
the moment we don't seem to be able to give him enough work, he has so much extra energy.
He is cared for by Bubacarr, our yard manager and they have an excellent relationship.
Buba rides him and pampers him generally and there seems to be genuine friendship between
them.
Tallah, the little horse who was bought to us
with the badly broken leg, has grown into an outstandingly good looking little horse. His
leg has healed well and he did some ploughing last season, until he developed a splint in
his good leg which caused him to be lame for a while. He does exceptionally well with it,
but I don't think his leg will stand up to too much hard work. We purchased him from his
owner as he is a headstrong little chap and we felt that he would get into trouble again
if he went home. We try very hard not to become a sanctuary, but there will always be a
few who need a little extra help.
Redcoats Yahya, the little orphan foal who we
raised, is now a tall leggy two year old. As is so often the case with hand reared foals
he can be something of a handful at times. Trainer Johanna Macarthur, who communicates
with the animals by using their own body language, accompanied me at her own expense on
one of my visits and spent a great deal of time on our animals, Yahya in particular. She
trained our staff how to communicate in a new language and by the end of the week, there
was a very real transformation in the behaviour of our horses, who are all stallions (no
horses are castrated in The Gambia as there are very few vets). Our staff were also
fascinated by this very new (to them) way of handling horses and are very keen to have
follow up training. Johanna did a magnificent job and we are very grateful to her for all
her help.
Jibril Jallow, who used to be our Gambian
manager has been promoted to Education Officer and will be setting up the Education
extension programme. This will mean that we will start teaching outside our area for the
first time and will begin to gradually help animals and their people across the country.
Jibril was one of the founding members of 'Horse and Donkey' and is an excellent
communicator and I'm sure he will do an excellent job. Ann Varley visited us again at her
own expense and she and Jibril spent time together developing an equine Welfare Training
Programme. The end result is excellent and is something of which they should both be very
proud. It has been extremely well received by the staff and by members of The Gambian
Government as well as professionals in this country and we owe Ann a huge debt of
gratitude for putting it all together in a very smart little book. Thank you both for all
the hours of your time and all the effort you put into this. It is something very special.
This year has been a very exciting one for us
so far. We became members of the Make Poverty History coalition early in the year and were
granted permission to produce the white rosette as the equestrian version of the white
wrist band. The rosettes have proved very popular, and we have been proud to attend the
events both in Edinburgh and Hyde Park in order to lend our voice to the issues of Trade
Justice, more and better aid and dropping the debt, which Make Poverty History has bought
to the attention of the leaders of the G8 nations. If anyone has missed out on the white
rosette campaign, we still have a few rosettes left , but we will not be making more as
the awareness campaign was just intended to run for the year. This will be your last
chance to purchase them!
We are all passionate animal lovers at The
Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust but we also have a great deal of admiration, affection and
respect for the people of The Gambia. Our life long connections with the country enable us
to recognize that many of the problems we encounter in our day to day work are due
entirely to poverty. The working horses and donkeys are necessary to make poverty history,
but until the farmers know how to care for them correctly, little progress will be made.
We really do feel that when we are able to help the poorest people to help themselves out
of poverty we shall be making real progress and so we identify very closely with the Make
Poverty History.
In July we were honoured to be visited by a
team from BBC Scotland and the Dean of Glasgow Vet School, Professor Stuart Reid. The end
result of their very successful visit was a half hour documentary on BBC Scotland called
'Gambian Goals - A donkeymentary.' It is an excellent film and if anyone would like to
borrow a copy, please contact me at the address below.
THE LONG RIDE TO AFRICA will cover the
simulated distance of 2,783 Miles! The ride is the equivalent of a horse and rider riding
from London to Banjul.
Please remember we are not intent on breaking
records but on having fun with our horses whilst raising funds for the Gambia Horse and
Donkey Trust and above all drawing the public's attention to MAKE POVERTY HISTORY.
We are urging people to organise sponsored
rides or drives all over the country. Each rider's miles will be added on to the total and
we are hoping that we can cover the distance to The Gambia and possibly even back again.
For further details, please visit our website www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk |
Home