Awards for our work
in The Gambia
We had great celebrations at the start of the
year as Stella, Heather Armstrong's sister and the co founder of the Trust was awarded an
honorary degree of veterinary medicine and surgery by the University of Glasgow as well as
an OBE in the New Years Honours list.
The doctorate was for her work in conservation
and animal welfare and the OBE was for her conservation work and services to the community
in The Gambia. Both honours recognize her enormous contribution to the work of The Gambia
Horse and Donkey Trust, amongst all the other things she has achieved.
Stella has worked in chimpanzee conservation
for over 35 years and her care and compassion for both the people and animals that require
her help seems boundless. She works very long hours and is absolutely passionate about
what she does. We can think of no one who deserves recognition in this way more and we are
all very proud of her. This has brought far reaching attention to the work that is going
on Sambel Kunda which has to be positive for the work of The Gambia Horse and Donkey
Trust, the school, the clinic and of course the villagers.
The New Team - new staff for Horse and
Donkey
We are very lucky to have a new volunteer down
at the coast. Martha Owen has come to live in The Gambia for 3 years and is a great help
with assisting with horses and donkeys in the coastal area. She is setting up a Beach
Riders' Association to help the operators of The Gambia's beach horses with training and
care of their animals. We can see a marked improvement in these animals. She also meets
our visitors at the airport which is a great moral support after a long flight.
We have promoted Jibril Jallow as our manager.
Jibby, as he is known to everyone, has carried out his managerial duties with thought and
skill. He has been with us since the very beginning and is a Trustee. Jibbie is very hard
working and diligent. He is a very good leader for the 'Horse and Donkey' Team.
In January, we were joined by Janet Thurnheer
who is our administrator and trainer and Jibby's assistant. Janet is meticulous in her
yard management and has great organizational skills. We would like to extend a warm
welcome to her and we hope she will enjoy her stay with us. In the short time she has been
with us she has had a big impact and we consider ourselves extremely lucky to have her.
Horse and Donkey Scientists at Work
We have learnt to appreciate that to make a big difference
in the long term care of the animals in The Gambia things cannot be done 'as we do them in
the UK'. We do not have the professional veterinary support and the drugs are not
available. In addition, many of the problems we see are often 'tropical based'. The Trust
is very fortunate to have highly skilled professionals who are prepared to come out and
act as trainers. This is enabling Gambians to become skilled technicians. It is wonderful
for us to see so many of our staff, and the students who come to Horse and Donkey on
courses, working so effectively 'in the field' and making a real difference to the farming
community.
A team of Worldwide Veterinary Service vets and nurses
visited in December. They did a magnificent job training a group of 11 students who came
on a residential course from The Gambia College, where they were studying. The students
thought that Dr Paul and his team were superb teachers and they enjoyed their course
immensely. When we returned to Banjul, the Principal of the Gambia College confirmed the
enthusiasm of his students and has asked us if we can provide ongoing training support.
Three of our staff are assisting with some research that is
being undertaken by Liverpool Vet School. Jibby, Amadou and Saloum have been helping
collect data to find out how Sleeping Sickness actually affects horses and donkeys. The
farmers have been delighted as it enables them to catch the disease very early and almost
before the animals is showing too many symptoms. We were delighted and very proud to see
their names in print on a scientific document.
January also saw the arrival of our precious 'Landi', a
long wheel base Land Rover, who, though she has a few years behind her, was in pristine
condition and had very low mileage on the clock. Landi was very generously donated to The
Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust by Mike and Maureen Hirst who drove her across the Sahara
desert from Keswick. Mike and Maureen were able to go to Sambel Kunda and see what sort of
work Landi would be doing. I think that during their journey, they became very fond of the
vehicle and I think poor Mike found it very hard to part with her. We are tremendously
grateful to them for such a generous and wonderful gift. Landi is performing a very
important role and is much admired by all as she is the 'clinic on wheels'. The staff were
so impressed by Mike and Maureen and what they had done, they named a little orphaned
filly foal after Maureen. She is affectionately known to all as Little Mo.
Robbie Burns
Amongst our visitors last winter was Lorna Brown, who very
kindly volunteered to help us for 2 months. Lorna was a great help to the project and one
horse in particular, who we called Robbie Burns, certainly owes his life to her. Lorna
took great care of this very badly burnt little horse and thanks to her care and that of
the WVS team of vets and nurses who visited shortly after he was admitted, he made a full
recovery and is now back at home again. We see quite a few horses with severe burns. The
farmers tether the horses near to the fires to keep the mosquitoes off them, but sometimes
accidents occur.
New Donkey Sanctuary Stables Officially Opened
We welcomed Andrew Trawford from The Donkey Sanctuary who
came to look at the stables we had built with a grant they had given. We had an official
opening ceremony and the elders of the community expressed their thanks to The Donkey
Sanctuary. There was much festivity and dancing. Following Andrew's visit we were awarded
another grant from The Donkey Sanctuary to help with the Education Project and we are
immensely grateful to them for their generous support.
Harness and Carts
Two of the identified problems with both horses and donkeys
have been the material and design of harness and the construction of the 'chariots' - flat
carts - that are used throughout The Gambia. The harness is made with 'one size fitting
all' which hardly suits the donkeys. The materials are rough and cause wounds by rubbing.
With the harness donated to us and shipped out, we have shown what can be done and the
horse owners recognise the problems with their existing harness. We now have several ILPH
trained harness makers working with us and it is important that they are encouraged to
make harness and improve existing harness making use of their new skills. Materials remain
a problem. Girths and stirrup leather are items of harness that have little use in Gambia
in 'our terms' (for riding), so we have plenty of these. The harness makers are now making
sets of harness using the donated stirrup leathers, webbing and girths and these are
proving very popular as well as providing some income. Stirrup leathers and girths now
need to join the wants list along with pony and cob bridles and headcollars, small bits,
etc. for which we still have a huge demand.
We also recognised that the design of the carts used by the
farmers was not particularly satisfactory. Professor Ramsay Hovell, from TAWS (The World
Association for Transport Animal Welfare and Studies) who has immense experience with
horse and donkey carts made his first voluntary visit in January/February. He spent some
time observing the carts presently used in The Gambia and the types of injuries that are
sustained from their use. He then set to and with the help of a local cart builder, he
produced a much better balanced and lighter cart, which we called Rameses Mark 1. Trials
are being conducted on this cart at present to try and measure how much the improvement in
balance and weight benefits the animals in comparison to the normal carts used. Ramsay
impressed us all with his incredible capacity for hard work, his knowledge and his
compassion and we were thrilled when he agreed to return again in April for another stint
working on the carts and the harness. In addition to the work on carts Ramsay has helped
us by writing a curriculum for use by The Gambia College in response to a request from the
Principal. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Ramsay and TAWS for their help
and support and we look forward to welcoming Ramsay back in the not too distant future.
Donkeys are 'COOL'
In our efforts to combine our aims of reducing rural
poverty with the need to increase animal welfare, we have set up a scheme to reach the
people in most need, whilst increasing animal welfare knowledge. For £75, it is possible
to purchase a donkey for a family (chosen by the elders of the community) who are so poor
that they are unable to afford a donkey. The donkey is the property of The Gambia Horse
and Donkey Trust.
In return for having it on loan, the farmer must first
agree to undergo training at our centre and also build it a mud block shelter. They must
also sign an agreement to say that if the donkey is ever abused, it will be immediately
withdrawn from that family. We have one member of staff allocated to this project, who
checks on the donkeys on a regular basis and on his visits, he takes the opportunity to
use them as demonstration donkeys to educate their community. Some donors have also given
carts and ploughs as well and it is the ideal Christmas or Birthday gift for the person
who has everything! The donor is asked to name their donkeys and will receive regular
reports of its progress.
In December, we shall have a parade/show of all the donkeys
on the scheme and the best kept animals will be awarded substantial prizes and rosettes to
further encourage the owners to take care of them. One or two companies have found this a
useful way of giving, whilst at the same time promoting themselves by naming the donkeys
after their company.
Are you coming to the Ball?
In partnership with Riding for the Disabled (Epsom) we are
holding our first Fundraising Ball on September 30th this year. It is being held at The
All England Show jumping Arena at Hickstead and we are extremely grateful to the Bunn
family for their support, encouragement and sponsorship.
It will be a fun filled evening, with a 3 course meal, live
entertainment throughout the meal, a very lively band, raffle and auction, with some
wonderful prizes, including a holiday in The Gambia visiting our Centre and The Chimpanzee
Rehabilitation Trust. Other prizes include lessons with well known equestrian
personalities, polo lessons and some lovely works of art.
There are lots of B&Bs and accommodation around
Hickstead, so why not make it a night to remember and support 2 charities that help people
as well as animals and which are both run entirely by volunteers. Tickets are selling fast
so book soon to avoid disappointment.
If anyone can provide further prizes or particularly
sponsorship for this event, we would love to hear from you. In return, you will be
mentioned in the programme on the evening, on the websites of both the charities and in
our news letters. Any help to make this a really successful fundraising event as well as a
fun filled evening, will be most gratefully received.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
BEVA We are extremely grateful to the
British Equine Veterinary Association Trust for providing a grant for 2 Gambians to go to
The International Colloquium on Working Equines in Ethiopia. This trip will provide an
exciting and interesting opportunity to learn how the rest of the world are dealing with
the problems and it will provide encouragement and knowledge. Jibril Jallow, our manager
and Dr Sowe, the Director of Livestock Services are both in ideal positions to pass on
what they have learnt for the benefit of The Gambia's equines and their owners.
Another BEVA member, Mr Graves MRCVS has donated a
lifetimes collection of British Equine Journals to the Department of Livestock Services,
which we shipped out recently. Needless to say the Department is delighted with the gift.
We would like to express our sincere thanks and
appreciation to all the following people and organizations who have gone to great lengths
to help the charity and whose support we deeply appreciate. Inevitably, in a list of this
sort we are bound to forget someone and for this we apologize. |