Kandi Grey, Grade 12
UWCSA (Waterford)
One of the key aspects of the UWC movement is giving back to the community, and through one form or another, we do. To help those that, sometimes, cannot help themselves. This includes the animals of the community. Amongst the values that UWC teaches us, and one that rings true with me is compassion and service, which is something that I try to embody when doing community service, and try to share with others when doing so.
Now, I love animals, and one of UWC Southern Africa’s community projects is AWARE (Animal Welfare and Rabies Education), a group of students who help the local animal shelter in taking care and rehabilitating animals that are not used to human contact. Stray animals are quite common in Eswatini and unfortunately, help in the spread of rabies. SAWS (the Swazi Animal Welfare Society) is proactive in catching and acclimatizing these animals, so they may be adopted into a loving and caring home, preventing the spread of rabies as well. This is the main goal for AWARE, and for SAWS, as a singular mission brings us together.
AWARE supports and takes part in an annual Spay Clinic, as well as several Wellness Clinics, sponsored by SAWS, in which local vets, students, and volunteers go into the community for a weekend, to vaccinate, neuter, and check up on the animals, whose owners cannot afford to send their beloved pet to the vet. I enjoy participating in these clinics, and they are a highlight of my school year. It was at one of these clinics that a box of five furry little puppies was brought in, barely a few weeks old. The owner was unfit to look after them, and without their mother, they wouldn’t survive. So, SAWS took them in, and I volunteered to look after them until we got back to school after the weekend was over.
For the very young puppies, especially when they no longer have their mother, it’s important to check up on them every three to four hours, bottle feed them, clean them, and settle them back down to sleep. This process is repeated over for as long as a couple of weeks until they are weaned properly. It means a couple of nearly sleepless nights for the surrogate. Despite my time with those little furballs, it was only three days, and they stole my heart and soul. Though I myself could not adopt one of those precious creatures myself, I’ve kept my eye on them all, and they have all found wonderful homes, which is all I could ever ask for. A few months after that fateful weekend, at another of the clinics, a little girl brought in a puppy, a few months old, and she told me that it was one of the puppies I had helped foster, having seen a photo of me with all of them. That happiness on her face is one I’ll remember always.
Some of my peers describe this rush of adrenaline when they’re in the moment surrounded by their community, where there is movement all around, dogs howling in the distance, cats settling in the corners of their enclosures. The smell of disinfectant in my nose, plastic gloves chafing my fingers, and a whimpering animal in my arms, there is this calm that settles over me, the ‘frantic beating of the heart’ kind of calmness. At the end of the day, when an animal has recovered from the surgery of being neutered, and they have been checked over, a form is signed releasing the animal into the care of their owner. I sign off the form so that a person can take their animal home, the look on their face, that they don’t quite know what the surgery or antibiotics are, but they know that it helps their pet and that it keeps them safe and healthy. It’s easy to see when someone loves their dog. Helping animals, seeing people get to know their animals better, to understand that these animals are also beings with real feelings, beings that trust their owners and beings that feel pain as well allows a deeper understanding of what it means to be in a community, and to help the ones who don’t have voices. It’s both heartbreaking and fulfilling at the same time.
Being a part of the UWC movement, and getting to participate in these types of activities, where I can go out into the community, help, interact, and do something, for the animals that I love, and the people who share that same love as me. My weekend with five little puppies is still one that I remember with clarity, and that gives me hope that it is possible to give back, to help, and to make a difference for someone, even if that someone is a little pup without a home yet. That is my UWC experience.
Now, I love animals, and one of UWC Southern Africa’s community projects is AWARE (Animal Welfare and Rabies Education), a group of students who help the local animal shelter in taking care and rehabilitating animals that are not used to human contact. Stray animals are quite common in Eswatini and unfortunately, help in the spread of rabies. SAWS (the Swazi Animal Welfare Society) is proactive in catching and acclimatizing these animals, so they may be adopted into a loving and caring home, preventing the spread of rabies as well. This is the main goal for AWARE, and for SAWS, as a singular mission brings us together.
AWARE supports and takes part in an annual Spay Clinic, as well as several Wellness Clinics, sponsored by SAWS, in which local vets, students, and volunteers go into the community for a weekend, to vaccinate, neuter, and check up on the animals, whose owners cannot afford to send their beloved pet to the vet. I enjoy participating in these clinics, and they are a highlight of my school year. It was at one of these clinics that a box of five furry little puppies was brought in, barely a few weeks old. The owner was unfit to look after them, and without their mother, they wouldn’t survive. So, SAWS took them in, and I volunteered to look after them until we got back to school after the weekend was over.
For the very young puppies, especially when they no longer have their mother, it’s important to check up on them every three to four hours, bottle feed them, clean them, and settle them back down to sleep. This process is repeated over for as long as a couple of weeks until they are weaned properly. It means a couple of nearly sleepless nights for the surrogate. Despite my time with those little furballs, it was only three days, and they stole my heart and soul. Though I myself could not adopt one of those precious creatures myself, I’ve kept my eye on them all, and they have all found wonderful homes, which is all I could ever ask for. A few months after that fateful weekend, at another of the clinics, a little girl brought in a puppy, a few months old, and she told me that it was one of the puppies I had helped foster, having seen a photo of me with all of them. That happiness on her face is one I’ll remember always.
Some of my peers describe this rush of adrenaline when they’re in the moment surrounded by their community, where there is movement all around, dogs howling in the distance, cats settling in the corners of their enclosures. The smell of disinfectant in my nose, plastic gloves chafing my fingers, and a whimpering animal in my arms, there is this calm that settles over me, the ‘frantic beating of the heart’ kind of calmness. At the end of the day, when an animal has recovered from the surgery of being neutered, and they have been checked over, a form is signed releasing the animal into the care of their owner. I sign off the form so that a person can take their animal home, the look on their face, that they don’t quite know what the surgery or antibiotics are, but they know that it helps their pet and that it keeps them safe and healthy. It’s easy to see when someone loves their dog. Helping animals, seeing people get to know their animals better, to understand that these animals are also beings with real feelings, beings that trust their owners and beings that feel pain as well allows a deeper understanding of what it means to be in a community, and to help the ones who don’t have voices. It’s both heartbreaking and fulfilling at the same time.
Being a part of the UWC movement, and getting to participate in these types of activities, where I can go out into the community, help, interact, and do something, for the animals that I love, and the people who share that same love as me. My weekend with five little puppies is still one that I remember with clarity, and that gives me hope that it is possible to give back, to help, and to make a difference for someone, even if that someone is a little pup without a home yet. That is my UWC experience.
|
Image Credits: Lisa Ramsamy
|
www.unitedworldwide.co