Johanna has animal welfare in her heart and is now finding her voice.

"I have always loved animals so much so that my family thought I was crazy because I would not even kill an ant or a harmless spider. I further went and completed a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Animal Science); however I was surprised to find so many aspects during my studies that were hard to cope with. Those were especially during my practicals were I had to castrate, dehorn and sometimes brand the animals it was terrible but I had to do it. I went into that program (Animal Science) thinking it would be something related to for example SPCA. Man was I wrong. To make things worse there was no course on Animal Welfare which I know would be useful for softies like me.

I came to work here up north and met Karen at one of our meetings and it was so lovely to find someone with similar feelings towards animals. Ever since that meeting we have kept in contact and she has really gone out of her way to get me information, which I have displayed at our info desks or rather “info pigeon holes.” The only difficulty I have is that most of the information is in English and not the local language, but I was thinking that if that information can reach the schools then I’m sure it will curb this language problem as the kids can then inform their parents or guardians. And I also think it’s more effective if the kids are informed as they can make a change.

I really believe that education is so important and information dissemination to all dog keepers/owners is so important, if we can get through to them then half the battle is won, if we can change the mindset then hey we did something. We still have a long way to go but with people like Karen and Raphael from WSPA-Africa we will get there!!!!

May all of us work together and make the lives of our animals more bearable through educating their keepers and everyone on keeping them safe. They truly bring so much joy to a persons’ life, you grow to love them so much.

JOHANNA WOULD LOVE TO RECEIVE HUMANE EDUCATION MATERIAL AND ANY SUPPLIES SHE COULD USE IN SCHOOLS TO HELP KIDS CONNECT TO ANIMALS. SHE ALSO WOULD LIKE FLEA AND TICK SHAMPOO TO HELP HER NEIGHBORS TAKE BETTER CARE OF THEIR DOGS. .