How important is AKI funding to Mbwa wa Africa in Arusha, Tanzania? Here's the answer from Mbwa wa Africa founder Jens Fissenebert: We are happy and proud to be one AKI's partner organizations. Next to other donors which are making it possible to run our rabies vaccination and spay neuter campaigns the unrestricted funds are getting us threw hard times when it comes to salaries and shelter maintenance. Karen, thanks for all the hard work you do to get support and funding for us and the other AKI partner organizations. This article continues where we left off in the last AKI Blog post about Mbwa wa Africa. Although it's impossible to recount all MwA's R & Rs, I'll try to give the highlights.
First and most exciting, Dakota (we told her story in the August 30 Mbwa wa Africa blog post), was adopted and is now living in the US! Dakota had a strange injury-her pelvis shifted and she couldn't use her rear legs. She was going through PT at the MwA shelter (picture below), and still didn't have full use of her rear legs when Heather visited the shelter and fell in love with her. On October 13, Dakota flew off to her new home.
And just as exciting, Babette is now living in Canada! Babette arrived at MwA about 1 year ago at 5 weeks old. Many people were interested in her, but she was never adopted, and she grew up at the shelter. Of course, older dogs have less of a chance of being adopted, especially when there's no end of puppies. But then Hannah and Cole from Vancouver arrived. Thanks to them Babette also flew off in October to her forever home (picture below).
The rescues and rehabs never end though. Cats and dogs are adopted to wonderful homes and more arrive at the MwA shelter to fill the voids.
Paka Mkubwa (Kiswahili for Big Cat) has a nice home in the village with owners who love and care about him. But when he came home one day with a nasty open fracture on his front leg, his family didn't have the money to go to a vet, and worried he wouldn't survive. Luckily, Michalina, from one of MwA's Rabies Drive teams, saw Big Cat and asked Jens to follow up. Jens visited the family and he could see that Big Cat needed vet care immediately. Jens brought Big Cat to Merlino vet clinic for surgery, where Big Cat's leg was amputated. He recovered well and Jens returned him home to welcome arms.
A badly injured hind leg didn't get Frida down. She was always a very happy puppy. Her broken bone had to be fixed with a splint (end of August), which was removed about a month later (pictures below).
In early August, Ani arrived at the MwA shelter (picture below). She had been right next to her mother, when her mother was killed by a car on the Arusha-Moshi highway. Her sibling escaped, but Ani was captured and brought to MwA. She was in a state of sheer terror, hiding and snapping at anyone who came close.
And then on November 9, Oddy and James came to the MwA shelter and adopted both Ani and Frida!
Nafasi had a sad life until she arrived at the MwA shelter in July. She had an owner, but was mainly left to fend for herself. She had to find her own food and ended up killing a chicken, she was so hungry. For that, she was fed poison, but it didn't kill her. It did make her very sick though. Next, her owner put her on a chain (2nd photo below) and planned to starve her to death! At that point one of the Mission Rabies teams found her and Sandra and Jens brought her to the MwA shelter. The owners claimed to be happy that they didn't have to kill her, they just didn't know any other way to get rid of a dog that eats chickens. And then things really started looking up for Nafasi. Mareile came to the shelter and saw Nafasi, and she knew that this was her dog! Nafasi is a very happy, healthy, friendly, and very playful dog now...and living in Germany with Mareile.
Because his owner got another 'real breed' dog, Zen was kicked out of his home! Luckily, Zen was raised well and was friendly, social, and healthy. Mbwa wa Africa stepped in before he could be put on the street and brought Zen to the shelter. That was on August 25-he was 7 months old -- and he still needs a forever home!
On September 1, two tiny kitties arrived at the shelter. They were only 12 days old! No one knows what happened to mom, but after watching for 2 days, without seeing her, Sandra and Jens couldn't wait any longer. They brought little Sherlock and Watson to the shelter and after the first round of kitten formula, they bounced back right into lively little cats! Heaven, until then the smallest MwA kitty, wasn't too sure about the newcomers (2nd picture below). And then on November 3, Sherlock and Watson found their forever home together (3rd picture below)!
When volunteers from the July rabies drive came across this little guy (picture below), there was only one word to describe him: miserable! He had a severe case of mange, deformed limbs due to long time malnutrition, a huge hernia on his belly, and parasites crawling on and out of him. On top of this he was so scared that he would try to hide and shake whenever anyone got near him. He had owners, but obviously they didn't care and they were happy that MwA was willing to take him. Sandra named him Gryffindor. After only 2 weeks, he put on a lot of weight and his skin already looked better. After about 6 weeks, he became a lovely, funny, and happy guy, who loves attention and going on walks (2nd picture below).
This story is about a boy who genuinely cares about his dogs and how Mbwa wa Africa was able to help him help his dog Jack. Samuel lives near the Mbwa wa Africa shelter and has 2 dogs, Jack and Bobby, both females. Sometimes Samu joins MwA volunteers on their dog walks and he's interested in learning about veterinary care. At the end of September, Jack came home with a nasty wound, her paw was skinned and she badly needed surgery. Luckily, Carla had just arrived from Belgium to help with a spay/neuter clinic and immediately had her first patient! (and Samuel requested to watch the surgery!) For the next two weeks Samuel brought Jack every day to MwA for cleaning and wound dressing (picture below), until Jacks foot was all healed.
Little Schmitdchen turned up at the gate of MwA friend Herr Schmidt, hence the name. Nobody in the neighborhood claimed little Schmitdchen, so MwA decided to get him vaccinated and neutered at the MwA clinic in early June. The usual plan is to neuter street dogs and put them back where they were found to create a healthy and non-reproducing street dog population. But Sandra and Jens just couldn't put Herr Schmidt back on the street. He's such a gentle soul, was only 6 months old, and far too small to fend for himself. So they brought Herr Schmidt back to the MwA shelter (2 pictures below).
And then in late October, Luca adopted Herr Schmidt, who joined her family of 4 cats in Germany (picture below)!
On September 22, MwA received a call.....one of the resident dogs at the Hindu hospital had been hit by a car. Jens went to check on her. He recognized her injury because MwA previously had a dog at the shelter with the same injury (Jefta's dog Faru). The dog's eye socket had broken and the pressure forced her eyeball out! So Jens brought Lady to the MwA shelter and their vet removed the eye.
Nell was 1 of the 6 "N" sisters, Njota, Nuria, Ndoto, Nala, and Nike. They arrived at MwA so infested with parasites at 3 weeks, they were found dumped in a ditch, their mom nowhere to be found. SADLY, all 5 of Nell's sisters died within 24 hours of each other-the cause was a mystery. Nell was really sick, couldn't eat at all or stand up and was on a drip for more than two weeks. She was literally fading away and the volunteers at Mbwa wa Africa never let her out of their sight. And by mid October, MwA knew Nell would make it! She's now a healthy pup and ready for her forever home!
We'll leave the last word to Sandra, Mbwa wa Africa founder, director, nurse, and savior of cats and dogs: "That's why we NEED to help them, dogs are so amazing! After all he [Gryffindor] has been thru all it takes is some care and friendly words to get his spirits up and wounds to heal." Thank you Sandra and Jens and all your volunteers for getting the spirits up of so many cats and dogs and healing their wounds-physical and spiritual.