Ghana SPCA Takes Humane Ed Students on Field Trips (thanks to AKI donors)
Since our last post about Ghana SPCA (Sept. 23), Humane Ed students have gone on 4 field trips, all led by GSPCA, all funded by AKI donors!
In October, GSPCA led a field trip for a group of 43 Humane Ed students from Amrahia Basic School to the Veterinary Services Headquarters in Accra, Ghana. Daniels, a vet tech who specializes in microbiology, and Dr. Naomi, guided the students through diagnosis to treatment and they even visited the post-mortem room. The students looked through a microscope and observing blood samples and they were shown different types of worms. These field trips are experiences the students will always remember and we're sure that the trips pique the interest of some of the students enough so that they'll become vets, vet techs, and scientists. Below, Daniels welcomes the students to Veterinary Services HQ.
Remember the 1st time you looked through a microscope-WOW!
Dr. Naomi shows the students samples of worms.
A poultry farmer had come to Vet Services HQ for a post-mortem of dead chickens. He talked to the students about poultry farming.
The field trip group and their hosts posed for a picture:
On Saturday, October 27, GSPCA took students from Trust Academy on a field trip to La Veterinary Services located in La, Accra. La Vet, a private clinic, is headed by one of the most experienced vet surgeons in Ghana, Dr Amakye. La Vet Clinic treats animals- dogs and cats, poultry, and small ruminants. The clinic also conducts outreach services on farms where they treat cattle, goats, and other large animals, as well as poultry.
Abbey, a vet tech, conducted the tour. During the field trip, students visited the surgery room, treatment room, and the isolation center. They learned about the check-in process from the office manager. Students were very fortunate to see puppies being treated and they watched as maggots were removed from the puppies!
The visit began with a briefing, where they learned about some of the things that La Vet Clinic does and what they would see during the tour:
The tour started at the registration/check-in area:
They were then shown the surgery area:
The students watched as maggots were removed from puppies (this was a highlight!):
The students visited the isolation room:
And at the end of the visit, the hosts and students posed for a group picture. The 1st picture is with Abbey, the vet tech and tour guide (white jacket) and the 2nd picture is with Dr. Amakye. You can see that the students had a wonderful time:
On November 3, GSPCA took 43 students and two teachers from Kwabenya Atomic Basic 5 students on an AKI-funded field trip to the Accra Polo Club, the 1st time the GSPCA led a field trip there. The assistant stable manager, Musah, showed the students around the grounds of the Polo club and demonstrated grooming, washing, feeding, and hoof care. The students were given a chance to groom a horse. Cecile Norgah, a Senegalese native, took time to interact with the students and talked about humane handling of horses. She explained that owning a horse is expensive and once you take on the responsibility of ownership, you need to sacrifice and do all in your power to make the horse feel comfortable and safe. When Cecile mentioned the price of a horse the students were shocked and they related it to the price of a luxury car!
The GSPCA thanks stable manager James Afoakwa and his assistant Musah, and the managers of the Polo Club, Eric and Sammy, who made the visit possible.
The most fascinating horse for the students was the velvet black horse with the fairy mane, a stallion.
They were shown hoof care.
GSPCA's Humane Ed Specialist, Aluizah, led the field trip.
Cecile talked to the students about humane handling of horses.
Students were shown how the Polo Club transports horses.
Students met the Polo Club's mini-horse, Puny.
At the end of the day, the full group of students posed with a horse.
Then, on November 10, GSPCA again visited the Polo Club for an AKI-supported field trip, this time with 40 students from North Legon School Complex. The students had a great time with the horses and at the end of the day, they didn't want to go home!
Musah, the assistant stable manager, allowed the students to wash the horses and to get comfortable with the horses by touching them. They saw how horses are groomed and how to care for their hooves. And they met the mini-horse, Puny. They went into the truck and saw how 10 horses can be transported comfortably.
Aluizah, GSPCA Humane Ed Specialist, joins the group picture:
As a token of GSPCA's and AKI's gratitude, Aluizah presented La Vet Clinic and Veterinary Services HQ with a framed group picture as a memory of the students' visit.
AKI donors cover the cost of GSPCA field trips, which includes bus rental and refreshments and depending on the number of students and the location of the visit, can cost US$200-US$400/field trip. We appreciate your support, which makes these field trips possible! https://www.animal-kind.org/ghana