Kindness to Animals has no Boundaries
February 2024
Dear Animal-Kind Friends,
Our 2023 Annual Report is now available on our website. Some of the many animal welfare achievements we've seen in 2023 thanks to your support are:
The AKI-Have a Heart-Namibia Emergency Fund provided care for 43 dogs, 28 cats, and one horse.
Kingston (Jamaica) Community Animal Welfare sterilized 52 dogs and cats (36 females and 16 males, 40 cats and 12 dogs) living on Kingston’s streets or with impoverished families.
Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society provided animal health care for 1000s of dogs and cats.
Sauvons nos Animaux-Congo fed the ~70 dogs and ~15 cats at their shelter a plentiful diet of nutritious food for all of 2023.
Uganda SPCA paid the rent of the Haven animal shelter for a full year.
Bam Animal Clinics-Uganda treated a few 1000 donkeys, providing the only accessible and skilled donkey care available in their target regions.
Eight animal welfare organizations received much-needed funding through our Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organization Grant Program.
Every one of our Partners and Grantees included a Humane Education component in their work, changing how people treat animals and raising the next generation of animal advocates.
And there’s so much more!
AKI Partner News: Animal Welfare Achievements
On February 18, AKI Partner, the Six Freedoms-Ghana (@thesixfreedoms), welcomed Jah Bless, a newly rescued horse, to the Six Freedoms family. Jah Bless was owned by a farmer and was living with cattle. He’s fairly young, about 11 years old, but has been ridden intensively. Scar tissue on his back legs and weak and deformed front ligaments show what he’s been through.
Often, when an owner can no longer afford their horse or no longer wants a horse, he is sold to someone who intends to use him as a “beach horse,” giving rides to locals and tourists along Ghana’s beaches. This would have been a nightmare-as it is for all horses, but in Jah Bless’ condition, walking on the sand all day, it would have been the worst nightmare. Beach horses are ridden in bright sun, with little rest, no chance for water breaks.
As we describe in our Annual Report, T6F uses AKI funds to purchase food, supplements, and de-wormers for their rescued horses, many of whom are sick and/or weak from years of abuse (some from spending their lives as beach horses before coming to T6F). We’ve covered vet bills and maintenance and repair of the stables where T6F keeps their rescued horses until they have the funds they need to purchase or rent their own sanctuary.
We believe that our support to T6F to pay stipends to the grooms who provide the care and feeding of T6F’s rescued horses, will have long-term effects on how horse groomers/caretaker professionals view their jobs—not just for T6F horses, but for horses throughout Ghana. And coupled with training that T6F provides (and hopes to provide much more of in 2024), the result will be more humane care and handling of, and more patience with and interest in horses. Although it’s impossible to point to a single underlying cause of the cruelty meted out to Ghana’s horses, certainly one of the biggest is a lack of understanding of and no options to learn about horse nature.
AKI’s newest Partner, Twala Trust-Zimbabwe, was in desperate need of a new, sturdy vehicle. The potholed and gullied roads around their sanctuary and beyond had caused so much damage to their pick-up truck/bakkie used to collect dogs (sometimes cats) from villages and drop them back at home (post-vet care and spay/neuter) and to carry Doggy Tuesday and other animal food—for the 400 animals at their sanctuary. With Sarah from Twala Trust, we selected a 3-wheeler motorbike and wagon-like the one in the picture (right), perfect for Twala Trust's needs and the damaged dirt roads. We’re so grateful to our supporters for donating the funds to purchase the Twala Trust Doggy Wagon! (We’ll soon have pictures of the Doggy Wagon in use!)
Our South Sudan Spay/Neuter Campaign team is busy putting together the documents needed to register the 1st locally registered and run animal welfare organization in South Sudan. As one of the 1st members of the team, AKI is helping the South Sudan Society for the Protection & Care of Animals—the name of the new organization—develop their strategy and 2023 plans. This is such a significant achievement for animal welfare in the country. (Picture left: Alex and Moses (local team members) with Kathrin,who often works in South Sudan, and who has been a part of the s/n team for several years, meeting in Juba to discuss plans for the new charity.)
Have a Heart-Namibia: Catching up with Emergency Fund Customers. This article has updates from some of our 2023 AKI-HaH Emergency Fund recipients...like Granny, who was brought to a vet after she was kicked in the head (we never found the guilty party).
[Left: Granny now! No sign of lingering damage.] [Right: Granny was kicked in the head at the end of June 2023 and was treated at the Rehoboth, Namibia vet clinic. All Granny’s costs were covered by the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund (thanks to our supporters!)]
VERITAS completes their humane population control project. Our 5th 2023 Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organization Grant Program recipient to complete their grant project (3 remain, Bubu’s Animal Haven, Blind Love, and Tanzania Small Animal Veterinary Organization), Voluntary Education & Relief Initiative for Tanzanian Society ranked up impressive numbers for their grant project:
Vaccinated 965 cats and dogs against rabies;
De-wormed 965 cats and dogs;
Sterilized 54 cats and dogs;
Trained 145 animal health technicians who provide animal health services to the communities where the Trap Neuter Vaccinate Release project was undertaken; and
Provided humane education to more than 900 dog and cat guardians about best pet care practices.
More from AKI…..
Our “Friendly Audits” Program has two new mentors. We’re grateful to Franklin for working with Tanzania Small Animal Veterinary Organization, an AKI 2023 Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organization Grant Program recipient. TASAVO is a group of young veterinary professionals who spay/neuter and educate communities about street cats and dogs—all on their own time, as volunteers.
Madeleine will be helping Organizacion ARI in Honduras, which has also been working closely with AKI Partner Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras.
We’ve heard from several people who are interested in volunteering for our “Friendly Audits” Program and from organizations who would like to be partnered with a volunteer. We will be getting back to each and every one of you! (Friendly Audit volunteers help with social media and websites, they edit and create documents for animal rescue organizations, they help with financial management and grant searches.)
I recently read this statistic in a report about charitable organizations:
“Did you know that a staggering 36% of people report receiving zero communication after making their first donation?” We are NOT and will never be one of those organizations that don’t communicate. We believe that one of the most important things we do is letting you know what your donations have accomplished…and what we’ve accomplished TOGETHER. If you’ve donated and you haven’t heard from me, please check your spam folder—I ALWAYS SEND A THANK YOU EMAIL MESSAGE WITHIN 1 TO 3 DAYS OF RECEIVING A DONATION.
And on that note, MONTHLY DONORS! If you haven’t received your end-of-year email message from me with the total you donated during 2023 and what your donations have achieved, please get in touch! I’d be happy to re-send my email message.
With gratitude for your kindness and your much-needed and appreciated support,
Karen Menczer, Founder/Director
& the Animal-Kind International Board
AKI has Partner Organizations in Uganda, Namibia, DR Congo, Ghana, South Sudan, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Honduras, and Jamaica. You can donate to AKI’s general fund or designate your donation to one or more of our Partner Organizations.
Our 2023 (6th annual) Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organization Grant Program grantees work in: Zimbabwe (2 grantees), Tanzania (2 grantees), South Africa (2 grantees), Morocco, and Namibia.
AKI: Since 2007, helping animals and the people who care for them in some of the poorest countries.
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; donations to A-KI are tax deductible in the US to the extent the law allows. 100% of your donations are used to support our Partner Organizations & our Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organization Grant Program.