From our Partner Organization in Arusha, Tanzania, we look back on their successes, challenges, heartbreaks, and joy.
Dear Karen and whole team of Animal-Kind International & Supporters,
Well, we can hardly believe it ourselves, 2019 is almost over and it is already time for reflection on what has happened and time for a Christmas letter and also to thank you once again for your support this year! This year saw Mbwa Wa Africa busier than ever. It holds many happy memories for us, also some very sad ones and thankfully the afterglow of all the wonderful people we have met along the way!
The most joyful part is always if one of our animals finds a loving forever home and that has happened to 76 dogs and 24 cats in 2019! It isn’t always easy to let them go, especially, if they have been with us for many years, like Ginger, Nell or Smutje, or if they endured horrific abuse like Willy and so many others. But seeing them thriving in their new families, let it be Tanzania, Germany or another part of the world, is an overwhelming feeling that we cannot describe with words!
Our group of permanent residents has now grown to 10 beautiful individuals. These are the dogs that are unlikely to get adopted but thanks to your support they have found their forever home with us. They all have different backgrounds and histories, some paralyzed, double amputated, crippled or, in case of our George, terrified of people, but we love them all the same! We always aim to keep all our dogs happy and healthy and give them the best life possible. This includes daily walks, enrichments and lots of attention for everybody and we are certainly quite a sight with our fleet of 5 wheelchair dogs!
Another achievement we are very proud of is the ‘outreach patients’ , more than 20 dogs which were brought to us from their owners who couldn’t afford, or had no transport to get them to a vet. Not to mention the numerous dogs from the neighbourhood coming to our gate for basic treatment and all of this was only possible thanks to you!
To witness one of our cats, dogs or puppies getting sick and despite all efforts to finally lose them is, of course, heart breaking. But also this is an important part of animal rescue and we can only be thankful that we got to know and love these beautiful animals and could make their passing as easy, painless and comfortable as possible. We will never forget them!
This year we were able to run 6 neuter clinics and rabies vaccination drives and were able to spay and neuter 1,175, vaccinate 15,246 dogs and cats and teach 66,000 children in rabies awareness!
Veterinarians and vet nurses from all over the world came to Tanzania to volunteer their time and skills to help the dogs of Tanzania and it’s safe to say that we found new friends for life in Ben, Susan, Silke, Jenny, Francisco, Bruna, Kirsty, Jill, Marie, Debra, Petra and all the others! It is impossible to mention them all here, but we are most grateful to every single one of them!
Also we cannot forget all our volunteers who came to help at the shelter and often ended up taking a new furry friend home with them when they had to leave again ;-) So, it was an epic year 2019 at Mbwa Wa Africa and NONE of it we could have done without you!!! Saying that we are most grateful for your ongoing support and trust in our work would be a massive understatement! We can’t thank you enough for sharing our love for the animals at Mbwa Wa Africa, all the dogs and cats you may have never met, but live a better life – or live at all – because of you!
Thank you so much! We sincerely hope that you continue to be part of Mbwa Wa Africa and help the animals of Tanzania in 2020 and the coming years!
We wish you a very merry Christmas and the happiest New Year 2020!
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Here's how your donations to AKI helped Mbwa Wa Africa in 2019:
As you can see, a large portion of AKI support went for Mbwa Wa Africa staff salaries--for the people who keep the Mbwa Wa Africa shelter operating: Philbert John Mushi, Amoni Afraeli Pallangyo, Kandida Lucas Ngoli, Michael A. Nasari, William Abraham Mbise, and Elisa Masawe Kaaya (4 of the 6 staff supported by AKI donations are pictured below). Of course, Jens and Sandra, monetarily uncompensated (and not pictured) founders of Mbwa Wa Africa, none of this would happen without them!
