četrtek, 23. maj 2013

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR HELPING ANIMALS IN TANZANIA





MERU ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANIZATION

About organization
Meru Animal Welfare Organization (MAWO) is a nonprofit animal-welfare organization working in Meru District. In 2010 MAWO undertook an initial baseline survey of the ten villages in the district to enhance the current animal welfare status in the area. The aim of this survey was to provide an empirical foundation for MAWO and to make strategic decisions involving the allocation of project resources and the design of the project components. The organization was established in order to address the five freedoms of the animals, of which most farmers in the area are not aware:
1. Freedom from hunger and thirst
2. Freedom from discomfort
3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease
4. Freedom from fear and distress
5. Freedom to express normal behavior  

The organization operates mainly in the Meru District Council in order to bring a lasting impact to the area before moving to other areas in Tanzania. The Headquarters are in USA River , Meru District, Arusha Region. 
Meru Animal Welfare Organization was founded in 2010 to carry out the following:

MISSIONThe mission of organization is to protect all animals from torture, abuse, cruelty, diseases, and killing.

VISIONAnimals should be respected as living creatures who experience pain, fear, and suffering
 
AIMThe aim of the organization shall be to promote, improve and develop of any matter concerning the protection of animals and understanding of animals among the people of Meru District, Tanzania without gaining any profit. 

OBJECTIVES:


- To promote respect and compassion for animals through our activities, campaigns, and education in schools
- To develop and deliver practical advice on the prevention and control of  noticeable and endemic diseases in livestock
- To transform the way animals are treated and perceived by humans
- To build awareness in the community on the importance of keeping livestock in safe housing rather than leaving them to roam unprotected
- To build animal shelters and a donkey sanctuary
- To lobby for public and government changes for benefit of people, as well as domestic animals
- To do a research on animal welfare statistics in Tanzania
- To enforce existing animals laws and anti-poaching campaigns- To prevent unwanted and populations animals and birds through neutering and outreach programs



ACTIVITIES
To provide educational material with detailed health and nutritional information for the owners of livestock
- To educate the community on the importance of de-worming and vaccination of animals
- To educate women's groups in the community on animal welfare
- To train the community on the effects of environmental degradation
- To participate in national campaigns, conferences, seminars, workshops
- To solicit technical assistance and expertise from competent professionals within and outside of Tanzania
- To sensitize and conduct meetings/seminars on animal welfare programs

VOLUNTEERING AND MEMBERSHIP


MEMBERSHIP:
We invite you to become a member of organization to help to Meru Animal Welfare Organization. By doing so, you will help them to continue their efforts of helping animals in the Arusha/Meru community and will receive news on events, updates, volunteer opportunities, and current projects.
To become a member, please send an e-mail.

VOLUNTEER:
MAWO welcomes any volunteer to work with them on site at their mobile animal clinics, water troughs construction, or other monthly projects. If you would like to donate your time or services in other ways, they welcome all ideas and suggestions.  If you would like to volunteer, please send an e-mail.

If you are already our member, we would like to thank you. Please share this information with other friends so they too may support their project. 


CURRENT PROJECTS:

EDUCATION INITIATIVES: By working and teaching in primary schools around the Meru area, they believe they can help the next generation to have the tools and knowledge necessary to respect and care for all animals. Their educational outreach also includes seminars offered to the animal owners at the local markets. Because the animal owners working at the market come from many different areas and will likely return home at the end of each day to share the animal welfare information with their villages, they are able to more widely disseminate their educational messages throughout the area. They are also currently planning to conduct seminars at the Livestock Collage and host animal-welfare training for government livestock officers. In 2012, they created an Educational Guide to better serve and teach school children through earning activities and story-telling lessons. 




DOG AND DONKEY CLINICS: Thanks to a generous grant from Humane Society International, MAWO is currently conducting monthly donkey and dog clinics in the Meru Area. At each DOG clinic, they offer free rabies vaccinations, de-worming medication, and iodine wound spray. At each DONKEY clinic, they provide free de-worming medication; iodine wound spray, consultation on proper harnessing equipment, and hoof care.  Volunteers are welcome! 


DOG FLEA BATHS: Each Saturday from 6:00-9:00am, MAWO helps supervise and staff the dog flea bath at the vet clinic of our MAWO staff, Dr. Bwanga. This is an opportunity to teach dog owners and proper care, treatment, and handling of their dogs. They display proper collars and leashes to demonstrate the ideal equipment for the dogs. Volunteers are welcome each week!



DONKEY WATER TROUGHS:  The most common use of donkeys is to act as material transportation. Donkeys are often traveling to the markets from distant villages (7 km distance or more), burdened with heavy luggage and market goods. With materials on their backs, the donkeys start their journeys early in the morning and arrive at market around noon. With nothing to eat or water to drink at the market, the donkeys are tied to rocks or posts in the sun all day. At the end of the day, owner and donkey start yet another trek to return home, often arriving after dark which is too late late to allow the donkey to graze for food. Thus, on such market days the donkeys often experience a great deal of hunger and especially thirst. We are currently planning to build several water troughs in a number of markets in the Meru area, thereby allowing the donkeys to drink adequate amount water and remain hydrated. Fundraising is imperative for this project and we need your support to make it possible.

BUDGET: Stones and water for cement mixture will be donated by the villages; MAWO will purchase the sand for the concrete mixture at $90USD per trough; 8 bags of cement are needed for each trough at $15USD per bag; fee for construction workers will cost roughly $70USD per trough.



DOG MOBILE CLINIC: In the next year, they intend to conduct four mobile dog clinics each month with an average of 200 dogs attending, and at least 100 educational leaflets distributed at each clinic. Their aim is to promote dog issues relating to their well-being and create an understanding, appreciation, and improvement on the dog welfare among their owners and other people. This will involve training in the topics of housing, feeding, general care of dogs, primary health care of dogs, recognition of sick dogs, worm control, skin diseases and parasites, and dog training. At the end of the project, the dog owners will have gained the knowledge necessary to determine the problems facing their animals and be able to apply these lessons to their daily work. This will not only benefit the dog, but also the families due to the health and efficiency of their dog.

BUDGET: Rabies vaccination (10mls) costs $10USD and can treat 10 dogs; de-worming medication (500mls) costs $55USD and can treat 500 dogs; two bottles of iodine and wound spray purchased at a local clinic costs $3USD and can treat roughly 50 dogs; the cost for spaying and neutering services will vary but will be offered at such clinics and a small allowance for the vets to carry out this procedure is also necessary. 



VETERINARY SERVICES:  They are currently conducting monthly donkey clinics at village markets. They are able to reduce the the animal's suffering by treating wounds, providing de-worming medication, and offering treatment for eye-care and hoof infections. This initiative helps them to invite animal owners to discuss the welfare of their donkeys and educate them on how to care for and respect their animals. They have also held several dog clinics in a number of villages. There, they offer de-worming medication, rabies vaccinations, and spaying and neutering services. With the large number of stray and homeless dogs in the villages, it is imperative that education on the welfare and spaying/neutering of these animals is continued. All of the services described above are free of charge to the animal owners.

BUDGET: Ivomec medication (500mls) used for donkey de-worming costs $55USD and can treat roughly 125 donkeys; Almaysin and Iodine (100mls) used for treating wounds costs $3USD and can treat 10-15 donkeys; We currently have hoof and eye care medicine in stock and are able to treat roughly 70-120 donkeys at each clinic. 



EQUIPMENT TRAINING:  To protect donkeys from the painful cuts caused by ropes holding the materials to them, they are creating safety harnesses made from inexpensive and easily available materials. They use a 'pillow' made of cloth bags to protect the donkey's back and neck and then place the ropes inside rubber water hose pipes to act as a soft cushion and avoid rope wounds. They provide these materials to a small number of donkey owners free of cost so that they might act as examples for other donkey owners who can then easily and inexpensively purchase and fasten the hose and pillows themselves in their villages.

BUDGET: Each donkey requires 1 meter of hose pipe. 100 meters of this pipe cost $86 USD; Cloth bags used as back and neck 'pillows' cost $0.50 USD each. 

DONKEY SANCTUARY:  It is their future goal to offer a place of solitude and healing for donkeys in rehabilitation from injuries and abuse often inflected by their owners. They are currently surveying a number of locations in the Meru area in search of a place to create the MAWO Donkey Sanctuary. It will be run and organized by MAWO volunteers and will also enable us to offer a place of education on healthy donkey treatment to the Tanzanian people. There, they also intend to house a couple of 'model donkeys' who will be brought to the market each week, fashioned in humane and proper equipment and leading a cart in which they will collect trash from the market. This will offer a display to the other donkey owners on the correct way to care for and harness their donkeys. They are currently fundraising to make this project a reality and they need your support to make it possible! 

More info at:




VOLUNTEER ACCOMODATION: We recommend Ujamaa hostel in Arusha which is absolutely amazing place to stay. Everybody is very friendly, the food is divine, the rooms spotlessly clean, staff is wonderfull. The price depends on a period of stay and includes delicious breakfast and dinner. 

Ujamaa Hostel was created for volunteers and travlleres to provide the best quality low-cost accommodation and volunteer experiences in Arusha, Tanzania. It's fun, friendly, safe and affordable.


Ujamaa is the Swahili word for "extended family" which in Africa means that every individual work for the benefit of the community. It is the belief that community should be based on cooperation and that the advancement of the whole is the foundation for each individual's existence. This ideal is the basic for the Ujamaa Hostel where people can come together to share thier skills, expertise and enthusiasm with thise in need in the local community and have a whole lof of fun while doing it.
 


For more information please feel free to conact us at info@kidsaretheworld.com. 

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