Project Date: February 8-23, 2022
Localisation : Africa, Tanzania
Population : 60000000
Spoken Languages : Swahili, English and many dialects
Local Partner : Mbwa Wa Africa Animal Rescue and Paka Clinic Zanzibar
FVAI was back in Tanzania in February 2022. What a great way to start a new year with a wonderful pilot project on the mythical island of Zanzibar! Cats are plentiful in the streets of Stone Town and their seamless cohabitation with the human population is extraordinary. It is simply fascinating for those of us, who have a soft spot for the mini–tigers.
However, cats reproduce quickly, especially when they have almost unlimited access to food. Two non-profit organizations, Paka clinic and Mama paka Zanzibar, operate year round in Stone Town. Paka Clinic treats street cats and its TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) program helps to control the island’s cat population and improve their living conditions. Mama paka Zanzibar with her extraordinary expertise, takes care of orphaned and/or sick kittens and finds adopters. Having discovered that their values were totally in line with ours, we contacted them and offered to help them in their mission by putting on our surgical gloves as well as providing all the anaesthetic drugs and surgical material free of charge for a massive sterilization campaign.
Our pilot project in Zanzibar was a great success! We sterilized and vaccinated 141 cats and 9 dogs against rabies during the 5 days of clinic. A huge thank you to Paka clinic and Mama paka Zanzibar for the organization and logistics as well as the warm welcome. It was an extraordinary experience and we so admire you! Thanks to Mbwa Wa Africa for the donation of 200 rabies vaccines.
After our stay in Zanzibar, our team of volunteers flew back to mainland Tanzania and continued our mission with our original partner, Mbwa Wa Africa. Our first collaboration dates back to 2017. During our first project in 2017, we had among other things, spent two clinic days at two different elementary school located at the foot of magnificent Mount Meru. The children came in great numbers to have their dogs and cats sterilized and vaccinated. These days were memorable for us as they were our very first outreach days in Tanzania. Surprise! In 2022, we returned to these 2 same schools. It was just like yesterday; the classrooms, the schoolyard and the children were as curious as ever.
Our project in Tanzania ended on February 22, 2022, also known as World Spay Day. We sterilized 108 dogs and 3 cats with the help of Mbwa Wa Africa, making a grand total of 261 sterilizations for the entire campaign! Thanks to all of you!
We are already looking forward to our next project in September. We hope to welcome you to our team!