Blog #44 – Recuperation, MAWS & My Paws

I spent Saturday in full recover mode. I have a wonderful sleep-in and got up feeling very full of sleep (you know that really comfortable feeling having slept too much and now all you want to do is just lounge around?). We had cinnamon French toast for breakfast – delicious but what I would do for some maple syrop. They eat their French Toast here with ketchup, or tomato sauce?! Crazy, eh?

I spent the late morning and early afternoon doing some baking – therapeutic and delicious! I spent the afternoon reading and catching up on emails and work fomr the week. It was a really nice day with nothing to major, or too exciting, just good old fashion down time.

Sunday was back at it though! We had to get up early and drive out to a program called the Domestic Dog Disease Control Program. It is a partnership between the organization I work for and MAWS – the Maun Animal Welfare Society. The program is offered completely free and is a vaccination and spade/neutering program for the domestic dog and cat population. The goal of this program is to track, but also reduce the spread of disease from domestic to wild animals.

We got to the clinic just past eight in the morning. We walked into the room, right into the middle of a veternarian cutting out the uterus of a small dog. It was really shocking, but also very cool. The facilities were basic, simple, yet clean and the people working their were efficient. Everyone worked on a volunteer basis and the supplies needed were purchased by donations. The program worked generally by having the MAWS people travel out into the villages or areas of Maun to collect dogs and cats. They would bring them back to the clinic and then perform the surgeries and vaccinations. All of it was done free of charge and rather quickly. All the owner’s had to do was agree to the treatment.

We spent the morning talking with the vet and learning about how the program began and has grown. It really is a neat project – and all of the people involved do this on top of the rest of their lives, families and full time jobs. They have performed worked with thousands and thousands of animals and it is crazy to think what the situation would be like without their work. The domestic animal population control is a problem here in Maun. There are so many animals, and owners will just neglect or kick out their animals if they don’t have the time of the money. There is a really big difference here compared to back home. People don’t love their pets as much, they don’t really even see them as pets. They definitely do not put nearly as much effort into raising them as back home – and they never dress them up!

After the MAWS clinic wrapped up, we headed over to Matswane Primary School. This was the site that the construction of a Conservation Classroom/Campsite would begin. The USC students were involved and pumped as this was a major focus of their trip. I was also lucky enough to get to volunteer and help out. Partly because I had the time and partly because the tire blew on the landrover, and we weren’t going anywhere quickly ;)

There was already a basic foundation of cement and metal beams from which the centre would be constructed and we spent the day sanding, cleaning and welding together. Considering that it is winter-time here, it is hard to believe how hot it gets during the day. When I was working in the sun, in the middle of the afternoon it must have easily been close to thirty-five degrees. I cannot imagine what the summertime must be like here!

It was really fun to get some physical labour in and to break a sweat. After all of the curriculum, classroom and teaching – I really enjoyed the opportunity to work on something physical, something that would be visible and would last for many decades. Mickey Vieges, the headmaster as the school, is an absolutely amazing guy. He spent the whole day with us working and chatting about the plans for the space. He bought us flats of soda and beer. One of the tips I got from a local was to drink the beer when you are really thirsty. It is so low in percentage that you won’t get drunk or anything, but it is VERY refreshing. How right he was! By the end of the day, we managed to get some primer coats of paint up and everyone was really impressed with the progress we made – especially Mickey!

I headed home for dinner. Camello had prepared an Indian feast! Complete with homemade naan and everything! It was a delicious meal and I was really happy with the day; I had learned a lot, gotten my hands dirty and now was just socializing with my family at night. Life is good.