Animal AWARE

I don't even know where to start with an explanation of the past two days. I have taken in so much and my mind has been going constantly at a mile a minute.

I have been in e-mail contact with Xenii (shay-nee), the founder of an animal rescue and education association outside of Antigua called Animal AWARE (http://www.animalaware.org/index.htm), since April. She recently asked me to organize an event for the Day of the Animals (http://www.mascotamigas.com/dia_mundial.htm) on October 4th. Really excited to get to work, I decided to go check out Animal AWARE this weekend.

Just a little nervous, I stalled my way through Friday morning. I had not yet gotten to experience one of the colorful 'chicken buses' (camionetas) of Guatemala that are notorious for burning oil and being held up and extremely cramped. I was frankly a little terrified of getting on the bus full of locals jabbering in Spanish and Kaqichel that was headed down unfamiliar roads to a small town, Sumpango, where I would have to, in turn, walk a half mile up a rutty dirt road to find Animal AWARE. It turned out to be extremely exciting (even the part where the man came on and whipped his not empty catheter bag out of his pants to prove that he truly needed some donations in order to survive). However...I admit...the ayudantes thought I was a bit of a nerd (or a Gringa) squishing between 5 other people into the front seat so I wouldn't miss my 2 stops. While I was sitting in the front though, I did find myself terrible jealous of the driver who was shifting through the gears like he was driving a sports car (he took the turns in much the same way which sent passengers pressed up against the windows much like you'd see in a cartoon).

*
I'm not sure exactly why I expected to find a fine-tuned operation with volunteers running the office and frequent educational programs (perhaps it's because CasaSito is very good at this) but, that is exactly the opposite of what I found. It turns out that Xenii (American?) and her husband, Martin (English), started AWARE almost 10 years ago with a few rescued dogs. By 2005 their operation had grown to 50 dogs and a cageful of cats. It was in that year that they set an upper limit on the number of animals they would accept...60. Today they have over 270 dogs, over 100 cats, and presently 2 rabbits.

The operation as it runs today: Xenii cannot say no to an animal in need. She takes them all in. A majority of the animals are from the street and nearly all of them come in with severe cases of giardia (the parasite that is in the water...the reason no one can drink the water in Latin America) and fleas. Many also have severe skin infections like mange and/or some sort of genetic disfiguration (a squinty eye or a deformed leg). She fixes them up, has them sterilized by one of her vet connections, and tries to place them in homes. I was honestly expecting the dogs to be mean but 99% of them are like totally tame although most are extremely fearful and only come near for kibble treats. Every dog makes daily progress though with the help of Xenii and the few helpers that she has. Many of the dogs that Xenii places head off to the USA which is partially a wonderful practice because most dogs will be going to great homes (one dog is in the finals for a pet competition in San Francisco) but it is very, very expensive and does not prove to local people that sterilized street dogs can make great family pets.

Xenii has things very well organized with a few hired staff who feed the animals and let them out twice daily but they are in desperate need of help. They occasionally get a volunteer or two out to help them socialize the dogs but other than that, Xenii and her Guatemalan assistant, Sep, run everything from treating minor illnesses to PR to communication with the 5-10 half-dedicated vets that they have out to help out with surgeries and such.


When I got there Xenii and Martin were out on a food run...can you even imagine how much Purina Puppy Chow and Beneful a pack of nearly 300 dogs eats!? Martin said the pick-up truck full of food would last them no more than 10 days. A good portion of their food used to be donated by Purina but this year they have only recieved about 4 food donations which really puts a strain on their budget which I presume to be entirely donor funded (I asked Xenii about grants and she chuckled and said 'I just don't have the time for writing grants.')

Fun fact: Animal AWARE was the first member organization of the WSPA (the World Society for the Protection of Animals: http://www.wspa-international.org/).

In my conversations with Xenii yesterday and today, I could see that, while she loves what she's doing and has the type of personality that NEEDS to stay busy, she was visibly stressed and is beginning to recognize that she needs help. Her hilarious husband, Martin, who claims his job at Hound Heights is to complain because people always say, 'do what you're good at.' He is expressively worried about his wife who is not young and the future of AWARE. His main concern is that she tries to run the whole show on her own and refuses to hire a manager or anyone who can help coordinate the organization. Being there for just over 24 hours, I am concerned, too. Almost 500 animals are completely dependent on a single dedicated woman.

I have always dreamed of running an organization much like AWARE with a greater emphasis on education and sustainable sterilization clinics (this is presently the topic of my personal statement for my vet school application). AWARE does offer vaccine and sterilization clinics on a monthly basis but they have trouble maintaining an education program since they rarely have long term volunteers. I am partially inspired and partially intimidated by the struggles of this organization. I had thoughts running through my mind all weekend of what I could do to help Xenii...be there to take over the organization for her...work on major PR in the USA and Guate...have everyone I know who is traveling to the US from Guatemala transport a dog or two to the shelters there. Well, these are all grand ideas but, to start, I am going to make up a little flier in search of volunteers for the International Day of the Animal event so I do not have to plan the whole parade and vaccine clinic in Spanish, by myself.
*
I spent my time at AWARE working with a few dogs to get used to leash walks (i.e. not totally freak out and/or not pull me up or down the hills) and to sit so they are more adoptable. When I first got there I toured the entire facility, up and down the paths carved into the dusty hills, from kennel to kennel, from literally mangy dog to mangy dog, from little tiny puppies to an old bug-eyed dog...it was incredible.

*
There happened to be another volunteer at AWARE this weekend, Anna, who had been working there and with an organization in Antigua from October to April when she headed off by herself for adventures in Argentina. Anna's stories about Argentina were incredible. She just graduated from high school last year and she spend two months hitch-hiking with some happy and scary experiences from Buenos Aires, down to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, then back up to Cordoba (a German town), to Che's birthplace in Rosario, and back to Buenos Aires to finish it up. ...And I felt pretty wild today riding in the back of a pick-up with Anna on the way into Sumpango for some lunch...hmmm...



Anyway, she was just back for a couple of weeks to pick up a super sweet, 2-year old dog, Camilla, who she was adopting to take back to Germany with her. She worked all weekend getting Camilla to not be nervous on the leash and to go in the crate she will need to ride in on the plane...by the end of the day today, I was finally able to pet Camilla.

I spent my last couple of hours at AWARE chatting with a Guatemalan about sexism in Guatemala (which he thought was a characteristic exclusive to Latin American men until I explained otherwise) and the pressures to conform to society through music and social activities. He had endless questions about life in the USA and my opinions on pretty important topics including organic farming and development work. I hope that I learned as much from him as he from me. I am still processing the content of this conversation; he gave me a lot to think about.
*
Anyway, headed off to the beach tomorrow for a relaxing day with CasaSito and the housemates!