Volunteer Africa Blog: Pre-Vet Students help aminals in Chintsa Community

Last week we wrote a blog about some of our experiences on The African Pre-Vet Experience in Chintsa, where we explained some of the tasks we had taken part in with African wildlife, agricultural animals and zoo enrichment. You can read that blog "Pre-Vet Students get Hand-on Experience in South Africa" here. This week we're going to go into another aspect of the project - community work with domestic animals.

Stephanie showing the kids her cool pictures of the animals we've
worked with

Once a week, we go to the Cintsa village and do community work with the dogs. Ticks and fleas are very common in these areas, so we come every week to dip the dogs to kill the ticks and fleas. We also treat mange, a common disease found in many dogs in the village, along with Transmissible Venereal Tumors (TVTs). Our pre-vets will also treat any wounds, burn marks, and treat infections. Often times, our dipping site gets stampeded with the children and while waiting for dogs to come, we will often play with the children.

Elizabeth practising for the next Fifa World Cup! ;)

The Pre-Vet students dipping the dogs

Who doesn't love puppies?!

Tyler and Lindsay helping the clean the wound on the leg of a dog

As of the last few weeks, we have started to work on creating a new Community Veterinary Clinic (CVC). We have secured a room in the village which can be used for this purpose, removed everything from the room, sandpapered the walls, painted them, made new walls, removed sinks, cleaned up the floor, and held a fundraiser to pay for improvements to the room and the start up of the clinic. We are still in the process of cleaning up this small storage room and making it into a 3 roomed Veterinary Clinic. A lot of work has been put into this initiative by our pre-vet students. We're hoping within the next few weeks we could have it up and running; doing spays/neuters along with consultations.

The room before

Jessica and Elizabeth cleaning the last of the
dust and shells from the floor

Chipping the old paint off the walls

Savannah, Jessica & Alex
starting to build the framework
for the walls

Savannah happy with progress so far!

Quick break for photos :)

A lot of work done but a lot to go!

The Pre-Vet volunteers painting the
new walls

Lindsay making her mark on the walls right next
to Savannah and Jessica's

It is not all work, we do get to play on the weekends. The pre-vets enjoy going down to the beach, going for horseback rides on the beach, walking to Buccaneers Backpackers (on the other side of the lagoon!) for lunch, to play volleyball, swim in the pool and more! There's also time to check out the local festivals and events, and go for quad bike rides at one of the local game reserves.There's always something going on in Chintsa!