Our Latest Volunteer - Mary
I’m not really sure how I ended up spending the month of November in India as I’m very happy on my home patch & I’ve never travelled further than northern Europe in my life. (and have never really wanted to either!)
As a qualified VN, I knew I was going to be in situations that were going to be difficult physically, emotionally and mentally, but I was actually much more nervous about being in rural India, in a culture and a language that I didn’t understand. And I don’t like hot food! Somehow, even after a nine hour flight and 8 or nine hours travelling in a car the following day I found life in Pushkar, and TOLFA very easy to slip into. India has its own time frame and once you’re into the daily routine, going with the flow just seemed to happen.
Mary, Brenda and Pauhla - our November 07 Project Raja Volunteers
Once at TOLFA, after a day being supervised by Rachel, I was handed the morning ward round of the rescue shelter, assisted by 2 animal assistants. This entailed checking each dog, administering any medication needed, cleaning and treating open wounds, and listing those needing follow up treatments, such as baths for mange, or those who were well enough to be released home.
After lunch I’d go round giving supplementary feeding to any puppies and those that were very ill or emaciated - which is a very fast way to become extremely popular! I’d also check over any new arrivals in the rescue block, most of which at that time of year were maggot wounds, initially needing an anaesthetic, meds and a sort out.
As Pauhla says the majority of the dogs were approachable, friendly and trusting. And for those that were more wary there were always the animal assistants to help. Rachel has such a superb team working with her.Yes, some of what you see is difficult, with both animals and humans, and you do end the day hot, sweaty, tired and extremely grubby, but also with a sense of a good job done.
It is unnerving to see diseases that the UK doesn’t have such as distemper and rabies, just as it’s very uncomfortable to see how little some people have to live on. It’s equally easy to understand the benefits to the community as a whole of the neutering and rabies eradication programme that Tolfa is committed to.
If you’re reading this thinking ‘Do I want to volunteer?’ I cannot recommend spending time with this incredible team highly enough. I got far more out of the experience than I expected, and returned to the UK feeling far more relaxed and peaceful than any other ‘holiday’ I’ve ever taken. I’ll definitely be going back.
Mary Lindo
TOLFA Volunteer, November 2007.
