Archive | December, 2011

Animal Aid: “Mera Babies”

12 Dec

“Mera Babies”

There are 100+ animals at Animal Aid Unlimited in Udaipur and I can honestly say, I love them all.  There’s too many to go through each one, but with the re-cap of my volunteer experience coming soon, I want to introduce you to “mera babies”.  (My babies)

These little ones have stolen my heart and will have a piece of it always.  Some are alive and well and some have passed away.  (Or in the process.)  It’s really hard to be at Animal Aid for an extended period of time because you do get so emotionally attached to the animals.  You end up having “your” animals.  Your babies.  Even if you are busy doing other things, helping with a project or in my case working with local children, your babies get your attention every day.

Every morning when I get to work I do my rounds.  I usually go to paralyzed first (where the handicapped doggies live) to check all the pups but 2 in particular:

Jimmy Supa Fly!

Jimmy is the only dog at the hospital that cannot get around by himself.  After a car accident, he’s been left paralyzed from the waist down.  He has full motion of his 2 front limbs, but one of them is still broken and in a cast.  Jimmy should (and will) be able to get around once his broken arm has healed.  Not only that but he recieves daily massage and physical therapy from the amazing, Kamla.  I make sure to give Jimmy my love every day.

Karl

I make sure to give a bit of love to the other paralyzed pups as well: Tina, Digger, Pooja, Rambo (I love me some Rambo!), Sheena, Digger’s sister… the whole gang.  BUT, there is one of the paralyzed pups who is “MY DOG”.  Karl.  You can read all about our love story here.  But I will say this about my main man, if there is a way to bring him home one day, I’m going to do it.  His story is so sad, but our love story is so sweet.  And besides Kamla, he doesn’t really like any other humans.  Or animals.  Or anybody.  We sit together every day and it’s the happiest anyone has ever seen him.

Jigger

Oh my Jigger!  Jigger was put under my care by Julie, a volunteer who left about a week ago.  I make sure to spend time with him every day as well.  Jigger is a 5/6 month old donkey who was hit by a truck on the highway.  He came in bad condition.  He has 2 fractures, both on the side he was hit on.  The impact also sent him flying and onto his face.  He’s missing a bit of lip and has a broken front tooth.  (I think it just makes him more adorable.)  I’ve been watching Jigger get better day by day.  His fractures are no longer swollen and seem to be healing up well.  He’s started to move around and sitting up.  He’s got great energy and a strong spirit.  And probably the most spoiled animal at the hospital.  I’ve missed chai time on several ocassions because I’m off hand feeding him cucumbers or some other delicious treat…

The Puppies

Part of my day always consists of taking care of the injured puppies.  Their injuries range from simple skin infections to mange, to bite wounds, to being partially paralyzed and amputations!  My main babies are Fruit Bat (recent amputee), Sleepy Puppy (bite wounds on head) and bitty little Mandi (mange).  Bear (broken leg) used to be one of my pups too but was released back to her momma earlier this week.  I love all of them though!  Even if they’re the most heart breaking because their survival rate is so low.  Fruit Bat recovered quite well from her amputation but seems to have fallen ill the last few days.  She’s not as active as she used to be.  But Sleepy is gonna be just fine!  And Mandi is here with her momma and is still nursing, so I think once they’ve recovered from mange, will be just fine.

There are 2 other animals who I want to point out for different reasons even though they aren’t my babies:

Mother Goddess

This cow is so large and magnificent.  Being in her presence you really get a feeling that she is absolutely divine.  Cows in India are all called Mother or Goddess and let me tell you, this is the mother of all goddesses!  I usually just bow in Namskar and walk by very quickly past her because she is very big and quite intimidating.  But she is a sight to see…

Raju

Raju is the only monkey at Animal Aid and a horrible case of cruelty.  Once a performing monkey, Raju now lives at the hospital where he will live for the rest of his life in safety.  He’s quite dangerous, as the abuse he endured in his past has left him a bit psychologically unstable.  He doesn’t play even though he’s got a fancy tricked out cage.  He mostly paces back and forth in his cage, which is kept away from the madness of the other animals as to not add to his stress.  A prominent feature on Raju is the fact that he has no nose.  Which they suspect he lost due to electric shocks to make him perform.

There are many more animals of course.  Buddy, Richard and Gilly from A Kennel.  All the calves and cows!  The piggies!  The shelter dogs: Charlie, Octopus, Ass Man, Piper, etc.,  But I would like to give recognition to the ones we’ve lost.  We lose many animals every day.  (We lost one of my favorite cows today.)  Seems like we’ve lost a cow per day the past few days…  We lose at least 3 puppies a day.  One of my first favorite pups was a paralyzed (waist down) pup named Tic Tac.  He died about 2 days after I got here.  Muna was a full grown paralyzed dog who had to be put down even though we were all in love with him.  We got 2 black kittens in last night.  I saved the life of the littler one today.  (Mera baby!)  But the other we just couldn’t help and had to be put to sleep.  I’m afraid we might lose Fruit Bat and another one of our puppies who has fallen ill recently.  We know it is always for the best when they go, but it doesn’t change the fact that we will miss them.  However, I am glad I got to know each and every one of them.

RIP

I could go on and on about the animals but instead I urge you to come and meet them yourself.  And if you can’t, you can always sponsor one from home.  Animal Aid runs purely on donations and I can tell you personally that the lives you help are truly special.

♥∞

~B

  Follow B on Twitter in India: @iamsunshine78

Girls Who Are Changing the World: The Women of Animal Aid

9 Dec

Having just finished Week 2 volunteering at Animal Aid Unlimited in Udaipur, Rajasthan (India) I am completely in awe of the incredible staff that runs this amazing hospital and sanctuary.  Though the ENTIRE staff should (and will) be recognized for their beautiful work, the women of Animal Aid are this week’s Girls Who Are Changing The World.

Erika Abrams founded Animal Aid with her husband Jim about 15 years ago.  They moved to a small village close to Udaipur from Seattle to create a haven for the un-owned street animals of India.  Though neither of them had veterinary experience, they had a love of animals and a passion to help them.  Along with their daughter Claire, they settled here and haven’t looked back.

“As they deepened roots and their understanding of how things work here, they learned that in most cities in India there are no hospitals or shelters for un-owned animals. The government veterinary facilities are aimed toward milk production and animal farming.”

Claire spoke fairly good Hindi by the time she was 10 and has been an ambassador for animals in schools throughout the area.  She began doing slideshows at the age of 15, giving presentations to inform kids what Animal Aid does and why their work is so important.  She also conducts vegan outreach activities in the community.  I like to watch her with the animals.  She gives unconditional love to every one.

Claire giving love to Octopus, a deformed & handicapped dog.

Trudy is the Volunteer Coordinator.  She’s basically my boss and one of the coolest chicks you will ever meet!  She gives tours to visiting groups and assigns the volunteers their jobs.  She knows the place inside and out.  She also has a huge passion for animals like I have never seen.  It is a pleasure to get to work with her every day!

*Photo by Erika Sidor

Then there is the female staff of Animal Aid: Radha, Dhapu, Manju & Kamla.  Each of them has their specialty.  Radha and Dhapu are in charge of pups.  I’m positive that the puppies think Dhapu is their momma the way they follow her around and cry when she leaves their sight for a second! Manju is the woman in charge of cleaning and let me tell you with the 100+ animals at the hospital, it’s a NON-STOP job!

Then there is Kamla who is probably my favorite person in the world!  You only have to be in her presence for a minute before you know that she is someone extraordinary.  Kamla’s main job is physical therapy and massage for the handicapped dogs.  She has gotten many of the paralyzed dogs gain more mobility with her healing ways.  Not only that, but there are at least 2 dogs that have made a full recovery thanks to her.  She is magical.  And probably one of the most joyous people you will ever meet!

Last but not least, there are the female volunteers of Animal Aid.  In my 2 weeks, there have been quite a few people who have come through to spend time helping the hospital.  99% of them girls!  Some come for a day or 2 and some come for weeks/months at a time.  Julie O’Neill has been coming to Animal Aid for 6 years.  The first time she came, she only planned on a week and stayed for a year!  Since then she’s been coming for several months at a time, living in a nearby village and spending every day working at the hospital.  Her dedication to helping the world is inspiring!  Julie definitely deserves her own GCTW post one day highlighting her amazing adventures in volunteering all over the world!

All the women of Animal Aid go above and beyond to help animals in need on a daily basis.  I am completely honored to get to be in their divine presence every day.  Thank you all so much for inspiring me and making me a better person!

♥∞

~B

  Follow B on Twitter in India: @iamsunshine78

**If you know a super rad girl that you would like to nominate for our ‘Girls Who Are Changing the World’ feature, send them to us at: loveinfinitelyproject@gmail.com

What you can do to help: Orphanages

8 Dec

This is a tough one.  How do we really help orphaned children here and around the world?  Spending time with these beautiful babies, it makes no sense to me at all how they don’t each have loving families.  I wish I could just take them all home!  But since I can’t and we have to start somewhere, there was one particular area I would like to focus on and help.  Nutrition.

The food they receive every day is pretty basic.  Clear soup, rice and sometimes fried veggies.  For snack I only ever saw them have cookies with frosting on them and sugary sweets.  One of my little boys, had his baby teeth already rotted away.  I’m not sure how in a country that is so bountiful in delicious fruits, they didn’t have any for the babies here.  Or FRESH veggies for that matter.  Obviously, I wasn’t with them all day, every day for every meal but what I (and the other volunteers) saw was clear, these growing children need a more nutritious diet.

So what do we do?  Though I left a donation for the children’s home, I want to set aside a special account just to get fruits and veggies into the bellies of these kids.  Set a certain percentage of all Love Infinitely Project donations to go into this special fund.  Perhaps set this up as a yearly donation.  Then we can follow up in person.  I’ve heard this is the case in many other orphanages throughout Thailand and other countries as well.  I’d love to visit and send you all out to see what can be done about this at orphanages around the world.

If we can’t adopt every child, the least we can do is make sure they grow up to be healthy and strong.

Like I said, we have to start somewhere.

♥∞

~B

  Follow B on Twitter in India: @iamsunshine78

Volunteer Week 2: Viengping Children’s Home

8 Dec

Coming off my amazing adventure at the Elephant Nature Park, I went straight into working at the Viengping Children’s Home, an orphanage just North of Chiang Mai.  In order to volunteer here, you must fill out an application and have it approved by the director.  My first day was Monday morning 11/21.  It took me a bit to figure out the bus system, but eventually figured it out and was there just past 9am.  I met with the director in her office to talk about my background with children.  Or in my case, teenagers.  But she assigned me to the “Sawasdee” Room which is where the 1-2 yr olds were.  Babies.  Once the children are 5 years old, they go to public school during the day.  So, babies it was for me!

Of course, they’re the cutest little babies you ever did see!  There were about 10 in the 1-2 year old group and 10 in the 2-3 year old group.  From the time volunteers arrive at 9am until 10:30am they have play time.  Followed by lunch, nap (volunteer lunch) and more play and activities after that.  The type of play and activity depends on the number of volunteers, staff and what day it is.  It was a little confusing at first because only the director spoke English, but by Day 2 I was getting the rhythm of the place.

On average there were only about 3 volunteers, a mix of locals and some foreigners.  One man from the US has been volunteering there for about 3 months.  I got a lot more information from him as it was difficult for me to communicate with the staff.  We each took 1 or 2 children at a time to go play.  We’d go on walks, play on the playground, ride the big wheels or go into the mini gymnasium.  One day, we all went on a big walk to the grass area behind the Home for Boys.  Volunteers aren’t allowed to take pictures but I snuck a few in with my phone that day.  All the babies were curious as to what it was.

Every day the babies would greet me at the gate to their playroom with their arms stretched up.  Every day they had to pry them off of me to go to lunch.  (Babies don’t like lunch because they know playtime is over. )  The babies were such a fun treat to be with every day because they wonder and marvel at everything.  All is new to them.  Also, they are just barely learning to speak so it is fun to teach them new words.  Their environment is so bright and colorful with educational games at every turn.  Though they don’t have individual toys, they do have a toy area with tricycles and big wheels.

There is one more group of 1-3 year olds, the babies with HIV/AIDS.  Volunteers aren’t allowed to go with them and neither are the other children.  As babies, they are kept in their own building and their staff takes them out to play separately.  Once these children are old enough, they will be incorporated into the rest of the group, but as babies, they are just too fragile.  Then there is the newborns.  The tiny babies!  Only staff is allowed to go into the nursery.  I would catch the nurses taking the littlest ones out for strolls.  Just adorable! 

I didn’t realize just how much the entire experience had touched me until it was time to say goodbye.  My last day, there were more volunteers than the rest of the week, probably about 8-10.  After we got the kids in and I’d squeezed them all one last time, I spoke with a few of the new volunteers about my experience at Viengping.  I became a bit emotional talking about each of the babies.  Wishing I had more time.  I still think about my little ones every day. Especially what they must have thought the day I didn’t show up for playtime.  It was so much harder leaving them than I ever imagined.  I then walked to the office to talk to the director and she held both my hands as I, through tears, thanked her for letting me volunteer.  Then I cried leaving the grounds and on the bus back into the city.

If I could have changed one thing about my trip, I would have extended my stay in Thailand.  I don’t feel like my work with the children of Viengping is done.  There is so much more I would have liked to have accomplished.  Which means, I’ll probably be headed back there again.  Hopefully with a team.

♥∞

~B

  Follow B on Twitter in India: @iamsunshine78