Saturday, February 27, 2010
It's Official!
We will be traveling to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua on May 29th with World Vets!!! We are so excited and can't wait to make a difference for the people and animals of Nicaragua. We will be working with World Vets until June 5th and then may stay for a few days of beach time. I keep saying we because I have two friends from the vet tech program at CMC who will be making this journey with me, so it should make for an epic adventure!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
In the begining...
I have always loved animals and I have been lucky to have them in my life since day 1. There have been so many wonderful animal companions in my 29 years, Brownie, Chauncey, Bubba Bear, Jocassee, Freddie, Tiger, Powder, Doc, Acadia, Denali, Dakota, Rio, Marley....the list goes on and on. It is from their unequivocable love and companionship that I have developed the desire to give back, to share that love and compassion.
When I was 15 years old, I went to Russia as part of an exchange program. It was a life altering experience and I credit a great deal of who am I today to that experience. There are so many things I could tell you about that trip, but one story in particular, pertaining to animals and consequently this blog, I will share with you:
One afternoon, my host sister and I were returning home from the day's activities. To shorten our trip we decided to cut through an alley in the city of Ivanovo. On this alley, a large delivery truck was parked at the back entrance to a butcher shop. The back door of the truck was open and inside I could see carcasses hanging. Being a vegetarian, I wanted to look away, but what kept my attention were the cats....they were everywhere! I then realized that's all I could hear, cat's meowing and calling other cats, hissing and yowling. Cats were running down the alley towards us, running up behind us, jumping out of trees and over fences, jumping into the truck where the meat was! I couldn't believe it, never in my life had I seen this many cats. Where did they all come from?
Later, at the age of 21, I traveled to Mexico with a group of college friends. They were all painfully aware of my love for all creatures great and small. There was rarely a week that passed without me bringing home stray cats, catching dogs on the side of the road whom I was afraid would get hit, taking owls hit by cars to the nature preserve, live-catching mice and releasing them down the driveway, just so they could come right back into the house! My friends warned me that there would be lots of stray animals, and I shouldn't try to pet them or feed them, I could get bitten or catch some weird disease, and they weren't about to ruin their vacation sitting with me in a hospital! Of course I didn't listen, I had a month's supply of hand sanitizer and an innate understanding of animals! I petted stray dogs, took my left-over food out and dumped it in the alley for the strays, broke up dog fights on the beach.
My friends laughed and shook their heads, there was nothing they could do to stop me. On that trip I vowed that I would one day come back, and when I did, I would have solutions to the problems I saw. I would help set up vaccination clinics and offer spay/neuter services, to curb the feral population. I firmly believed that the animals should not suffer from poverty and ignorance, and the people should be educated about the health benefits of having pets who are disease free and a controllable feral population.
Now is finally my time. It's been a long, windy road, but I am finally here. My plan is to volunteer with World Vets, a non-profit organization providing vet services all over the world (see the link in the toolbar, above & right). Right now I'm looking at a trip to Nicaragua in May of this year.
The purpose of this blog is to share with you my journey, my hopes, my fears, my love. I believe that in order to make this world we live in a better place, we must live to serve others, those less fortunate, those without a voice, those with need...and my journey starts now.
When I was 15 years old, I went to Russia as part of an exchange program. It was a life altering experience and I credit a great deal of who am I today to that experience. There are so many things I could tell you about that trip, but one story in particular, pertaining to animals and consequently this blog, I will share with you:
One afternoon, my host sister and I were returning home from the day's activities. To shorten our trip we decided to cut through an alley in the city of Ivanovo. On this alley, a large delivery truck was parked at the back entrance to a butcher shop. The back door of the truck was open and inside I could see carcasses hanging. Being a vegetarian, I wanted to look away, but what kept my attention were the cats....they were everywhere! I then realized that's all I could hear, cat's meowing and calling other cats, hissing and yowling. Cats were running down the alley towards us, running up behind us, jumping out of trees and over fences, jumping into the truck where the meat was! I couldn't believe it, never in my life had I seen this many cats. Where did they all come from?
Later, at the age of 21, I traveled to Mexico with a group of college friends. They were all painfully aware of my love for all creatures great and small. There was rarely a week that passed without me bringing home stray cats, catching dogs on the side of the road whom I was afraid would get hit, taking owls hit by cars to the nature preserve, live-catching mice and releasing them down the driveway, just so they could come right back into the house! My friends warned me that there would be lots of stray animals, and I shouldn't try to pet them or feed them, I could get bitten or catch some weird disease, and they weren't about to ruin their vacation sitting with me in a hospital! Of course I didn't listen, I had a month's supply of hand sanitizer and an innate understanding of animals! I petted stray dogs, took my left-over food out and dumped it in the alley for the strays, broke up dog fights on the beach.
My friends laughed and shook their heads, there was nothing they could do to stop me. On that trip I vowed that I would one day come back, and when I did, I would have solutions to the problems I saw. I would help set up vaccination clinics and offer spay/neuter services, to curb the feral population. I firmly believed that the animals should not suffer from poverty and ignorance, and the people should be educated about the health benefits of having pets who are disease free and a controllable feral population.
Now is finally my time. It's been a long, windy road, but I am finally here. My plan is to volunteer with World Vets, a non-profit organization providing vet services all over the world (see the link in the toolbar, above & right). Right now I'm looking at a trip to Nicaragua in May of this year.
The purpose of this blog is to share with you my journey, my hopes, my fears, my love. I believe that in order to make this world we live in a better place, we must live to serve others, those less fortunate, those without a voice, those with need...and my journey starts now.
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