Thanks for your help - from all at Twala!

A brief impact report from The Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary

(An injured bushbaby who has made a good recovery)

An important motivation for writing this newsletter is to help raise funds for good causes. My vision is for The Dalai Lama’s Cat & Other Intrigues to do more than only touch people’s hearts and minds, but also to create change that matters.

Those of you with paying subscriptions are helping support four charities - two active with Buddhist causes in the Himalayas and two animal rescue charities in my homeland of Zimbabwe.

I recently received this update from Sarah Carter at The Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary in Zimbabwe, where we are sponsoring a community outreach program. As it is short and sweet, with some great photos, I want to share it with you in full.

Just so you know, Twala is active in the Goromonzi rural area, where communities of some of the poorest people in Zimbabwe are to be found. In a country with 94% unemployment and no social security, most people are subsistence farmers, living off the land. They struggle to afford even the basics for themselves and their families, let alone the dogs that live among them. Which is where we come in …

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(Vet nurse Hilary with one of the local village ladies)

Dear David and Substack subscribers,

We are happy to report that during an eventful January and February all our community programmes continued to run and that in between the many rainy days and extensive flooding there were also many bright moments and positive outcomes.

Doggy Tuesday has been exceptionally busy. We have seen an increase in the number of dogs coming for feeding, including dogs that are registered with the programme but who have not been coming for a while. It has been lovely to welcome back some old canine friends and get to work on improving their general condition, update their vaccinations and reconnect with their owners.

(Feeding dogs and checking on their welfare on Doggy Tuesday)

We have been doing a lot of work through community outreach, made possible by your sponsorship of this programme, heading out into the villages with our vet team to check on dogs and remind owners to keep their dogs vaccinations up to date and get them sterilized, and it is having positive results. Muddy roads added an extra dimension to our rural journeys, and as always vehicle calamities attracted an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers and advice givers, but not much practical help to dig us out of the mud!

(Stuck in the mud on a community outreach visit - a hazard of the rainy season!)

This month’s veterinary cases seen at Doggy Tuesday were as follows:

88 dogs and 4 cats vaccinated, 14 dogs and 4 cats sterilized, 70 dogs treated, 4 elderly dogs surrendered to join the Waggley Tail Club where they finally will receive the love and care they so deserve.

(About to be free: an eagle owl before successful release)

The wildlife rehabilitation side has also been busy with several releases including an injured bushbaby who made a good recovery, an eagle owl who had been kept as a pet for 2 years, and several other indigenous birds, and another African rock python that was removed from a smallholding close to Twala and then released.

(Rescued to join Twala’s existing bale of tortoises - yes, that’s the collective noun, but I think it could be improved on. Any suggestions?)

Several tortoises, birds and the python were rescued thanks to us being able to respond quickly to calls for assistance in the community.

Your support of our community outreach programme has made such a difference to the lives of the rural dogs who depend on Doggy Tuesday for veterinary care and supplementary feeding, and to the wild creatures we rescue and release in safe locations.

With much gratitude,

Sarah and all at Twala

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Would you consider becoming a paying subscriber to my newsletter? Each Saturday I post an article sharing the wisdom I have learned from my own lamas. In their gentle, but incisive way, their teachings help cultivate our self-reliance, compassion and wisdom. Ultimately, they lead us on the most direct path to enlightenment.

In becoming a paying subscriber, you not only support me and my work. About 40% of your subscription money goes to charities whose founders and work I have personally supported for a long time:

Wild is Life/Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery - an elephant orphanage and wildlife rescue in Zimbabwe),

Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary - the animal rescue centre in Zimbabwe,

Dongyu Gyatsal Ling Initiatives - which supports Buddhist nuns in the Himalayas, and

Gaden Relief - which supports Buddhist activities in India, Nepal, Mongolia and Tibet.

I very much hope that you may join our community of kindred spirits on this journey of compassion and wisdom.

Warmest wishes,

David