A day in the Life of .... behind the KAR scenes Part 1
Posted: Wed 12 Aug 2015 1:37 pm
All to often the hard and dedicated work that our staff and volunteers do goes unnoticed. Yet without them KAR would not be able to carry on - they help in so many different areas of KAR. We have asked them to write down some of their experiences and hope to be able to share them with you over the next few weeks.
The first one is ..
A Day in the life of ....Caroline .......A KAR Rescue Centre Volunteer
Up at 6.00 am – this requires an early start. A hasty snack for breakfast and pack my bag with the requisite items. Sandwich for lunch, water and some appropriate shoes. It looks as if, yet again, it will be hot. Very hot. Swap my small bottle of water for a larger one that has been in the freezer and will stay nice and cool as it melts during the day.
I join two of the team who live nearby in Alsancak and we pile into the car, heading through the early morning traffic to Girne, all of us chuntering about the state of the roads. The bulldozers are out again enroute to the Bellapais traffic lights. A man stands at the side of the road amidst the chaos and dust, a green “GO” sign in hand, waving us on. We can only hope that the chap at the other end has the “STOP” sign facing in the right direction or life could get very interesting. However, we manage to negotiate the worst of the mess by heading off in a loop through Dogankoy, popping out at the Lemar supermarket to re-join the maelstrom of yawning drivers who, like us, are on their way to work. At Erdener Supermarket we join more of our fellow workers in the KAR van. A well worn but trusty vehicle it stands high off the ground and we short ladies of a larger waistline have a bit of an undignified scramble to climb in the front. Those who can’t fit next to the driver sit on old cushions on the floor in the rear for the trip up to the Arapkoy Centre. In all there are six of us today. Sometimes we are fewer in number.
The combined choir of three hundred plus dogs in the compounds greets our arrival. The anticipation of having company, being cleaned out and fed arouses huge excitement. The cats yawn, stretch and peer sleepily out of their beds and boxes, anticipating the start of another day of being cared for by their slaves. Fortunately, on this particular morning there are no animals left abandoned at the top of the track leading to the Centre, an all too common occurrence.
The team are allocated specific tasks, on this particular day I am on The House i.e. responsible for the animals that are in the main building, cleaning up the kitchens, loo and prep rooms, cooking a vast amount of pasta, and feeding the fourteen dogs in the adjacent compounds. A busy day stretches ahead for us all.
Contrary to popular opinion, rumour and the likes, KAR depends solely on the donations of the public, its voluntary workers and the kindness of a variety of benefactors to keep it going. So we have to beg, cajole and persuade to get help to feed the animals and some hotels kindly supply us with leftover food from their kitchens.
The food can be fairly interesting as a result. As we are slopping out today’s mush of bread, gravy and veg to feed the two young pups and the two adult dogs in the back room of the house I come across a rather odd shaped lump of flesh. I am wondering quite what this is when one of the lads informs me that they are sheep testicles. We dig around in the slop (rubber gloves a must) and find several more, so we chuck them in a pan ready to cook later for the puppies. I casually mention that I shall have to chop them up into very small pieces, at which there is a concerted wince from the chaps. Sympathy, perhaps? Concealing a smirk I take the items out to be boiled and also put on two huge vats of pasta to cook.
In the back rooms of our building we have treatment pens for small sick animals or those undergoing treatment. The larger dogs who need to be isolated for any reason are accommodated with their beds in the two rooms available. Today I have two small pointer pups, siblings who are being given preventative treatment for Parvo. One of their family has already died, but I am pleased to say that there are no sad little corpses to be removed this morning.
A pretty Golden Spaniel, dumped with us because she is probably no longer able to produce the puppies her owner wanted to sell, and a black and tan lurcher make up the group. All animals have to be clear of disease and neutered before they go out in the main runs. I set to with the poo scoop, mops and buckets to clear up the night’s detritus, cleaning out the pups and moving them into a fresh, clean pen with a plastic bottle to play with whilst I get their food ready. It is not a job for the squeamish or those with a sensitive stomach. Once again I check on the pans of pasta, emptying the cooked batch into a large bin and putting on the next four packs. There are some weevils in one pack and I callously reflect that they are getting a horrible end but who cares – the dogs will eat them anyway. Cordon Bug!
The main office holds the Centre administrative functions and is where we greet visitors. A different mop and bucket is hauled out, (another load of pasta is put on to cook) and I dust, polish and mop to make the place look nice and tidy. Through the door I can see the others on the team trundling their equipment around, cleaning up and barrowing the rubbish to the disposal pits, hosing the pens out, filling bowls with fresh water and making sure that any medication is administered. The “Cat People” move a group of cats out of their pen into the play area. Just as with the dogs the cats are fed and given fresh water, their litter trays have to be emptied, cleaned and refilled; floors are hosed down and disinfected and medicines administered as required.
The first one is ..
A Day in the life of ....Caroline .......A KAR Rescue Centre Volunteer
Up at 6.00 am – this requires an early start. A hasty snack for breakfast and pack my bag with the requisite items. Sandwich for lunch, water and some appropriate shoes. It looks as if, yet again, it will be hot. Very hot. Swap my small bottle of water for a larger one that has been in the freezer and will stay nice and cool as it melts during the day.
I join two of the team who live nearby in Alsancak and we pile into the car, heading through the early morning traffic to Girne, all of us chuntering about the state of the roads. The bulldozers are out again enroute to the Bellapais traffic lights. A man stands at the side of the road amidst the chaos and dust, a green “GO” sign in hand, waving us on. We can only hope that the chap at the other end has the “STOP” sign facing in the right direction or life could get very interesting. However, we manage to negotiate the worst of the mess by heading off in a loop through Dogankoy, popping out at the Lemar supermarket to re-join the maelstrom of yawning drivers who, like us, are on their way to work. At Erdener Supermarket we join more of our fellow workers in the KAR van. A well worn but trusty vehicle it stands high off the ground and we short ladies of a larger waistline have a bit of an undignified scramble to climb in the front. Those who can’t fit next to the driver sit on old cushions on the floor in the rear for the trip up to the Arapkoy Centre. In all there are six of us today. Sometimes we are fewer in number.
The team are allocated specific tasks, on this particular day I am on The House i.e. responsible for the animals that are in the main building, cleaning up the kitchens, loo and prep rooms, cooking a vast amount of pasta, and feeding the fourteen dogs in the adjacent compounds. A busy day stretches ahead for us all.
Contrary to popular opinion, rumour and the likes, KAR depends solely on the donations of the public, its voluntary workers and the kindness of a variety of benefactors to keep it going. So we have to beg, cajole and persuade to get help to feed the animals and some hotels kindly supply us with leftover food from their kitchens.
In the back rooms of our building we have treatment pens for small sick animals or those undergoing treatment. The larger dogs who need to be isolated for any reason are accommodated with their beds in the two rooms available. Today I have two small pointer pups, siblings who are being given preventative treatment for Parvo. One of their family has already died, but I am pleased to say that there are no sad little corpses to be removed this morning.
The main office holds the Centre administrative functions and is where we greet visitors. A different mop and bucket is hauled out, (another load of pasta is put on to cook) and I dust, polish and mop to make the place look nice and tidy. Through the door I can see the others on the team trundling their equipment around, cleaning up and barrowing the rubbish to the disposal pits, hosing the pens out, filling bowls with fresh water and making sure that any medication is administered. The “Cat People” move a group of cats out of their pen into the play area. Just as with the dogs the cats are fed and given fresh water, their litter trays have to be emptied, cleaned and refilled; floors are hosed down and disinfected and medicines administered as required.