Mashreq Shams Community Connections

On Sunday, September 7, Tricia and Shadi (senior student at Sidi Thabet Veterinary School) met up with the Mashreq Shams Community Development group in Tunis to load up a bus with over 200 backpacks for the children of two small villages in western Tunisia. The bags had been carefully packed with school books and supplies by the group members based on exact numbers in each class, grades one through six.

I helped get some bags down to the bus but I think my partner had all the weight

Shadi (leaning over to pick up a bag) threw the bags up to the members on top of the bus

Shadi and I sat in the back of the bus with the extra backpacks and talked about vet med (and slept a little too)

We drove four hours west to reach the remote village of 400 residents at the base of a mountain near Kasserine.

The community was eagerly waiting for the magic bus full of supplies and the adults organized the students into lines by grade. Then they were treated to an animated motivational speech by Amine, an engineer who volunteers with the group. I don't know what he said but they were sure paying attention!

Mashreq Shams volunteers have fixed up the school with paint, lights and furnishings and improved the water supply

While the backpacks continued to be distributed, Shadi started talking to the adults. The community wasn't expecting donkey care but we offered our services and a young man escorted us to a donkey who lived nearby. At first the owner wasn't sure why we were there, but Shadi explained we wanted to trim the donkey's feet like she does for her sheep. She had a 6 month old long haired brown donkey who had been born there (she said she sold the mother because it was old). This young fellow was very thin and he was hobbled and tethered on a short line. We trimmed his feet and gave her a little advice in donkey husbandry.

We took our time examining and explaining

the owner was quite curious as I was showing Shadi what to do.

 

Shadi went to work right away and did a great hoof trim

One small donkey, three smiling people

When we got back to the school we posed for a group photo and started to load up the bus to go to the next village to deliver more backpacks...

But wait...two more donkeys showed up wanting to be checked ! We quickly grabbed our tools and ran out of the school yard to a nearby field to examine a thin brown donkey and a healthy looking 6 year old grey donkey.

the owner asked why his young donkey was thin and we explained this growing guy needed more feed

this grey donkey was in better shape because he gets to graze (he has on a homemade muzzle to prevent biting)

we did a very quick trim because the bus was leaving

The village leaders treated us to tunisian pepper salad and grilled sheep at the local roadside BBQ

As we headed back to Tunis, Shadi and I were very happy to know we had contributed in a small way to building trust with outsiders in this fragile community. Mashreq Shams careful volunteer efforts have made a real difference in alleviating restrictions of poverty here and they have a commitment to continue their thoughtful work.

The community has access to veterinary care about once a year when the state veterinarians come through to work on livestock (but they don't treat the donkeys). Mashreq Shams has provided veterinary care in the past to the dogs of the community. We want to learn more about how the donkeys are used and we brainstormed solutions to some of the issues we observed in the three donkeys we examined. We are hopeful we can arrange a return visit to see more donkeys and make a lasting connection between veterinary students and the villagers.

maybe we'll meet this elusive pair another time

Camel Consultations and Human Connections

There is something universal about the connection between humans who love their animals and the veterinarians who provide care. We listen to the human being, and we treat the animal; in the process we show our caring for the person. If we are lucky, that person expresses their caring for the veterinarian. It may come in the form of money, a handshake, or a dozen eggs. Today, it was a camel ride.

On a drive Saturday, we passed by a seaside area with three camels in a parking lot. As we approached the camels, the owner saw we wanted to take pictures and began to ask for money. Jaber told him Tricia was a visiting veterinarian and the photo opportunity quickly turned into a veterinary consultation.

The camels were a family and the yearling had recently eaten an excess of fibrous cereals. We asked all the right questions about history, inspected the package of probiotics he had administered, and learned about his home remedies, which included vinegar. The camel was recovering from a depressed appetite, but was still weak from acidosis. We made our recommendations to discontinue the vinegar and try baking soda and beer.

The owner expressed his gratitude for our concern and offered Tricia a ride on the Momma Camel. Needless to say, this was a novel experience even though she is an experienced equestrienne.  The owner further showed his trust in us by handing Jaber the leadline.

UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Ambassadors. One animal at a time.

Our first donkey

We stopped to get diesel for the truck close to Jaber’s home on our way to meet with another veterinarian. Surprise! We saw a man walking next to his donkey pulling a cart. Tricia is still not used to such sights and asked Jaber, “Can I take his picture?”. Yes, of course. The first shot was from afar so as to not disturb the man, but as soon as he saw me with my cell phone camera, he waved and stopped to pose. Then he left the donkey hanging out and he went across the street.

We walked over to say hello to the donkey and check out the cart. The small donkey had slits (fully healed) extending up from each nostril and moderately long hooves with chips. The man came back and had a conversation with Jaber. He told us the slits were to help the donkey breath better and be stronger. Tricia asked, “How old is the donkey?” and the man spread the donkey’s lips to check his teeth, and pronounced “ not very old!” However, Tricia thought otherwise based on the grey hairs, sunken eye orbits and the aged incisors but kept her opinion to herself.

Tricia’s been here only a few days, but it is obvious language lessons are in her future. Jaber is a great translator and information collector but it is frustrating to not be able to speak up. Smiles can only get you so far.

Getting the official authorisations to work

Today we had a meeting with Dr. Hajer Kilani Dequiche at the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture – she is responsible for information collection, communications and international inspections. She endorses our work with the donkeys and will send an email letter of introduction and support to the state veterinarians in the areas we intend to work. This will help smooth the possible conflicts with local private veterinarians.

Jaber made contact with Malek Lakhoua from Zaguan Olive Oil Farm (Malek's website) who is very interested in working with us. He is a medical doctor who has a few donkeys and would like to develop ecotourism in his region. His farm is about 2 hours away in the northern half of Tunisia.

Jaber made arrangements for donations of vaccine and dewormer from a veterinary colleague who works for a pharmaceutical company in Tunisia.

Thursday's Meal

We ate well again in Tunisian style at Jaber's home. Liver with garlic; sauteed potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash; rice with carrots; fresh figs, grapes and the teeniest sweetest yellow pear.

First contacts

Thursday afternoon we had a meeting with Dr. Ghalia Drissi at Allo-Veto Clinic. She is Jaber’s veterinary school colleague and a former volunteer for the donkey NGO we had planned to work with. She is very enthusiastic about animal welfare and wants to help us organize events and participate in activities for the donkeys. Community development is also important to her and she would like to introduce us to another group she volunteers with called Machrek Eshams. They have a meeting next week we can attend.

We saw a few animals as we drove around Ariana, a middle class section of the city. There were two horses with carts in the midst of automobile traffic in the business section as well as many free roaming neighborhood dogs and cats. In the hills on the city perimeter, there was a shepherd with about eight sheep grazing on the edge of an upper class residential neighborhood. 

Our last meeting of the day was with Dr. Olfa Abid at the Anivet Clinique Veterinaire in Menzah. She is Jaber’s former employer and had been very involved in the donkey NGO but recently left the group. She has contacts and data from previous veterinary service events and will share this info with us. The former NGO provided services to the donkeys but did not have an overarching agenda. She felt most of the communities she had worked with were very welcoming of outside help and we discussed the objectives of our project.

Olfa would like to continue serving the donkeys and offered her assistance in organizing, networking and delivering services and education. We all agreed starting simple with rabies vaccination and deworming would be the best way to gain trust. While we are providing these services we can be assessing the donkeys’ condition and begin conversations with community members as to what issues (either for themselves or the donkeys) they perceive as problems.

We discussed two specific locations that would be the most amenable to hosting an event. She emphasized the importance of planning ahead. The donkey owners that show up all want to be served so we have to make sure we have enough manpower to see all the donkeys in a day.

Our meeting went so well she invited us to dinner Monday night to review the boxes of records she has on donkeys from previous events.

First day of work

Today we are in Tunis at a cafe where we have a steady internet connection reviewing our original plan and veterinary networks. We are brainstorming our options to adjust to the on-the-ground reality and merge our project intentions with feasible actions.

We had originally planned to work with a specific NGO that Jaber has volunteered with. Shortly after we were awarded the Blum Center Grant, the NGO experienced internal management changes and we realized our project needed to expand to other stakeholders. Jaber has been contacting veterinary colleagues, other NGOs, and government officials. Our project proposal included training for the veterinary volunteers and database management of the NGO. Now that we are here, it is very important that we make solid local contacts and proceed diplomatically with the local veterinarians and pay attention to cultural context.

Getting Settled

Jaber arrived a week ago to visit his family and begin veterinary networking. Tricia arrived yesterday after her first uneventful international flight. There was a lot to adjust to in the first hour - nine hour time change with no sleep; weather is very hot and humid; traffic and driving style is hectic; arabic language is totally undecipherable for this American. But no worries - the people are friendly and Jaber's family had an amazing lunch waiting for me.