Newsletter - July, 2011
This has continued to be an
incredibly busy time with almost daily dramas. Life here is very much like being on shifting
sands. It has been a time of putting the finer touches to many things, repairing
old plumbing and electrical equipment and completing the upstairs gallery roofs
to prevent leakage into the fabric of the building as well as to make the
upstairs terraces usable.
The centre with new gallery
Funding all the unexpected
maintenance work has been a matter of major concern and the work is proving to
be ongoing, unfortunately. It seems that
as one thing is fixed, another breaks down!
In addition, there have been some major veterinary expenses.
We had a serious mishap with our
elderly stallion as a result of a part time member of staff ignoring
instructions. The horse is still
recovering three months later and may never be ridden again. The same individual, once more disobeying
instructions, regarding footwear this time, nearly managed to cut off his toes
with a machete a week later, but fortunately he left very shortly afterwards of
his own accord. We were very grateful,
as it can be difficult and expensive getting rid of employees here. We had
certainly disciplined him severely verbally.
Sadly, we also had some challenges
with our resident employee who had to be dismissed quite suddenly. That did prove quite costly, but absolutely necessary.
Fortunately, our assistant director, Rufino, who is also a pastor, helped us
out until we could find someone else.
We
now have Wellinton and his wife, Sandi, who are doing a good job along with a young
trainee to cover time off. He is
learning fast and is very willing. Finding responsible, hard-working and honest
staff here can be somewhat difficult. I
had been warned that I might have to try several people before I found anyone
suitable, so I was lucky that Wellinton presented himself after only one other
unsuitable candidate. He is particularly
good with and dedicated to the animals.
Even Jupiter allowed him to clean out his hoofs the very first time he
handled him, bearing in mind that Jupiter’s original reputation [then known as
Lobo] is well known in the area! I am
perfectly willing to train staff, but there has to be some commitment, aptitude
and responsibility on the part of the individual as well.
Wellinton checking Humphrey and Sandi looking on
Our best guard dog, Leo, who came with the
property also died in April. He must
have had a tumour as he just bled to death in front of us as we waited
helplessly for a vet for 4 hours. He was
about 11, a devoted and loyal German shepherd/ Dominican cross. You could always guarantee he would be
waiting at the gate to meet you on arrival and would be the first to warn you
of potential intruders. He is buried
under the mango tree near the stables. His previous owner made a cross for his
grave. I thought we might lose Bella,
the ridgeback, his lifelong companion, soon afterwards, as she just seemed to
spend her time sleeping for a couple of weeks afterwards, but despite her advancing
years she has recovered enough to continue to assert her dominance over Lucy on
a couple of blood curdling occasions.
She loves accompanying me to fetch in the horses.
We acquired Winston, a German shepherd
/ Doberman cross to guard the property.
He is delightful, very loyal
and fierce with strangers till told they’re okay, but he has proved to be a
chicken killer. He’s rather
over-interested in the cats too. He
doesn’t harm them, though we would never risk leaving him alone with them.
Winston at rest after a hard night on patrol
Unfortunately, he and Izzy have proved to be a
fearsome pair, as she has a predilection for killing and eating chickens, ducks
and guinea fowl, so we have had a complicated task of ensuring that our very
determined and willful chickens and ducks stay out of harm’s reach. One of our
prettiest and best criollo brood hens lost her life and was eaten protecting
her three delinquent chicks. The guinea fowl mostly fell prey to the
neighbours’ dogs after they escaped from all the activity here in search of new
territory and a quieter life. Catching
them to clip their wings is virtually impossible! That is unless you are Izzy or one of the
neighbours’ dogs, that is. Too many of
our chicks or ducklings have also come to an untimely end under the feet of the
horses or in the clutches of the snakes, mongoose, feral cats or rats. These are some of the challenges of having
free range birds when there are so many
predators, but we work hard to keep them safe whilst providing them with
a natural life of freedom. They
certainly look ten times better than when we arrived and the previous owner has
even returned a few that he had given away because we look after them so well.
Chickens and ducks safe overnight at last
They have all been vaccinated and are laying well. We did have to take action with our reigning cockerel, as he was raping all the hens to the point where they were terrorized and trying to leave home. The only option seemed to be to designate him for the pot, though we don't make a practice of eating our birds. Things are much calmer with a less aggressive cockerel.
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There is also a new addition to the
cat family, a lilac Burmese, donated by an owner leaving the island and who
donated books and horse equipment to us. He is very affectionate, but somewhat
of a bully with the other cats, presumably knowing he is an aristocat.
Sylvester enjoying the recovered chaise longue
Poor Ginger Boy, who is also somewhat
of a bully and bigger than him, came off worse
and was humiliated into disappearing up a tree where he got stuck and had to be
rescued! Things have been more settled since
they have been relegated to different floors of the property.
Ginger Boy, safe on the guest sofa upstairs
Meanwhile, we are attempting to entice
poor Mickey back home after his visits have been fraught with fights and the
sporting pursuits of Winston, Varro and
Izzy. He is very timid at the best of
times and I am the only one he will come to.
I have had to resort to taking him his food outside the boundary wall.
Finally, after waiting patiently for 6
months, we have managed to rent the field next to/opposite the property. This
makes our situation so much easier. It
is much bigger too.
Rambo and Jupiter grazing peacefully
Until we reach our goal where
most of these animals can live side by side [perhaps with a fence between] without
mishap, it is quite a logistical nightmare as we gradually teach the creatures
to respect each other. This is, of
course, along with planting seeds and keeping the animals out of the seedlings
or from digging them up, harvesting our fruit, selling a small quantity of our
eggs and coconuts and training staff and visiting or neighbouring children.
We do not yet have any resident
children, but we are working at finding sponsors. We understand that it is a big commitment to
undertake to support a child on an ongoing basis, so we cannot take in any to
live here without that funding. Meanwhile,
we do have the funding for their school books and uniforms and one committed
sponsor, so we can take in one child from 1st August... Things are gradually
coming together and Sandi can’t wait to be involved in helping with that.
In readiness for the children, we
continue to work at making the environment as attractive and inspiring to the
children’s development as possible.
Donated furniture has been recovered using remnants and most of the soft
furnishings have been made by Pauline with the intention of teaching the
children how to be creative and provide a coordinated, tasteful environment at
minimum cost.
One thing we desperately needed
before we could take in children, however, was a well. We have been very fortunate in finding a local
developer to sponsor this expensive task.
A messy job digging the well
Unfortunately, it has proved a more
complicated process than I ever imagined and the well is still turning out a
considerable amount of mud rather than clean water! It is hopefully in hand, however. Obviously, water consumption is a major
consideration with regard to showers, toilets, laundry, growing seeds etc.... How little most of us appreciate that basic
commodity that we are so used to having on tap!
And how grateful we are to have found
such a generous sponsor, who has supported us in other ways too!
Wall knocked down to let in well
drilling vehicle
So, the infrastructure is in
place. We are ready to take in children
and can take up to 10 as soon as their sponsors appear!
We are as always so grateful to our
regular supporters and sponsors, individuals who give their time,
encouragement, energy and money to promote us and keep us afloat. We have finally added PayPal to our website
so that people can donate money easily on line.
This will hopefully generate more income.
If you can help in any way at all,
with fundraising, donations or practically, please make a donation via PayPal
online or contact Pauline:
Dominican
Rep: (001) 809 886 7855/(001) 829 763 5578
UK:
+44 7969 839431 /+44 1788 811871
Email:paulinewren2@hotmail.com or
isobel560793@gmail.com
ref: Project Isobel
Website:www.projectisobel.com Please visit this and sign the guest book.
NB. The Yahoo address has been
deleted since we had inordinate problems with it.
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