Newsletter - February, 2011 This has been an incredibly busy time.  Things have moved on at an impressive rate thanks to a team of cooperative, hard workers, though the setting up process is still not quite complete and miracles have been needed to stretch our resources to make it all possible. The dormitory is now ready for children with mattresses donated by Linda and children’s bedding and bright mats funded by Pauline.  Donations for the bunk beds by several loyal sponsors funded Ignacio’s work to make them.  There is extra ironwork to protect the property and the children, who, till they are trained to develop appropriate personal boundaries, will require physical ones.  The children's bathroom is now complete apart from acquiring an economy shower tap, not available here.  The guest /volunteer room and office is finished with its own en suite bathroom and an external toilet for children, staff and guests.  Unfortunately, the saga with the electricity company of moving the meter to our wall and rerouting our wires onto this property rather than under the neighbours' was a slow process, following a problem with crossed wires which led to our receiving the neighbours' bill for the first two months – 3 times as large as our own!  The process of changing the right supply to this property caused two massive explosions, which, despite our having a surge protector, burned out our desktop computer and we do not yet have the resources to replace it.  Compensation is not an option here, unfortunately!  Corey's dedication to helping us upload records and accounts have been foiled at every turn.                          The stables and its drainage system are now virtually complete. The soak away took an interminable month to dig through several meters of rock.  The area outside the stables is not yet finished so is still very hard to keep clean, and very muddy when it rains, but we are working on that. The paddocks and areas are now divided up neatly as we would have them be, reusing the corral type fencing that we made originally for the initial horse pens.                                                                                                                                    The horse areas                                                                                                          The weeks till we managed to get water and electricity supplied to the stables were very uncomfortable and hard work. In due course the stable roofs will provide rainwater for washing the horses and stables, but meanwhile the situation is very difficult as we are obliged to buy lorry loads of water at a cost of about 35 GBP a week. If all goes to plan we have been promised the use of drilling equipment to build a well. We need this to be sooner rather than later! An amusing time spent water divining showed that the only suitable site is under one of our gates!!!  Meanwhile, if Jefe or Jupiter decide to take a mud bath, we just have to wait for them to dry and then brush it off.  We have finally managed to rent a field nearby where all except Jefe, the stallion, spend their days.  He is quite happy in the paddocks, free for the first time in his life.  As Jupiter and Zorro cannot be put out together they alternate spending half days in the other paddock, so he has company nearby.  To my amazement, he tolerates having either of them in with him without problems, though we would never leave them alone unsupervised.  It is such a delight to see the ‘boys’, especially Rambo, frolicking around the field.  Jupiter has transformed from the aggressive, violent, unmanageable stallion he was originally into a sweet, good-natured animal that follows everyone around and that the lads love to ride.  He is still easily frightened, but his rehabilitation is an ongoing process.                                                                                                                       Jupiter     The dog garden is now complete and has made life so much simpler.  We’ve devised a system to prevent Bella, the ridgeback, from killing Lucy or attacking the others, giving them all space to run free, but not together.  Fortunately, Bella is obedient and very loving otherwise.  Logistically, it has been far from easy.  More training is required, and I am working on improving my own skills.  Mickey, the original resident cat, is now present more frequently again and has finally allowed me to pick him up and hold him.  I haven’t managed to do his vaccinations yet [the vet recommended that I do it rather than himself to traumatize him less], as I don’t want to lose his growing confidence, but we are making progress.  He has even been in the kitchen with some of the dogs.  The other cats are accommodated upstairs and we now have a specially designed cat loo on the terrace.  The removal upset Ginger Boy enormously, so he is on anti-stress medication, as he was licking off all his fur, but he is gradually spending more time on the terrace with Linda Pussy Cat.    Our latest addition is Tasty, a huge white hen rescued from lads who, when she was a chick, were going to use her as bait to catch a Dominican eagle.  She was brought to us because she had been attacked by a Rottweiler.  She does not seem in good form; she is probably very shocked, is not eating and she is certainly badly bruised.  She is also frightened of our extremely active cockerel so we’ve had to separate her, but in her two days with us she has already produced an egg.  She is in the expert hands of Jose Feliz, but sadly he is not optimistic.  I gather birds’ hearts are very weak and they easily give up with shock. We have been blessed with 9 new chicks from two broody hens.  They are so cute to watch under the watchful eye of the mothers. We are in the process of making my accommodation a little more comfortable and less makeshift, so that I can have some respite from the work when the children are finally accommodated.  This should also resolve major filtration problems to the fabric of the building.  Meanwhile, various children visit and are involved on a regular basis and our resident worker’s son is transforming in his behaviour on a weekly basis.                                                                                            We plan to start taking in children in April or as soon as we have sponsors to fund their food on a regular basis.  They cannot just live on eggs and the fruit and vegetables we can produce. We held a small, private and beautiful blessing for the project on 5th February led by Jeanne de Tellis, the co-founder of New Life Church here.  It was a very moving affair. Jeanne blessing Pauline and Project Isobel As if there was not enough to keep us busy, we became involved in a mercy call to help 7 high quality quarter horses in dire need.  I am pleased to report that with a lot of networking and special help from Angela of Paraiso del Caballo these horses were eventually re-homed back with their original owner who had only sold them in the first place because he could not immediately accommodate them when he sold his property and moved on.  We are grateful that our input led to a donation of 150 bales of hay left behind when the horses were relocated. Throughout all this at times soul-destroying process, I have been so blessed to have the ongoing support and encouragement to keep me going from my local friends, Linda, Sophia and others, daily phone calls from Stewart, almost daily emails from Bobbie, as well as Jose Felix, our resident worker; Felix, Kiki and Antonio; Rufino, our assistant director; along with Jorge, our construction maestro and our ironworkers who have maintained a high standard of work, professionalism, creativity and cooperation.           Jose Felix If you can help in any way at all, with fund raising, donations or practically, please contact Pauline. Courtesy of: www.nicepeoplenetworking.com Dominican Rep: 809 886 7855/829 763 5578 UK: +44 7969 839431 /+44 1788 811871 Email:paulinewren2@hotmail.com or                   isobel560793@gmail.com Ref:  Project Isobel

Newsletter - December, 2010

Project Isobel's new base   The last months have sped by since I had the idea of doing a direct swap of my ocean view penthouse for a house of a similar size on an acre of land which I had seen at least two years ago, but which at the time was out of my price range.  It was a win-win situation as the owner of the other property wanted a reduction in responsibility and I needed the space to proceed with the project.  It took a while to organize and settle, but the removal finally took place on 2nd December.  Since then there has been the inevitable chaos of settling in [the removal team did their best to put the boxes where Pauline had labeled them but as the previous occupant didn’t vacate the kitchen for a day and a half after the agreed date, it was difficult in the chaos to put everything where it should go].   With help from the Humane Society International, as part of an educational project to teach our children about stable management and hygiene, we have been constructing stables for the horses at night – I dare not risk leaving them in a rented field overnight as nasty things tend to happen to them on unsupervised property.     All hands needed     Jupiter arriving with Jose Feliz and Kiki   Humphrey was previously very badly beaten and only recently a horse died locally after being badly beaten and slashed with a knife overnight.  We found him the next morning in a very distressing state.  He died about an hour later.  This calling is rewarding when we see positive results, but sometimes very heart-breaking when, for example, the week we moved in, we had to arrange to put down a 5 month old donkey that had fallen into a hole and broken her leg.  The owner had just left her for 10 days, so the worms had set in.  Just imagine her pain if you have ever broken a limb!  The mother was about 50 yards away when the vet administered the fatal injection to this poor, wee soul, but her cry was unbelievable and we were all crying at the loss.  The owner just disappeared.  So many have animals but don’t have the resources to call a vet. We have also been making an additional building habitable as the office and guest / volunteer bedroom with its own bathroom and an external toilet for the children, staff and guests.      The new external toilet   It has also proved necessary to split the garden so that the guard dog can’t kill Lucy and so Izzy can’t kill chickens!      Izzy, at 5 months, in the limelight on top of Varro with Lucy and Foxy in the background The chickens seem to think the whole property belongs to them - though I have dissuaded them from entering the kitchen - so it’s actually easier to constrain the dogs than the chickens!  Having said that, Izzy has greatly enjoyed destroying my new hose pipe and two curtains as well.  It’s very difficult trying to constrain and manage animals when builders need gates to be left open and I am required to deal with four different situations at once!  A sense of humour is imperative.  More time dedicated to training will be a priority as we get settled. All this has been accompanied by a period of several weeks of torrential rain and mud up to our ears!  I think it started raining the day we moved in and has barely stopped since.  A neighbor asked to borrow Jefe recently, but he had to be seen to be believed after rolling in the mud and couldn’t be prepared in the time. Last week I took him to a show next door where, though I hadn’t had time to get on a horse for 3 months and had had no opportunity to practise or even take him into a formal arena because of the weather, this horse who, to my knowledge had only ever been a trekking horse, went off in the arena at his paso fino gait, keeping to the edge and doing figures of eight and serpentines as if they were everyday activities!  I was so proud of him, but perhaps my riding skills are better than I thought!  The most challenging thing I had ever asked of him before was to round up horses, so at least he knew how to turn sharply.     Pauline with Jupiter

Three of the horses managed to spend their first night in a dry stable on Christmas Eve.  The other two had to wait a couple more days.  Unfortunately, our worker was over-enthusiastic with oiling the wood, with the result that they are now all covered in oil!  When there is so much rain, there is no time to waste on waiting for things to dry.  We have a 45000 litre water tank and many barrels, yet despite all the building work requiring lots of water, personal use and trying to keep the horses clean, the lot has been refilled two or three times with the rain. Even so, we have also had to buy a lorry load of water. In the Summer, we may have to bring in tankers more often, but by then the construction work will have hopefully finished.                                                                                                                                         It has even been too wet and slippery to take the horses to the rented fields some days.  We don’t want any accidents.                                                                                                                                                                          Pauline and Kiki moving Humphrey and Jupiter   There are now six dogs: the two we inherited - Bella, the beautiful, Rhodesian ridge-back guard dog and Leo, her portly indeterminate companion;       Bella and Leo, perfectly at home   Varro, a part-time member and anarchist who climbs fences and would like a cat for supper; Izzy, the five month old puppy with legs up to her armpits, massive paws and crooked ears, who arrived in a terrible state in September and wasn’t meant to stay; and the old-timers, Foxy and Lucy, whose problematic social behaviour has totally upset any possible relationship with Bella who wants to kill her, though we do manage to walk them together.      Izzy, when we adopted her                                                                                                          Wellington with Izzy and Foxy Lady, on arrival The two old-timer cats seem quite settled, but poor Mickey, the resident cat here, is now only occasionally seen briefly at night when he comes to eat his supper, since Varro took off in hot pursuit after him.  He does leave muddy paw prints over my vehicle, however, just to let me know he’s still available to be fed, and after 3 weeks’ efforts on my part, he is beginning to come to the window at night for a fuss!  Oh, and I forgot the tree boa which lords it in the roof of the kiosko!  I’ve seen no evidence of any rats and mice, so presumably he’s doing a good job, but if he starts on the chickens or eggs, he will have to be transported to somewhere even more rural.  There are 6 ducks, 4 guinea fowl and quite a few chickens including one chick which is protesting because its surrogate mother has decided it’s time to grow up and leave her.  Its coping strategy is to sit on another hen’s eggs!  Izzy ate the other chick, unfortunately.  Inevitably, there have been endless things we were unprepared for.  I had anticipated children’s fingers where they shouldn’t be, but not rain coming through light sockets all over my books or existing sinks without water or drainage or rooms without electricity!  Nor a dual system of 220V and 110V which blew up 3 of my lamps before I worked out what was going on.  How logical is it that the two pin sockets are 220V and the 3 pin sockets are 110V?!  These are things you don’t see when you visit and surveys are not part of the process here.  We are way over budget, but I am grateful to have a credit card to be able to lend money to the project to make things safe and workable!  Obtaining the funds to pay the credit card has to be a matter of trust. We have been so blessed with a team of willing and cheerful workers, especially our building team led by Jorge.  Despite the weather, they have kept going, maintaining a high standard, making useful suggestions and trying to keep us on target.  The prices of materials have rocketed.  The bunk beds are on order, even though a couple of people who offered to fund a set each, for whatever reason, never fulfilled their promise; the quilts are made; we have funding promised for the mattresses.  Our resident worker has proved to be a godsend, seeing things that need doing and doing them without prompting.  Currently, his son who lives with us part-time is teaching us all the things we have missed in making the place child-proof and safe!  He has just braved his first ride ever on Humphrey. There are nearly always children here even if we haven’t yet taken in any homeless children formally.  Visiting helpers They love to help and be involved.  I don’t think my vehicle has ever been washed so often!  Nor our 3 wheeler motor bike with its little truck.  With all this mud, it’s a necessity.  We are receiving practical help from so many sources.  For this we are deeply grateful.  What we need desperately is financial help to feed and clothe the children when they arrive. Please contact us if you can help in any way

Newsletter - Summer, 2010

Time slips away and each day unfolds, sometimes with a new drama in terms of the children, distribut- ing food, shooing horses off the roads, keeping an eye on working horses and talking to their owners, helping out with or re-homing a cat or dog and always with the routine chores of caring for and managing the resident animals.   There have been many more children on the streets since the earthquake in Haiti on 12th January, which resulted in many more children being trafficked across the border or coming as refugees with their families.  The international aid goes to Haiti and does not account for the many who have migrated here.  People are asked not to give the children money as it just supports more trafficking which operates at many levels on both sides of the border, but the childrennare trained to pull on your heart strings and many an individual gives in and gives them something.  These children are hungry and desperate and sleep under cars or in doorways.  We were planning to set up a food voucher system whereby some of the children at least could get a meal from a takeaway selling local food, but the children were causing such problems with violence towards each other and all sorts of trouble that it proved inadvisable to have them congregating at one place.  [For example, a fifteen year old boy murdered a thirteen year old with a broken bottle in the park; on another occasion I intervened when one child was bullying another to take his earnings from shoe shining and a local hawker took a belt to him.]  Locals were rightly concerned that it would just attract more children hoping to benefit.  Eventually we decided to distri- bute hard boiled eggs, cheese rolls and juice from my vehicle as often as resources allow.  We need more funding for this, so please try to help.           Children sleeping on the floor in the town centre   The tourist police and social services wanted to set up a safe house for these children, but funds were not forthcoming, just as I have not yet managed to raise the funds to set up the centre for Project Isobel which has very similar aims for children of any nationality on the streets.  We discussed our joining forces, but as neither had the financial resources, it was not possible to proceed.  It is hoped that when the new mayor takes over in August, she will be helpful as she has a strong social conscience. It is important to occupy these children and give them some hope for the future.  Being involved with the horses would do so much for them in terms of self-control, self-esteem, a sense of responsibility and purpose etc.  It would be wonderful if at the same time we could also acquire enough land to have a pound for horses found wandering on the roads.  There are so many deaths and injuries to horses and people and damage to vehicles on the roads because horses are not enclosed safely. Just in the first 5 weeks of this year six horses were killed on the roads, quite apart from the one left with a broken back for several hours till a vet could be found with permission to put her down, or the injuries to others during that period.  Local vets have asked me to go to the media about this, but I’m waiting for funding to do a horse census so that I have documented evidence to present to them.  Unfortunately, it is taking a long time to get approval for this.  In due course, I hope to get fund- ing for a local outreach worker to approach owners to offer guidance and support.  In a country where there is so much poverty, it is hardly surprising that animals are often treated worse than machines and come low on the list of priorities.   We also spent considerable time preparing to set up an ecologically based cottage sewing industry for at least some of the local women to give them an option other than prostitution to support their children, thus also meaning that they would not have to send their children out onto the streets begging.  These women have little education, have usually been left by the children’s father or the father can’t or won’t provide for them.  This project has had to go onto the back burner, as funding was not available and I missed the deadlines to apply for part funding because I was stranded in Europe by the volcanic cloud!  There was considerable professional support and expertise available, but we need effective fund raisers and sponsors to come forward to help us.   All horses are special, but it has to be said that some are particularly so.  Our elderly stallion is one such animal.  If it is to act as a companion horse when we take out Jupiter [the badly abused horse we acquired a year ago], this lively fellow will place himself directly across the track to stop Jupiter running off, if there is anything that might frighten him; if I go out on him to accompany a novice child, he becomes a plodder or, if I am teaching a child to groom, I can count on el Jefe, [the Boss], to stand dozing with his feet firmly planted in one place [though I am supervising carefully!], bearing in mind that many of these children are barefoot.                                          El Jefe with Jon   By comparison, if I ride him out with other experienced riders, if he goes anywhere near a mare, or if a free-roaming stallion comes into his space, he is every bit the stallion despite his age. Humphrey has had a difficult year so far, suffering once again from major weight loss.  He is now gaining weight steadily again thanks to the excellent help of some American vets by email and phone.  Local veterinary care is so limited and even now we are still waiting for the implementation of some diagnostic blood tests.  I was so concerned to get the right guidance for him.  My thanks on behalf of Humphrey go to the HSI and WSPA for their support.  We now also have a very detailed manual produced specifically to help horses in poor countries and the basis of a loan agreement so that we can put rehabilitated horses out on loan if appropriate to economize on resources. We have been very fortunate in recent weeks to have the support of a young Danish volunteer, who has been here.                                        Cecilia with Rambo   She brought items with her and helped with the horses on a regular basis and at a fund raising sale.  We raised 650 RD$ [about 12GBP] which ironically was the exact cost of veterinary treatment for a cat the next day!  She also accompanied us on visits to various possible properties for sale, including one allegedly next to the road.  The vendor omitted to tell us that there was a river between it and the road and no bridge!  The search continues and we are looking at various options including joint ownership in a horse business venture as a source of funding, but for the time being we are still looking.   Last but by no means least, Joanne generously donated a big teddy she won, so I was able to bring him back from England to give to a poor family we support.                            Fatima with some of her children   We are deeply grateful to all those of you who donate with your time, resources or funding.  Everything goes to the children and animals, including over half of my own personal income.  Together we can make a difference!   ********************************************** If you can help in any way at all, please get in touch.   Telephones are erratic, but in DR try: 809 886 7855 or 829 763 5578   UK: +44 7969 839431 /+44 1788 811871 E-mail: paulinewren2@hotmail.com Ref: Project Isobel

Newsletter - January, 2010

It has been many months since the last newsletter. I was constantly hoping to be able to report that land purchase had been completed and that things were moving ahead as I would have wished.  Instead, it has been a time of frustration and heartbreak with regard to that.  We again found some suitable land in June and steps were in progress to purchase it.  We were buying some land which had been repossessed by the bank.  For two and a half months we were kept waiting to complete; our lawyer did all the legal preparations; we were told many lies.  It was only through ‘gossip’ that we discovered that the sale had actually been completed with someone else behind our backs. Whilst all this was very soul-destroying, we had to trust that it meant that there was something better in store for us.  Once again the exhausting search for land was resumed.  Many people were on the lookout for us, but in this area land is expensive or inaccessible, sometimes both. Finally, we found something very suitable with a tarmac road to within 50 metres of the entrance.  It is nearly 15 acres, a mixture of slope and flat grazing land bordered by a river.  There are schools and baseball pitches close at hand.  It is understandably more expensive than the money I have available, (I am 25000 US $ short) but we were trying to negotiate completion of sale for when I manage to sell my apartment.  Having agreed verbally to these terms, the owner changed his mind when it came to signing, so we were back to square one. The potential sale of my apartment fell through twice, unfortunately, because I could not follow through after breaking my leg and being laid up for several months.  In August I had another purchaser who paid his legal fees and was willing to give me six months’ rent free here to help the project while I was building it. Sadly, he couldn’t get his money out of the United States, so it has to be fourth time lucky, whenever that is! There are others interested, so we shall see.                                         ***   Involvement with the children has largely been limited to helping out very poor families with basic needs.  For example, one family had 5 children under 5.  The mother was supposedly sterilised but then recently, 2 years later, she produced another baby.  So much for the effectiveness of the surgery!  This time they have allegedly cut the tubes, but meanwhile she is left with a brood of small children and a partner who earns about £140 a month.  The cost of living here has rocketed.  Even a banana costs the same here as a Dominican banana costs in the UK!                                         ***   Otherwise, work with the animals has continued.  There have been several roaming dogs and puppies for sterilisation, worming, bathing, vaccinating and re-homing.  One mother street dog with 5 puppies was whisked away and sterilised while her puppies waited for her.  We might think that far from ideal, but you have to take advantage of visiting vets’ services while you can.  One male dog’s forehead was full of worms right through to the bone.  With Jeanene’s care initially, Lucky survived then he was castrated and re-homed in the hills where he could roam freely.  Little Cinders, as I called her, but now re-named Lassie, is settled happily with a Dominican family where there are 3 children.  When I check on her, she runs to greet me and wets herself with excitement to see me again, as puppies often do. She is growing very fast!     Little Cinders, rechristened Lassie   With regard to horses, we took on a badly abused and terrified stallion at the end of July.  He was just bones.  Starving him had been a method of calming him down!  He was tied for two days at a time, without food or water.  It took me two years to get him out of his hell but, by subterfuge and with funding from sponsors, we managed to buy him out of his situation and today he is well-covered and happy.  We have renamed him Jupiter because of his colour.

He is still nervous but he follows me around and nuzzles me, calls for Kiki who helps me and is generally quite comical as a character. We play together and practise basic ground skills, whilst our trainer works more fully with him for a couple of hours a week.  This horse that had a reputation for rearing, bucking and not stopping was being ridden calmly within one session of different handling. Recently he has been castrated (I had to fund this from my money which I had put aside for land), which has put him back a bit in terms of trust.  It’s hard to explain to an animal that injections and applying stuff that stings are to help him. Worms in open wounds are a potential killer.  Fortunately he has a passion for custard cream biscuits and bananas which have helped distract him, but his ability to kick had to be seen to be believed.  He has become a good companion for Jefe, the 19 year old ex beach tour stallion we have looked after for some time.     Jefe   Sadly, many people here refuse to castrate their stallions but then fail to understand how to handle them properly, so that the animal ends up being abused in an attempt to manage it.  When they are entire, they tend to break down fences to get to females, fight with any other males on the way and lead other horses onto the roads where there are often fatalities.  Castrating them means they can run with the herd and be less likely to be problematic. It is one thing to feed and care for animals, but to rehabilitate horses, you also need tack, which is expensive.      Pauline with Connie   Following a visit from Connie in the Summer, recently the Humane Society International has kindly funded saddles and bridles for Zorro and Jupiter after approving our proposal which shows how we will introduce bridles and both Western and English saddles to the children and teach them the importance of well-fitting, good quality equipment.  We have till 22 February to implement the follow up with photos etc., so that is very exciting.  Torrential rain for most of the last three weeks has slowed down our progress, but the sun has returned and as things dry out, we can start training again and involving children. Zorro became plagued with juvenile warts, which spoiled his baby face and for which I was told there was no treatment.  On a whim, I tried acyclovir, which is used for cold sores, on the parent wart, and within days they started to clear. Within about 3 weeks they were completely gone!  Have I discovered a new treatment? In November I went to a conference held and funded by WSPA [World Society for the Protection of Animals] to which we have now been fortunate enough to be granted membership.  It was inspiring and good to meet like-minded individuals from various Latin American countries.  Following this I am applying for funding to do a horse census in this area and also considering finding a way of providing outreach workers to visit local horse owners to give them guidance on the care and well-being of their animals, including helping them to decide to have their males castrated.                                            *** Finally, we welcome Julie and Heather onto our UK board of trustees.  Julian, who has kindly audited our accounts, is putting in an application to the Charities Commission for membership, so that we can also hopefully gain some funding from that direction.  We greatly appreciate Linda Boyd’s contribution of very attractive business cards along with our lawyer’s continued support and Linda Stapleton’s commitment to updating our website.  I will let you know when it is up and running.  We thank too our sponsors who give what they can when they can, whether that be to buy Christmas presents for children, basic necessities for the poor or to care for an animal, or who give their time and energy to supporting us in practical ways.  We are grateful, too, to our local helpers who contribute so lovingly in return for very little money.