Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Ripples of Humanity.
(00:09):
I am Rachel Thompson and I've started this podcast to share interesting stories along
my travels of people and things I've discovered that are creating positive ripples throughout
humanity.
In this episode, I am taking you to the beachside surf town in Weligama on the south coast of
Sri Lanka, where I met Connie, who runs non-profit animal shelters.
(00:33):
She has one shelter based on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and another on the east
coast of Sri Lanka in the town of Trincomalee.
She stays in Weligama where she runs a smaller home-based shelter currently housing 19 cats
and 7 dogs.
This is where she hosts work-away volunteers to assist with the daily care for the animals.
(00:54):
Some include the paralysed cats Minky and Ika who love endless cuddles, bouncy Heidi
and her bestie two-legged pal Ravi.
If you want more information about the work-away volunteering concept and platform, check out
episode 3 of the podcast where I introduce this.
So in my 3 weeks staying nearby Weligama, I've been spending some afternoons volunteering
(01:16):
at the shelter with the beautiful cats, dogs and other volunteers helping out.
I was immediately intrigued with Connie's journey, going from a German-based social
worker in mental health to committing to running these animal shelters full-time.
Connie has an overflowing passion for what she does and has really trusted and followed
her heart to bring these shelters to life and stay in operation.
(01:39):
She employs local people to help run the shelters and is working hard to address the greater
systemic issues around stray cats and dogs.
She is also supporting disadvantaged local children and families in different projects
she will speak about.
I'm grateful for Connie giving her time to share more about her journey.
I hope you enjoy.
(02:03):
Thank you Connie for speaking today.
I'm really looking forward to hearing more about your story.
I think a nice place to start will be to hear about what got you first into your love for
animal volunteering and especially rescue animals.
Thank you very much that we sit and speak together today.
(02:26):
All my life already when I was a child I really loved animals so much.
I had always cats and birds and rabbits and many animals.
I was never allowed to have a dog but it was always my big dream.
I had my own dogs and then I had one India trip and that time I volunteered in Goa at
(02:54):
the dog temple and I really loved this.
I stood there for four months working there and it was very intense and beautiful.
I learned a lot of things there and I was very happy and I felt like okay this is the
kind of living which really fits to me.
(03:17):
What were you doing before that?
What were you working in?
I was working as a social worker with mental illness adults.
Where was that?
Which country?
In Germany.
Then you decided to go to India for a four month trip?
I wanted to make a trip and then I extended and extended.
(03:37):
Then did you go back to social work after that?
I was social working again and later I did another trip and that time I ended up in Indonesia
in Sumatra.
You hear in the background that cat mother and kitten playing and fighting a bit.
(03:59):
There I started my first shelter by accident.
You went back to Germany and then you went on a trip to Sumatra and what was the intention
for that trip?
It was like this that my both dogs died.
The first dog was very old.
(04:20):
The other dog has a tumor in the head and he had special therapy against this cancer
but there was nothing success.
So finally I had to put her to sleep and then I knew okay my dream was always to make a
world trip but if I stay in Germany I cannot be without a dog.
(04:46):
I will feel so bad so I have to go quite fast on the world trip otherwise I will have the
next dog.
Have the next dog to hold you down.
Yeah exactly.
So I travelled to Myanmar.
We are at the volunteer house here in Weligama and we have the cats here on the bed playing.
(05:12):
So cute.
The kitten is making this sound.
So the world trip is the plan.
I travelled to Bangladesh and Myanmar and then to Indonesia to Sumatra and I was also
in Bali I guess that time for a yoga teacher training and then in Sumatra I was in Bukit
(05:39):
Lawang which is not Sumatra where you can still see orangutan in the rainforest.
So it's a very beautiful place.
I loved it and then I found them puppies in a bad condition like very skinny with mange
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and also the mother was full of mange and they were very scared and there was a really
old woman taking care more or less about them and I started treatment and then she said
ok on Friday she gonna sell the dogs and then I mean I had someone to help me translate
(06:20):
because she was not speaking English.
She was a very poor woman and I asked yeah who gonna buy the dogs?
She doesn't care she just needs the money and it was like pretty clear it will be for
the meat market.
So someone will take the puppies weight until they are big enough and then he will sell
them for lots of money for the meat market and of course my heart was breaking.
(06:46):
I thought I was already attached to these puppies and I thought I cannot let happen
this and as I couldn't sleep one night what can I do?
I talked to other animal protector but in Sumatra there is nearly no animal shelter
and I thought shit what I can do and then I started with a friend of mine to build a
(07:12):
big fence with a dog hut to keep this dog family there and we paid money for this woman
because yeah she needed the money and she started working for us taking care of the
dogs for a monthly salary and this was really a nice change and it was nice for one and
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a half or two years and then she started not taking care properly and she wanted more money
and so we skipped working with her but meanwhile I was already back to Germany.
Oh wow we have another big background.
Now we've got thunder in the background.
It was corona time and I decided not to stay longer at the jungle place because nobody
(08:00):
know what will happen and everything so I went back to Germany and I was always online
connected with a friend and then there of course there were coming up more emergency
cases about dogs who should be sold to the meat market or who are more in a bad condition
(08:24):
and also many many sick helpless cats so I found a very good cat team through another
friend.
Who are these friends?
So yeah I have very good luck with the friends and yeah I really set it up the rest of the
rescues through the internet just to be in contact with through videos and video calls
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yeah and it was not planned it just started like this and meanwhile already the cat team
is working for me.
Yeah I think since two and a half years and I have a different dog team now so we have
two packs at two places all together there are just 15 dogs which is nothing comparing
(09:15):
to Sri Lanka and yeah they're doing a good job.
Wow how many cats in Sumatra?
Oh okay cats is difficult to say because we have sponsorships for young women to support
the education because in Sumatra it's 80% Muslims and normally the girls they have to
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marry already before they are 18 and they are very dependent on the men and there's
also happening quite often violence so my idea was it okay I really want to support them
to go university and they just take care of street cats who need a safe place.
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Right and we have four girls like this amazing and they are all still studying and one wants
to go get the teacher and the other one wants to get a wet which is of course amazing and
so this place is the cats there are I guess about 30 then we have one Kathy she's taking
(10:24):
care for 60 cats in a very nice green area and my cat team they have also about 30 cats
and all this new patients from the street are coming and after recovering they go back
to the street all the kitten they have to keep because you cannot put them back to the
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street after staying long term with them.
Okay so you've got a bit of a system going with that.
And then what point along this journey did you give up social work and you said okay
this is now my future and I'm going to commit to this financially, energetically, emotionally
(11:07):
everything.
That's a good question.
I think the point that I really decided I stop the social work and I give all my energy
to the animals was after settling up the shelter in Sri Lanka because I decided okay I will
live in Sri Lanka so of course I cannot go on with the social work and soon I realized
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also there's not any energy and time left to do any other work because it's so intense
emotionally or mentally and also physically in this heat the work in his heat at season
time and there was a lot of physical work also with the animals like yeah sitting and
(11:57):
resting is very rare.
Yeah that's very demanding.
So yeah so then you came to Sri Lanka so you had your the Sumatra shelter set up and then
you came to Sri Lanka and that's where you met a dog and the dog's name was Loco.
Yes Loco like this is Tamil and also in Singalites the same and the translation is like big like
(12:20):
a big brother.
So yeah this dog he had a completely open bag full of maggots and he just looked at
me like please help me or I'm gonna die and so I went for treatment I think it was like
four weeks until the wound was really closed and yeah so I spent a long time there in Trincomalee
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and while this time I met many other dogs in need it was also Corona time the restaurant
was closed the hotel was closed so the street dogs had no food I started feeding the street
dogs.
I started in the hotel the first small castration program I think it was eight dogs that time
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so and I met Neerajan so Neerajan this was also a big turning point because he is Sri
Lankan he's a Tamil guy he loves animals a lot and he started working with me at the
street for the animals and after this four weeks he decided okay if I go back to Germany
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we cannot stop completely and all the dogs were already attached to us and used to get
food and care will be by themselves again.
So my mind definitely told me okay Korni you have already won an animal rescue in Sumatra
already financially it's really tough already it's a lot of work online all the time so
(14:01):
how you can make another one in Sri Lanka this is not really clever idea but my heart
was just too loud and then I decided okay let's do it so we really in one month we found
a place and we set up the shelter with all the fences and all the equipment and I found
(14:22):
another worker who was working together with Neerajan and yeah beginning time we had only
40 dogs 40 dogs okay this was a start already wow yeah and then now how many dogs are there?
Also now there are more than 200 dogs so 200 200 dogs yeah so and so now so that was in
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Trincomalee which is the east coast of Sri Lanka and then now you're living in Weligama
which is the south coast south west coast of Sri Lanka and you've got a volunteer house
set up here so you've got the cats and dogs and volunteers come to work away.
Small amount of dogs a big amount of cats 19 and they are also coming dogs before they
(15:09):
get adopted to my house that I can prepare a little bit to learn some things and once
a month I'm in Trincomalee for one or two weeks to visit the big shelter and now we
have seven people working there two are living in the shelter the other coming every day
yeah and I visit the families and the handicapped children too we have an all program and yeah
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so while you've touched on that so you've got a program where there's a sponsorship
of the cat but some but people can also sponsor for handicapped children or disadvantaged
children to also have support as well exactly so this we have only in Sri Lanka till now
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that we have until now two families with really heavily handicapped children like they cannot
walk they cannot talk and of course here in Sri Lanka specialty on the east coast which
is a really poor part of Sri Lanka there is no support from the government in no therapy
or special program and the parents are also overwhelmed by what they can do with the child
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and I was working also long time before with children with special needs so I can a little
bit give them ideas as well and if they adopt the cat or dog and they get sponsorships so
I have to search people who like to support and then they get extra money for the child
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or we buy directly make powder and pampas and this is very expensive and they need it
a lot and special toys which they can use in this situation yeah and I would really
like to have more programs that like this like more families yeah so I'm waiting right
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now we started to cooperate with children foundation which is a really big organization
and they know many families and they know also which families have kids with special
needs so they we cooperate and I will know you soon I will know a new family with a handicapped
child and then I will try to find again sponsors so we always need sponsors for families for
(17:33):
poor families and families with children with special needs it's beautiful that you've
been able to merge your social work background and your experience with this love for animals
and animal rescue and the programs you're running so that's a really nice compatibility
yeah it's nice that you're saying this because it's really that the social work through the
(17:53):
children with special needs it came back a bit and I can connect is that an idea that
you had or did you get inspiration from somewhere or did that kind of just come and it seemed
to be a good fit it just came to me as also friend told me oh there's a family with a
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very special child and they're really struggling is it possible to support them and could they
get it and an animal and yeah and then I was really touched by the situation by the idea
and I felt like oh this is also really making me happy because it's so win-win for all sides
and yeah like this has happened my idea before was more joining children into the shelter
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to teach them more about the animals and to make maybe also some game days or something
but it's too difficult for us if something happened like a dog would bite and this 200
dogs who cannot check every dog with children before how they react and also we just have
not enough time to organize it now you would need an extra team also for this that's a lot
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yeah so it's it's quite bold what you've done and I think looking at you know you've set up
two not-for-profits in in foreign countries and for a lot of people I think setting up a
not-for-profit in their own country would be a big challenge but you've managed to do this in two
different countries how are you just an optimist or like how how do you go about the different
(19:28):
challenges that you face in doing this I think the first is that I really trust in the things will come
um as I need it but not all of us I had many situations or points in this um animal rescue
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time that I was desperate and then I thought like oh my god what I have done there's no back
there's no way back because you have so many animals now who has the responsibilities
you have many people working for you and then you the salary so I lost trusting in the situation
sometimes and then it's getting really tough for me because then your mind is getting busy in
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being scared what's gonna happen in the future and how you can manage manage financially I mean
this is this is always a difficult thing about the donations but yeah what will happen if you
have 300 400 500 dogs and then I'm lost if my mind's starting creating this drama yeah so
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normally I think if I'm in a good condition I'm trusting yeah so what grounds you then when you
are finding you're losing that trust um what what brings you back it's for sure my friends in Germany
if they talk to them sometimes I have also volunteers here I have a very good relation
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to them and we can really talk deeper or volunteers who work with me for long and we are still in
contact because they know all the situation they know the culture doing yoga for sure as well as
grounding me um yeah yeah sounds like you have some good things in your toolkit to draw on when
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when things are getting stressful and tough yes I have and in your experience with the trust thing
I'm interested about that that is in your experience when you are grounded and you do
find that trust does it does it then does it settle and then things things start to work out
like you see the path clearer yeah I would say yes yeah because I mean still we are there still
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yeah exactly still we survive so I think if I look at it this yes it's it's right to trust like yeah
because it's always going on and always there are solutions it will not the earth will not stop
stop um how you say turning or how you say so yeah this is working and I know if my mind
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changed into the panic models then nothing is working anymore because I'm blocked I cannot focus
my energy is going down so I think there's only the way of trust generally in life I guess yeah
what do you trust in just the ultimate kind of plan for you or the purpose that you or the
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following your heart what's the following my heart for sure I'm trusting I'm trusting that
I will always need the right people to support me in several ways because this is something in
my life I have really good luck to meet amazing people all the time if it's in different difficult
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parts of my life and which was before the animal rescue or if it's now and yeah I also believe in
a spiritual way that there is something if you are going doing good things there will be a support
that you are able to do it and if you're struggling a lot it's always a process of learning right so
(23:17):
after going through a very hard time and I had really hard times already that I just wanted to
run away from all this and but after doing this I think obviously a little bit more strong and you
see okay also this crisis you managed and the next crisis maybe you will remember okay it's not the
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first time so as it happens each time in the cycle yes you learn and you can trust more yeah
yes yeah that resonates that's cool yeah and who in your life or what in your life has inspired you
to to be doing what you're doing now is there is there anyone or anything
(24:02):
or anything first I think it was already my own deep wish to do a project for the animals and it
was also always my wish to leave Germany and give and go more in the Asian direction
and I think yeah the dog temple and also the animal I had in Udaipur in Rajasthan in India
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and both places I did volunteering and it was aspiring for sure yeah and that was through
work away was that the work away platform was it a different way and animal I I just found it I
think I was searching in India what kind of shelters and then I found it like this it's a very very
(24:47):
big organization they have also done keys and cows and everything so it's really nice yeah in my own
yeah in my own dogs also I think they they helped me so much in my life too because yeah I had also
mentally very difficult times and they always helped me to go on my way yeah and so this was
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something I thought okay dogs or animals in general they are such amazing creatures if you look at them
in the right way or in the if you are open to see what they can do for you that I really want to
support them because they are voiceless and most of humans are egoists and they feel like they are
(25:35):
more important and more valid like animals so they really need people who say okay but but I
want to be the one who protects them and helps and that's beautiful we need that in the world
definitely definitely and what with the situation in both Sumatra and Sri Lanka what are the biggest
(25:55):
issues that you're seeing with in relation to stray dogs and cats you're trying to address
in Sumatra the biggest issue is the meat market which is existing and there's a special
group of the culture with belief that the dog meat is very healthy it's protecting against
(26:19):
malaria and make you strong and everything and they really have mainly dogs to sell them or to eat them
and I never have seen the meat market by myself because I know this would break my spirit
I only have seen videos how they keep them until they get sold and it's really wow it's so bad
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so for me this is the main problem how to stop this but there are already organizations that try
to do something against it but I think that it will always be black market so it's this is really
so difficult and of course there are also dogs as mange and owners who have not enough money to give
protein the feed only rise and then the dogs get in a bad condition and they don't know about
(27:07):
treatments or what a dog needs so my team also try around the village to teach the people a bit
yeah and I think also the situation that the Islam is telling that dogs are like not good or not
clean of course dogs are struggling about this in this countries yes yeah yeah and we cannot do
for the animals to keep them in the stability a digest with food for the animals
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something against this because it's just related to the religion they are living yeah in Sri Lanka
it's completely different in Sri Lanka for me the main problem is there must be much more castration
is that even the police doesn't stop us to how to do that but internet is all over the place
people Japan all the time and universities all the time yeah and well I think theifiable
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to their enough food rest for the animals
to keep them healthy.
Yeah, there are just too many and too many suffering
and too many accidents.
And I think it's really necessary
to make more castrations.
I mean, many programs are already going on,
but you can see in Trincomale,
(28:12):
there were never castration programs.
And it's just so full of suffering dogs.
Like every day we get a new dog
who is in a very bad condition and need rescued.
And we are doing right now 40 castration every month,
but we should do much more,
but there's not enough donation for this
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because it's the only thing how we can change the situation.
It make no sense to have thousand dogs in a shelter.
I mean, we have to change the population.
It's getting to the systemic issues, isn't it?
Yes, yes.
Yeah.
Do you feel like you're making an impact
in what you are doing with the castration program
that you have?
Yes.
(28:54):
Because sometimes people give me the feedback,
oh, I was three years ago at this beach
and there were much more dogs.
Also much more owners are coming
and bringing the dogs for surgery.
This was not common in this poor area.
Even they didn't know you can make a surgery for a dog
that he's not getting pregnant anymore.
(29:15):
But sometimes they are like times every day they dump puppies.
There are times more dogs are in heat
and then all give birth.
And then I feel like, oh my God, there's nothing changed.
But I think I'm quite sure they're saying it must be
because we do it already since three years
and castrate and castrate and castrate.
(29:37):
And yeah, and I really focus on getting donations
for more castration that we can make the process faster.
Because if we get more dogs like in the first month,
we really breaking down.
So because you cannot handle anymore,
it's more and more dogs.
And also I'm not happy to have so many dogs in the shelter.
Many I think they would like to be free,
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but they are from puppy time with us.
So you cannot put them on the street.
Yeah, and it's also that you can't see
the direct impact of what you are doing
because you don't know what the situation would be like
if you weren't doing the castration program.
So yeah, I think there's that trust and hope
that you are making a difference and I'm sure you are.
(30:18):
And it's really very nice to see the families
we are supporting, like they are really taking care
about the dogs, really they are also cuddling the dogs.
And the dogs are kind of part of the family
and this is giving me also hope.
Like the sponsorship program, the dog is more valid
as he's supporting the family and then they are able
(30:39):
to get a different kind of relation to the dog.
And every time if I visit the family
and the dog is looking very good and happy,
then I'm also really happy.
Like there are some moments which giving me really energy
to go on, this is with his family,
this is with the handicapped children,
and this is if you find adoption to Europe
(31:02):
and I see the dog very happy in the European family.
This is, yeah, this is amazing.
Yeah, I've had the pleasure of witnessing that.
I've been here at the volunteer shelter.
I've seen, I've met Mia who was here
and Mia has been adopted to Germany.
And we've been seeing videos of Mia now in Germany
and so happy.
(31:22):
Yeah, from the first moment, this is really special
that she was not scared in the beginning
because she didn't know this family,
but she was directly fully happy and open
and exploring everything.
So especially she was since very small puppy with me,
she was just starting to eat by herself.
(31:43):
And if you see her growing and then in the end,
you see her in this situation, this is really good for me.
Yeah.
If you could speak to Connie who first started
this adventure of volunteering at animal shelters
and then starting, you know,
thinking about starting these not-for-profits,
what would you say to her?
(32:05):
Yeah, it really depending on how I'm feeling
because often I think, okay,
if I could tell me before, I would say, don't start it.
Don't start it.
You will never be free again.
You will be always responsible.
You will always, you must be online.
(32:28):
You will be always under tension financially
and just do volunteering in shelters.
I know how important volunteers are.
They are such amazing support.
So do volunteering, give donations
if you have leftover of money,
but don't start it by your own.
(32:49):
So, and then there are moments like I really feel like,
oh, I see all this animals,
most of them there wouldn't be alive anymore
or the moments with adoption.
And then I see, hey, it's this what you should do
and it's right.
This is changing nearly every day.
(33:09):
It depends on my emotional situation,
mentally and also what's going on.
And if I'm under lots of tension,
then I just think, oh my God, why I started this?
Why I was free?
I could travel around,
but I think there would be always a wish
to start a project by my own.
(33:30):
I don't think this will stop if I was not doing so.
There's a reason why I have this vision.
So beautiful.
I'm so glad you have followed your heart in doing this.
So you've mentioned that you rely solely on donations
from people.
And so right now with what's the most urgent thing
(33:52):
that you need donations for?
The most urgent thing is for another worker
because the seven workers for 200 dogs is not enough.
More than 20 dogs are paralyzed.
That means they need much more care.
They need time in the wheelchair.
There's a lot of cleaning work
as they cannot control the toilet.
(34:12):
The puppies need special attention, everything.
So to have really a good care like I want to have it,
I need one more worker.
So this is one thing.
The other thing is really for castration.
I know people, they don't love to give money for castration
because it's not giving them such a great feeling.
(34:33):
If they see a dog after an accident and they say,
okay, we need money to go for surgery because,
and it's true, we have no extra money for this.
We have to go four hours with a car to a hospital
because there are no facilities nearby.
So it's expensive.
They're happy because they directly get the benefits.
(34:55):
They see after the surgery, the dog is fit and they made it.
So if they give money for castration and they see,
the pictures are okay, they got castrated.
And I also, I'm part of it.
It's not this emotional benefit.
You know, this is the thing.
It's not as glamorous in that,
you've got that feel good thing.
Yeah, but also here, it's a good situation to say,
(35:19):
if you give donations for castration,
it's really the biggest thing you can do
for the animal rescue
because this can also make us to go on
because if we have this more and more in the shelter,
we really have a problem.
So we have to do something against this big, big population
(35:39):
that they are not dumping more and more puppies.
So if you support us, this money for castration,
for me, it's the biggest support you can do at the moment.
And for the salary as well.
Yeah, this is amazing.
I mean, even for food, we need 4,000 euro monthly
only for Sri Lanka.
And this is also hard to get by donations,
(36:00):
but for the whole situation to make a really impact,
it's for castration and for the salary for one more workers.
Also, I'm scared the workers could burn out
because they're working so hard and so many hours.
And yeah.
And we've spoken about before that
(36:21):
there's a lot of animals at the shelter,
but if more animals are getting,
because the more you get known in the area,
the more animals are getting taken
and dumped at your doorstep.
This is a problem.
And you have to take them in,
otherwise they get taken by the street dogs.
Yeah, this is a sad thing.
We cannot leave them outside.
They will be killed, especially the puppies.
(36:41):
Yeah.
And what is really also very important
and a very big support for me,
if people are ready to make a sponsorship for a family.
So it's like you pay 12 euro monthly for a family
to help for the money for the education of the child.
(37:02):
And I need another sponsor for each animal they take.
It's 12 euro.
No, sorry.
Now it's 15 because 12 is not matching anymore
with what they need.
15 euro monthly for the animal food.
So if we have this two sponsorship,
one animal can move to the family.
And this is also for us really helping us
(37:25):
that less dogs at the shelter.
So less work for the workers.
And of course, a better life for the animal
and a different view from people to the animals.
So this is like a big, big impact
and it's so difficult to find this family sponsors.
I don't know why, but it's going very slowly.
(37:50):
So I would love to be faster,
bring animals and the families
and start this kind of project.
But yeah, it's, I don't know.
That's such a holistic way of looking at it too, isn't it?
Yes.
Providing support to disadvantaged families
to support the education for the child
and for them to have an animal,
which can also bring so much to the animal
(38:12):
and to the family.
Yes.
And the future of the child.
I hope that that can grow.
And the sponsors, they get videos and pictures
of the child, of the animals.
They really know how it's going on.
So yeah, I think it's also beautiful experience,
but yeah, this would be great
if I find some sponsors like this.
(38:34):
So in terms of the vision for the future,
what's your long-term vision?
My long-term vision, okay.
First is I really want to have a volunteer program
and drink Amali as well.
And will you do that through Work Away?
Is that what you're, or both?
I will do that also through Work Away, yeah.
Then I want to have for part of the dogs
(38:57):
an open shelter program that the doors always open.
They can go and come.
So in the future, we will move to another place
because finally government give us a place for free.
Wow.
They said, but we have to take all dogs from Trincomalee
so the street is empty.
(39:17):
So in their imagination, we would have,
I don't know how many thousand dogs in the shelter.
So they've said that if you take all the dogs
from the street, then they'll be able to.
And then we're all just said, okay, this is not possible.
This is not making sense.
And we are already struggling.
I mean, in a perfect world, that would be amazing.
Yeah.
(39:37):
Maybe they'll fund the salaries of all the people needed.
Yes, but it's just completely far from the reality.
Yes, not reality.
And already we do a castration program,
which is normally should the government do, right?
Already we give all castrated dogs
radius vaccination to save people.
This is also what the government should do.
They finally said, okay, also in the way we do it,
(40:00):
we get this place.
So it will be a big area with no neighbors around.
And so I think it would be possible.
A lot of dogs can be free and come for food.
And the old shelter will be for volunteers and puppies
and for some special dogs.
So we have like two places
and then the volunteers can also focus on social media work
(40:22):
for the puppies to easier find adoption
and teach puppies walking on leech early,
which yeah, it's not enough time for the team.
This is one vision.
Another vision is to really have a school program
to teach children about cats and dogs,
to have a bigger project for the handicapped people,
(40:45):
to have a bigger castration program.
And because of this much less dumb puppies.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I would love to show the people
like how amazing friends the animals are
because this is in this culture.
Some people have the special connection,
but in the East Court is very, very raw.
(41:09):
So that you meet people that really touching the dog.
Normally it's not happening.
The dog is there and he's barking
if someone is coming and that's it.
Yeah.
Wow.
So what's the best way that people can follow along
with your journey with what's happening?
I think of Facebook because I'm posting always
(41:31):
if there are new things happening,
like nearly every day.
Here also on Instagram,
but Instagram is more like seeing nice pictures.
So you don't see what kind of emergency cases we picked up
or not that much like on Facebook.
Yeah, and on YouTube, I started a YouTube channel
and I'm also like, it's in English only,
(41:55):
but yeah, every day I make a short or something.
So you can follow there as well.
I know I should also do TikTok,
but there's not enough time.
There's only one of you.
Yes, only one of me and already Elina,
she was volunteering with me
and she's doing Instagram for me
and also she's helping with the sponsorships.
(42:16):
It sounds like volunteers have been such a key part as well.
There's so many ways and avenues
that people can support what you're doing.
Even if it's just sharing it, volunteering,
but donations, obviously, sponsorships.
Yes.
Many things.
And share about us.
And sharing, yeah.
So there's always a chance,
even one person who starts supporting us is a big support.
(42:39):
Yeah, yeah.
Sharing about us and our situation cause yeah,
this is really, I don't want what happened
that we break down financially one day completely
and then what we do, this is not allowed to happen.
It will not happen.
So I will keep on trusting.
We're gonna trust that that won't happen.
Yes, exactly.
Keep on trusting.
Keep on following your heart
(43:01):
and is there anything else you wanted to share,
we'll say before we finish up?
Oh, there's another wish for Sumatra.
I would like to have also volunteer program,
but I think this is, yeah, still we have no rooms
and yeah, let's see if it's possible in the future.
Cool.
Yeah.
No, and I'm just so happy also meet people like you,
(43:21):
supporting me with the postcards,
supporting me with the work here
and having understanding for what I'm doing really from heart.
So this is also giving me always energy
and positive thinking that there aren't any people
by my side.
So they say, okay, go for it and you're not alone.
(43:44):
So.
Yeah, so beautiful.
Oh, you're an inspiration Connie
and thank you for the work you're doing.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you.