Zambezi Working Donkey Project - June 2023 Report

AAA donors enable help to be provided in countries all around the world. This includes Zambia with local partner group Zambezi Working Donkey Project, who have provided their June 2023 report:

June was a busy month! During June our team treated 309 donkeys through mobile clinics, in addition to our 14 permanent residents at Maramba Farm. 296 donkeys were dipped, 256 dewormed and 31 donkeys were treated for wounds.

Our team has been busy making humane harnesses as well, 12 brand new sets were distributed. Most of these owners were still using the ox-yoke so we are happy their donkeys now have comfy harnesses. Since we have handed out numerous of harnesses over the last years, we decided to start marking the harnesses + carts with a number, that same number is linked to the owner. We are hoping that owners will take more responsibility of assuring their harnesses stay in a good condition with this new system. Obviously, we will keep helping to fix harnesses but a sense of ownership is needed amongst the donkey owners.

During fieldwork, our Supervisor Emmanuel came across a bad case of abuse in a village called Libala. The owner has several donkeys and most of them are in a bad state. Emmanuel explained that he needs to bring his donkeys to the farm so they can recover and rest. Unfortunately, the owner refused over and over again so Emmanuel had to get a report from the police. After handing out the police report, the owner came to the farm with his donkeys and two of them are within our care now. We will keep a close eye on the donkeys and make sure they are well rested and recovered before going back into the village. We showed the owner pictures of previous donkeys that have been brought to the farm and their change after a couple of weeks/months. He seemed surprised and we will keep him updated on his donkeys whilst training him on the basics of owning a donkey!

On Thursday the 29th of June, we hosted a full mobile clinic in Muchinga village. The overall condition of donkeys was good which was great to see as we are noticing all the hard work is paying off. We discovered one donkey that had a pretty bad wound on his back, according to the owner he was axed by someone else in the village. We cleaned the wound and applied the necessary medicine. Emmanuel will follow up weekly to track his progress. If the wound is not healing properly in the village, the donkey will come to our farm to rest up.

It is thanks to the supporters of AAA that we were able to help these donkeys and we will continue fighting their cause wherever we can!