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Lady Grey and the Saturday Club- stories from Soweto

This is the last article about my trip to South Africa and in many ways is the most heart-breaking. Although I only had two weeks there it felt like so much longer because of the incredible number of experiences I had. Lots of people I know who’ve been to Africa told me that it would get under my skin and it certainly did.

Of all the places we went the Soweto clinic touched me the most. Community Led Animal Welfare (CLAW) is an IFAW-funded project in Soweto and those of you who’ve read my last two pieces will know about the amazing woman, Cora Bailey, who runs the clinics. Before I went out to South Africa I’d been sent quite a bit of background material on her but Cora, in the flesh, is tireless and, through setting out to help the animals of the townships has become a powerful figure in the lives of the people she reaches. In fact, her attitude that the work is about the communities is pivotal to the success of the project.

I’ve done a few trips abroad for charity work over the years and one of the biggest problems in trying to highlight difficulties is that it is so easy from our point of view to see the way animals are treated as being cruel. In the case of working horses and donkeys I saw in Egypt it was often a case of survival; if the animal doesn’t work hard enough, the family doesn’t eat. In the case of pets the issue is even more blurred. It is easy to say that if someone can’t afford a dog or a cat they shouldn’t have one but can we make this judgment from afar? I saw there the impact that the pets had on the families and the smiles on the faces of the children bringing their animals to the clinics say all you need to know about how important the animals are there.

However, through cultural differences, poverty and often sheer ignorance suffering is inevitable and where human life is so hard and death is never easy animals can end up being at the bottom of the pile simply because there is no other way. CLAW takes in a large number of stray animals and also those whose owners have found that, despite their very best efforts they simply cannot feed their children and the dog and have had to give them up to be rehomed. With these animals and the never-ending stream of animals coming to the clinic for neutering or hospitalisation, the cages are often full of waifs and strays. Not satisfied with the biggest workload imaginable Cora now also uses the abundance of pets at the clinic for a brilliant sideline which is helping hundreds of children every year; the Saturday Club.

South Africa is plagued by a very high rate of violent crime and many of the poorest children come from violent and abusive backgrounds. The Saturday Club aims to help these children and sets out to teach them about love and respect for each other and animals.

The Saturday we were there we went with Cora to collect the kids from one of the poorest communities. It was clear by the excited looks on their faces as they piled into the back of the truck that this was the highlight of their week. We travelled back to the clinic and everyone bundled out and joined the two brilliant volunteers who came to help out. First there was some fun in the shape of a good game of football in a safe environment. Then everyone came into the clinic and the volunteers took the children round the cages and showed them the animals.

They talked about what was wrong with them and what they needed. Those who were old enough were given jobs to do and the little ones just gaped in wide-eyed wonder at the patients. A multitude of very sweet puppies ensure that there are plenty of cuddles to be had under the careful eye of the clinic staff and all manner of topics about life, love and the universe are discussed. It is a fact of life that if you feel persecuted you pick on who you perceive to be weaker than you. For many children in the townships they are the bottom of the pecking order and the ones feeling persecuted and some inevitably take their frustration out on animals. This happens here too so let’s make no mistake about that but Cora is slowly but surely changing things there. The children who come to the Saturday club and are treated with respect themselves go back and talk to their peers about it and slowly but surely things are happening.

Lady Grey was brought in a few days before we arrived at CLAW and is the thinnest dog I’ve ever seen. I apologise if the photos are shocking but this is the sad reality in some cases of straying animals where food is non-existent. She had been fed, watered and medicated for a while before that Saturday Club and had started to take an interest in her surroundings and have an occasional potter about. It was a beautiful sunny day and once lunch was out of the way Cora called everyone outside.

The children gathered under the shade of a tree and Cora brought Lady Grey out to show them. She teetered around sniffing the grass in front of them and Cora asked the children what they thought of her. There was an embarrassed silence and a few self-conscious mutterings as they looked at her pathetic frailty. Then Cora asked them what they thought she needed. I was sitting on the edge of the circle and was expecting the obvious answers of food and water and possibly a comfortable bed to be suggested. After a few seconds a small voice piped up, ‘respect’ and then another said, ‘someone to love her’. As I looked at this broken dog in front of these broken kids I couldn’t stop myself from crying and I realised why the club works so well; because there is such an obvious affinity between the children and the animals.

I know someone always wants your money for something or other but this month or any time in the future if you find you have a couple of quid spare I know one place for sure where it will do a world of good.

For information on donating go to www.ifaw.org or telephone 0207 587 6700

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