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Return to Articles Index Help for Afghan Refugee Horses and Donkeys by (This story first appeared in Horse Sport magazine in 2002) Update: 11 November 2007: This story is old, but the plight of the working animals of the world doesn't change. The Brooke Hospital is still doing all it can to ease the lives of the horses and donkeys of the poor, thus helping the poor to survive. * * * * * Exhausted and starving Afghan families, some of whom have trekked up to six weeks across unforgiving mountainous terrain to escape drought, famine and violence in their homeland, arrive at a refugee camp near Peshawar in Pakistan. Here they find aid, shelter, water and food for themselves. But what of the horses and donkeys who made their journey possible? What of the baby donkey belonging to seven-year-old Fayim Kalim? The two youngsters, child and donkey, have travelled side by side for fourteen days from their home north of Kabul. The little donkey is in terrible condition. Without nourishment, rest and medical attention, he may die, together with Fayim’s hopes for the future. Animals are not allowed in the refugee camp, but someone tells the boy to go to the horse trading camp called Pajaggi, on the outskirts of Peshawar. There Fayim will find people to help his donkey. The people are from the Brooke Hospital for Animals. With
the passing of time, the events in Afghanistan are fading from the media
spotlight, yet the tragedy of the people and animals of Afghanistan
continues. In the comfort of North America, the words “thousands of
starving refugees” have almost no imaginable meaning, yet each one of
those thousands is an individual with a family, and animals on which the
family depends. In a country where distance is often measured in “hours
by donkey”, the horse and donkey are critical to the survival and
maintenance of the family. They provide transportation and a means of
earning a living. The fleeing refugees could not have escaped without
them. Imagine yourself living in a small village where the nearest medical clinic is a two-day ride by donkey, too far for your young son – one of the twelve children who died last winter of diarrhoea. The village has suffered three years of drought; the ground is too dry, too hard and too infested by mortars and landmines to cultivate. There is no seed to plant. On terrain so rugged that farm machinery is impractical, oxen are used to work the land. Taliban shelling has killed twenty of them, but for want of anything else, the oxen are being eaten anyway. An old man in a nearby village has expressed admiration for your 15-year old daughter. Perhaps, if you send her to marry him, her new family will provide food. With a future so bleak, escape to Pakistan, however hazardous the journey, becomes the only acceptable action. You strap a makeshift pack saddle, constructed from scrounged wood and metal, to the back of your donkey and load the family’s belongings. The donkey’s bones seem too large for her skin, stretched tight by starvation and dehydration. Her foal, too small now to be of use, but when grown will be a valuable workmate, is put in the charge of your young son. Your family struggles through barren mountains, past deserted villages and burnt mosques. The donkey is suffering from terrible wounds on her back, where the unbalanced and heavy pack has rubbed away the thin covering of skin and exposed the bone. Her foal is weakening. If they do not survive the journey, such wealth as you possessed will disappear. This is where the Brooke Hospital for Animals steps in. A British charity, established in 1934, its purpose is to help the working animals of the poor, thereby helping the poor to survive. The Brooke established its first field clinic in Peshawar in 1991. There are now three field clinics and six mobile clinics serving the area. By March 2001, the number of arriving Afghan refugees seeking escape from famine exceeded one million. One of the mobile teams, consisting of a veterinarian, two paravets and a farrier, diverted to Pajaggi and was soon treating over 150 horses a day: malnutrition, lameness and gaping saddle sores, as well as a blood parasite called Trypanosomiasis. Throughout 2001, the Peshawar teams treated over 174,000 horses and donkeys. The Pajaggi team alone carried out over 22,000 treatments. The situation worsened after the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001, as more Afghanis fled from the fear of US reprisals. The mobile team continues its visits, sending seriously ill horses to the field clinics in Peshawar, where they receive food and rest, worming, vaccination against tetanus and new shoes. Even as the fighting dies down, and there is talk of repatriating the 3.5 million refugees in Pakistan and Iran, Human Rights Watch warns that they will return to face the dangers of attack by bandits, ethnic fighting and reprisals as well as starvation. According to the Brooke Hospital, there is no indication that the refugees intend to return to Afghanistan. Those who have a horse or donkey fit to work are planning to rebuild their lives in Pakistan. Fayim is one of the lucky ones – his baby donkey survived. The first seed for the Brooke Hospital was sown in 1930, when Englishwoman Dorothy Brooke and her husband travelled to Cairo. She was horrified to find the horses and mules, who had served so courageously with the British Army in Egypt during World War I, had been sold in Cairo at the end of the war in 1918. They had since suffered 12 years of overwork and abuse. For three years, the Brookes traced and purchased 5,000 ex-cavalry horses and mules. As they were found, they were taken to shaded stables, fed, watered, groomed and loved for a few days, then humanely destroyed. Dorothy Brooke knew that all the horses and donkeys of the labourers of Cairo were suffering the effects of poverty and ignorance. In 1934, she established the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital in Cairo to provide free treatment to the working animals of the poor. Dorothy Brooke died in 1955, but her work continues today. The renamed Brooke Hospital for Animals works throughout Egypt, India, Jordan and Pakistan. The Hospital not only treats injured or debilitated horses and donkeys, but also teaches the owners good animal husbandry, and provides practical solutions to recurring problems. Last year, the teams in Peshawar distributed 100 subsidised harnesses to prevent the occurrence of pressure and friction wounds to cab horses. The clinics, hospitals and mobile units are managed and staffed by local veterinarians and farriers, trained as required by Brooke Hospital advisers. The Hospital works with local authorities and has become an integral and trusted part of the communities it serves. Media interest in Afghanistan may be fading but the Afghan people and their animals are still struggling to survive. The Brooke Hospital mobile team, which cost $30,000 to set up and $4,400 a month to run, will remain at Pajaggi for as long as required and their lives are not in danger. The Brooke Hospital relies completely on the support and generosity of the public. For more details please visit their web site, www.thebrooke.org, or contact Brooke
Hospital for Animals, Telephone:
01-44-20-79300210 * * * * * The greater part of Afghanistan is dominated by the barren mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush. Here, the climate is sub-arctic, with cold, dry winters, glaciers and permanent snowfields. A fringe of desert, frequented by sand storms, dust storms and whirlwinds, encircles the western borders. Only 12% of the land has sufficient water to support agriculture. About 80% of the population live in rural areas as farmers or nomads, grazing sheep and goats. For many, the only affordable fuel is wood. Deforestation and over-grazing opened the door to soil and wind erosion, with the ensuing creation and spread of deserts. Excessive irrigation has aggravated the problem by dramatically increasing the salinity of the soil and rendering it unusable. Much of the land that could have been cultivated has been sown instead with land mines. The location of Afghanistan on a major west-east trade route, surrounded by Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India and China, has invited invasion from the time of Alexander the Great in 320 BC. Our times have witnessed the Soviet invasion in 1979, the subsequent civil war and, most recently, the US bombing raids. The infant mortality rate is 14.7%, one of the highest in the world. Text
© Jean Morris 2002 Return to Articles Index |