HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO AWOL

Animal Welfare of Luxor was started on 11th August 2007, our aim is to provide free animal care and treatment from our mobile unit, for working horses and donkeys, and also dogs and cats. We also aim to prevent common injuries by making and distributing comfortable equine tack, supplying dog leads and collars, and providing education for owners and their families about animal care. We work on Luxor’s West Bank, in areas which do not benefit from tourism.

It has been an exhausting but very successful first year, and thanks to our supporters who have been so generous, we have been able to improve the lives of many hundreds of animals. Thank you very much to all of you who have helped us. As you can see here our monthly newsletters and photos are always available on the AWOL web site, and this saves on postage and printing costs, but we realise many supporters do not have access to a computer, so we have now produced our first printed newsletter, which we will continue to produce quarterly so if you know an animal lover who doesn't have access to the internet please let Jan know and we can post one out. Also please do contact us if there is anything you would like to know about AWOL which we can include in the next newsletter, or if there are any photos you would like to see. We deal on a daily basis with very distressing injuries, and severe wounds, but it is our policy not to show any images of these either in our printed newsletter or here on our web site so that they are informative for both children and adults.

CHARITABLE STATUS

On 20th May 2008 AWOL became a UK Registered Charity. This has now allowed us to claim Gift Aid from the Inland Revenue. If a donor is a UK taxpayer, and signs a form for us, we can claim back an extra 28p on each £1 donated at no extra cost to the donor. If you wish to give a donation and you are a UK tax payer please do ask for a Gift Aid form, many thanks. All of us at AWOL are volunteers and claim no salaries or expenses. We work free of charge to help the animals.

AWOL CLINIC

Now we have charitable status, once the Luxor courts open after the summer break, we should be able to get the necessary permission to begin building on our land in the village of El Marise. We haven’t yet reached our required goal of £25,000 but we nearly have enough to clear the land, build foundations and a boundary wall, and hopefully get water and maybe the electricity connected, and build a basic shelter with some shade. Our mobile unit which we work from at the roadside is overwhelmed with animals needing our help, so it will be much better for us and them to finally have a permanent base.

We hope it will not be long before we can raise the necessary funds to complete and properly equip the building. We will then be able to employ a full time qualified vet for just £4,500 per year, a Veterinary Assistant for £1,000 per year, and also a farrier, yard workers, and a night watchman. We will then have the facilities and staff to deal with more serious injuries and illnesses, which we sadly cannot treat at present.

HEAD COLLARS AND TACK

We are very proud of the comfortable head collars and tack we provide free of charge, to replace items which cause painful wounds and great suffering. We started off sewing by hand, but now have a machine, and are able to produce very sturdy and comfortable tack. We make head collars for about 25p each, and Yokes for just £1. Even a small donation to AWOL will help an animal in pain. We would also love more donations of your unwanted tack and riding equipment. What we cannot use in Luxor, is sold at Equestrian Sales or independently, and all proceeds will help the animals of Luxor.

LEADS AND COLLARS

We are so grateful for all of the dog leads and collars donated. They are unavailable in Luxor, so often string or wire is used to restrain dogs and puppies. It can cause terribly painful injuries, so any donations of new or used collars and leads are most welcome. Please click on the picture on the right to see a larger image.

MEDICATION AND DRESSINGS

We are also very grateful for all of the donations of flea, tick and worming medication for cats and dogs, even if items are just out of date we can still use them. Also we would love to have bandages, crepe dressings, steri-strips, primary dressings (large size if possible, as we use them for burns) or any types of dressing even if they are out of date. Plastic tweezers, metal flea combs... the list goes on, but we would welcome any offers of items you think we could use.

ARE YOU, OR ANYONE YOU KNOW GOING ON HOLIDAY TO LUXOR?

If you would like to arrange to meet AWOL Trustees Pauline and Graham Warren who are the English retired married couple who live permanently in Luxor, and do all of the day to day work with the animals, please contact AWOL UK Managing Trustee Jan Bennell on 01372 726702, and we will arrange for you to meet up. You are welcome to go with them to the West Bank, and see the work first hand, but bring your sun hat, it gets very hot and there is little shade!

UK FUNDRAISING

All of our caring relies on your kind donations, and we are so grateful for the generosity of our supporters in our successful first year. We have had sponsored events such as walks, and swims which have boosted our funds. Jan and her daughter Amy are doing a swim on 6 September, so do please contact AWOL on 01372 726702 if you would like to sponsor them. We have had stalls at Walton-on the-Hill, May Pageant, and Box Hill Fair which were a great success, and also at Ashurst Farm Feeds Equestrian Car Boot Sale, and other boot sales too. Our Annual Ball in Staffordshire on 18th July raised £702.25, and was enjoyed by all. Next years event will be at Lichfield Guildhall on 27 June. Do contact us if you would like the details.

Please contact Jan on 01372 726702 if you would like to fundraise in any way, or give us a donation. Maybe your workplace, school, Brownie Group, Pony Club, dog training class, WI, or any group you belong to may like to help us to raise the funds to build and run the AWOL clinic. We will support and guide you with any fundraising idea, and can even arrange parachute jumps if you are keen to take the plunge!

We would welcome good quality new items which we can raffle or give as tombola prizes, and would like to find a special prize for next years planned Prize Draw. We also need horse tack and any equestrian items which we can sell to raise funds.

We would be grateful for any help with postage costs, or donations of stationery and stamps, HP 56 and HP57 printer cartridges, and if you have a printing company, maybe we could negotiate a discount on printing leaflets, as this would be an enormous help to us.

THANK YOU

We would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped us get through this first year, we really appreciate your help, and look forward to meeting, and hearing from new and current supporters. Your ideas and suggestions are extremely valuable to us, so please stay in touch. Last but not least, many thanks to Patsy Payne at The Post newspaper who has been so supportive. Her articles about AWOL have helped spread the word about our work, and we are very grateful to her and all at The Post.

AWOL IS MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO THE LIVES OF THE ANIMALS ON LUXOR’S WEST BANK. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE SIDE TO THE TOURIST HOTELS, AND THE BROOKE CLINIC WHICH IS OVER 16KM AWAY FROM WHERE WE WORK. PLEASE HELP US. THANK YOU.

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