Mdzananda Animal Welfare Clinic in Khayelitsha

In May 2009 Emma Milne gave a talk at the Royal Veterinary College on her experiences working in two animal charity clinics in South Africa. The clinics, sponsored by IFAW, are based in Johannesburg (CLAW) and the other, Mdzananda, in Cape Town.

After a five year slog through vet school (never mind the A-levels) I’d been feeling somewhat overworked and slightly disillusioned with the whole idea of entering the rat race of modern veterinary practice. With finals looming I was struggling to summon the energy to immerse myself in the enormous task of revision that would hopefully get me over the final hurdle.

Emma’s inspirational talk about the work being done in South Africa sparked a new found enthusiasm for vetting. Having already visited the beautiful and diverse country of South Africa for a couple of months in 2008 I needed no further encouragement to contact the main IFAW office in London once I had my BVetMed certificate in hand.

On 14th September I landed in Cape Town due to start three months working at the Mdzananda clinic in the township of Khayelitsha. Although I knew I was throwing myself in the deep end as a new graduate I wanted to use the opportunity to bring my routine surgery skills up to scratch and practice some basic medicine. Luckily I started with some other more experienced volunteers who helped me find my feet.

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The permanent team at Mdzananda were very supportive throughout my time there. Despite some of them not even finishing school their years of experience, willingness to learn, personal drive and determination to help animals and improve the dog and cat populations of the township have resulted in a very established and well functioning clinic. This consists of a first opinion veterinary service for local animals, a hospital for inpatients and a reasonably well equipped surgery area for the free pet sterilisation service. The permanent staff do consulting, hospital duties, collect and drop off animals and also do all the anaesthetising and preparation of animals for surgery. The clinic mainly relies on volunteer vets to be able to run the free sterilisation service, but also accurate veterinary assessment of hospital patients and assistance with some of the consultations is much required.

I clearly remember my first day – a Monday – mobile clinic day. Jane (Mdzananda’s project manager) and the rest of the team took us out to a neighbouring township ironically called Happy Valley. It was an area that the mobile clinic had only just started visiting. Consisting of dirt streets, plastic chemical port-a-loos and hundreds of corrugated iron shacks of varying quality, Happy Valley is home to a mostly unemployed population who survive by scavenging on rubbish dumps or by recycling tins and bottles. Alcoholism is a widespread problem and its effects are evident. Runny-nosed toddlers and filthy children play in the roads while skinny, mangy dogs roam around freely looking for food. People can be seen sitting in their litter strew yards outside their shacks still hung over (‘babalassed’) from the night before. On first impression, providing some help to areas like this may seem like a hopeless mission. However, on subsequent visits to Happy Valley many people started to recognise the clinic pick-up trucks (‘bakkies’). Gradually a trust was built up and there was a realisation that we were there to genuinely help, rather than deviously confiscate animals as previous organisations had done. It was great to see animals coming back for second vaccinations, having people ask for flea and worming products, seeing mange cases for follow up treatments, removing stitches from sterilisation ops and even people just wanting advice on the best way to care for their animals. Children in particular were very curious and keen to help. Even in the relatively short time that I was in South Africa there was a noticeable improvement in the dog and cat populations of Happy Valley.

Job satisfaction is certainly one of the most enjoyable aspects of working at Mdzananda. On the whole animals come to the clinic with obvious conditions requiring quite straight forward treatment. Therefore it is often easy to make a very significant difference to the quality of the animal’s life. Basics such as educating owners, vaccination schemes and neutering services over time makes a huge difference to the health of the entire population. This is something that the permanent staff at Mdzananda have noticed since the clinic set up in Khayelitsha just over thirteen years ago.

Working as a vet with the public and their animals, there are always interesting people and entertaining cases. Something I came across a few times was the concept of witchcraft. There was a man who was convinced his neighbour was performing spells on him with the assistance of a big ginger cat. This was something to be taken seriously and for its own safety the cat came to stay at the clinic until the neighbourly dispute had been resolved. Several times I was asked to cut out the worm from under the tongue of dogs who were ‘eating too much’. To the owners’ disbelief I explained that the worms were in the intestines and that we had tablets for that sort of thing! After a very long consultation with an elderly man who insisted on chatting to me in Xhosa, he gave me an extra R10 (approximately 80p), a wink and a toothless grin and told me to “keep it for drinkies”. I doubt I will ever be tipped in the UK for my veterinary services!

By far the most enjoyable part of being at Mdzananda is working with the people there. There is a very relaxed and homely atmosphere and everyone is very welcoming. As I got to know people better the individual characters, senses of humour and the cheeky personalities became apparent. I found it easy to form friendships and enjoyed experiencing the cultural differences. Jane, a petite lady with smiling eyes, brings an incredible amount of dedication, energy and enthusiasm to the project. It really wouldn’t be the same without her.

Although I’d heard plenty of horror stories about violent crimes committed in the townships, I never actually felt threatened or witnessed anything first hand. However, I never put myself in any unnecessarily risky situations and I was also well looked after by my Mdzananda family.

Returning to the UK this December has been not only a climate shock, but also a reverse culture shock. I had really settled into my surroundings and felt very at home in South Africa. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be back to Mdzananda and I’d like to visit the CLAW clinic in Jo’burg at some point too. Now, back in UK private practice my township experiences have certainly given me some enlightening perspectives on life and vetting which keep me smiling from day to day.

Claire Chadwick - Mdzananda - August 2010

South Africa seemed very far away. A twelve hour flight made it seem even further. But I was used to long journeys – I’d just finished a five year course at university in London and had graduated as a veterinary surgeon. And that is a long journey. Five years of formal training but often preceded by many years of work experience. Hence my determination now to leave the UK and jet off on the trip of a life time to a country I’d always wanted to visit. But it wasn’t going to be an ordinary oliday….

A few months before my final exams, I’d got in contact with Jane who runs the Mdzananda clinic just outside Cape Town. I’d always considered volunteering at a ‘spay and neuter’ clinic abroad but never really got round to doing anything about it. A look at the BVA website produced a list of charity clinics around the world that welcome volunteer vets, and IFAW, who manage Mdzananda, was one of them. The fact that it was in South Africa was definitely a bonus! The emails flew back and forth and before I knew it, I’d passed my finals and was merely days away from flying to Cape Town to volunteer at Mdzananda for three weeks. I was so excited and just wanted to get out there and get stuck in. I was also nervous – it would be the first time I was to fly on my own and travel to a country I’d never been to and in which I didn’t know anyone. I also didn’t know quite what to expect! In a nutshell, working at Mdzananda was one of the best things I have ever done.

Jane herself met me at the airport, and though it was early in the morning and I had had very little sleep, I was wide awake with expectation. We went directly to Mdzananda and after a short tour round and meeting lots of new faces, it was straight to work. As a new graduate, I was happy that there were two part time vets covering the week between them, so although I had responsibility and independence, I could always call on someone with more experience. The idea of the clinic is to provide free or low cost veterinary treatment to people living in Khayelitsha where the clinic is located. Khayelitsha is the largest township in South Africa, located on the Cape Flats, and is thought to be home to 1.5million people.

There have been improvements in recent years by way of brick buildings and schools being built in the area, but crime rates are still very high and the majority of people have very little money. The main aim of IFAW and Mdzananda is to sterilise every animal they treat to try and stem the tide of unwanted puppies and kittens which are commonplace around the area, and improve the health of the adult animals. Both dogs and cats are sterilised free of charge. The other main role at Mdzananda is basic treatments such as vaccinations, worming and flea treatments, which as well as being carried out at the clinic, are done when out on mobile clinics within the Cape Flats.

Prevention is always better than cure. But as with every veterinary clinic in the world, there are always treatments to be carried out and sick patients to see. Unfortunately, with the large number of dogs roaming around Khayelitsha road traffic accidents are commonplace and throughout my time there I saw many, some with better outcomes than others. The other common cases we saw were cases of babesiosis, a tick borne disease which can lead to severe anemia and if untreated, is fatal. The sad thing is its incidence can be greatly reduced by using preventative treatments against ticks, underlining the clinic’s stance on ‘prevention is better than cure’.

The clinic will treat pretty much anything that comes through the gate, and though most of the time this is dogs and cats, there is the occasional surprise. One day, towards the end of surgery, we were told a cow was on it’s way in with acute poisoning. Sure enough, within the hour, a farm truck turned up with a young heifer on the back, recumbent and twitching. The team leapt straight into action, gaining IV access to provide the cow with fluids and giving a shot of antibiotics. She was also eiven activated charcoal orally to try and adsorb any remaining poison in her stomach. So we could better monitor her throughout her treatment, she remained with us, kept in the grass dog-run, much to the amusement of passers by! Within a couple of days with lots of TLC from the staff, she began to look a lot better and was soon up on her feet and was happily eating and drinking. We wondered how the farmer was going to transport her home now she had a lot more life in her. No fear – the truck turned up again, and the cow left as she arrived, lying flat out surrounded by farm hands, but this time looking slightly more cheesed off!

My three weeks at Mdzananda passed far too quickly and I couldn’t believe I had to leave. It had really felt like being part of a family working there and the endless offers of braais after work were very welcome! I urge anyone thinking of volunteering their time in an animal clinic to come to Mdzananda. It was such an amazing experience and I’m already saving up to go back as soon as I can!