Jumbo Express
Starting to find customers for our Jumbo Express mobile animal clinic wasn’t as easy as the start of our schoolprogram has been. Our first customers are dogs which live at the temple and some puppies cause these are quite easy to handle. We can’t get close to the stray dogs, and it seems impossible to catch them and give an injection. The puppies though coming run to us by themselves, and even jump up against the medicine box, to see what’s inside. The monks help us to catch the dogs. They even pull a puppy from the sewer, which cries out when she get’s her injection. Meanwhile Lee and I try to keep the dogs which have been caught under control, smear their skin with skin crème, and spray jodium on their open wounds. Dr. Nit gives injections: antibiotics, anti-flee and –tick and vitamineshots. In the food we put de-worming pills. The news of our clinic is obviously spreading cause new patients are brought to us by scooter.
The dog which has been brought by scooter comes running at us but then is terrified when he sees the needles. He tries to run away but before he even knows it, he has gotten three injections. Then he lays down on the ground on his back as in shock. When his owner picks him up to take hime home, he holds himself completely stiff. But once he’s back on the scooter, he is happy again. The first satisfied customers leave the Jumbo Express!
This morning we went to another temple, where a lot of dogs are staying at. A beautiful and green spot. The thing which immediately strikes me: it’s mainly women walking around here. The nuns are pleased that we are there and will help us to catch the dogs. But first we have to pay the temple leader a visit. He welcomes us warmly and asks us if we first want to join him to a meditation course which has just started. Some fifty or so, women and men in white listen to the calm voice of the temple leader. He also tells them about our project. That we are here to help animals, that the temple also always tries to do that and how important that is. After fifteen minutes of meditation Lee calls us to start working because the nuns are already waiting with the first patients.
The nuns are much better in catching dogs then we are. One after the other they come dragging to our mobile clinic. Dogs which give them a hard time are put beneath their skirts so they can not go anywhere. Like this Dr. Nit can give a lot of vaccinations! Some dogs start fighting among each other. When a dog attacks the patient Lee is holding in his arms, the patient tries to bite Lee. To avoid things getting worse Lee tries to get into the bus with the patient, but too late, the attacking dog bites him. A severe wound on his leg, and a less severe one on his arm. That it has to be Lee, the one who is always keeping an eye on us and tells us to be careful at all times. We decide to finish the Jumbo Express and then go to the hospital right away. Since we have already done half of the dogs. But I first continue with puppies, cause this did frighten me a bit. The nuns keep doing their job of catching dogs. We visit a sick mother dog, with four hungry puppies with a bad skin as well. At the end of the Jumbo Express Dr. Nit explains to the nuns about the medicine and how to take care of the dogs. We leave a medicine box behind for them, so the animals can be treated medically well in time coming.
