Mission Rabies Tanzania – Day 12, The Last Day. Pt15
Well, it’s upon us: the last day of the project. Hard to believe how quickly this project has flown by. Despite all of the Covid-related logistical nightmares that Mission Rabies has had to put up with, the project has been a remarkable success, with the vaccine numbers about to exceed last year’s numbers. In fact, Mission Rabies is sending the teams to brand new areas to explore, since the regular areas have now been covered. Today we visited a new area, Mararone. It’s mostly farmland. The homes are very spread out, with lots of farm animals at every home: chickens, goats, sheep, cows, and donkeys. Plus, the dogs and cats, of course.
We did our usual routine: drive around, announce our presence and purpose, then drive back and see if we have any takers. Indeed, we did. A fair number of dogs, and a couple of cats.
The terrain was difficult, though. Very spread out, very few trees It was like a desert. And it was very hot and sunny today, probably the warmest day so far (94 F).
We finished one section and as we drove to the next section, we just stumbled upon a beautiful lake, out of nowhere. One of those oasis-in-the-desert moments.
We also started skimming rocks across the lake. The rocks in the area weren’t very flat, unfortunately, but I did find a few good ones, and was able to get a few rocks to bounce four or five times across the water.
We got back in the car, vaccinated a few more dogs and cats, and then tried to find a place for lunch. It wasn’t easy finding a shady spot to stop. There was one tree that looked like it was giving off a decent amount of shade, but in the interest of social distancing, we let Lucy and Eminoel sit there while we stayed in the truck. There were no other good places nearby other than the truck, which was very warm. Plus, there were huge grasshoppers everywhere. I hadn’t noticed them initially, but then I looked around and realized they were everywhere! They were on the ground, dying apparently, from the heat. Courtnie was very creeped out.
After lunch, we all sort of ran out of steam, but we finished our area and headed back to the hotel. In the parking lot, they gave the teams their certificates for completing the project.
We said goodbye to our local teammates, and then I went to my room to begin the task of trying to pack. I barely had enough room in my bags when I left NYC. Now, add two Mission Rabies shirts, two new t-shirts (I bought two shirts to sponsor the local dog shelter here), and a mug. Plus, the jacket and hoodie that I wore when I left NYC, where it was cold, had to be squeezed into my bag as well; it’s hot here, and I certainly couldn’t wear it. I couldn’t fit everything this time without expanding my bag. Even then, it was tricky.
Our last dinner together was nice. Amy and Helena gave us the official numbers at dinner: 5700 dogs and 1061 cats vaccinated. These are amazing numbers that handily exceeded last year’s tally. They gave out bracelets and thank-you cards to the volunteers, and we all complemented Amy and Helena on the amazing job they did to pull this whole project together so successfully in the midst of a pandemic. And… it was Britt’s birthday. We sang Happy Birthday, and had cookies to celebrate.
We smashed all records from previous Mission Rabies Tanzania trips, vaccinating 7,657 dogs and 1,229 cats. Total number of animals vaccinated against rabies: 8,886. It’s an incredible accomplishment. To continue to do this kind of work is expensive. If you like reading these blog posts and you support this kind of work, I humbly ask for you to make a small donation if you can. Every little bit helps. Thank you.
