With your incredible support, Zambezi Working Donkey Project (ZWDP) run mobile veterinary clinics and a special sanctuary for rescued donkeys. Recently, five of these beautiful equines found their forever homes.

Read more below:

Overview

Your continued support over the last few years has sparked so much progress for working donkeys, both within ZWDP and the communities we work in.

Due to your generous ongoing support, we have increased our capacity and reached additional donkeys, communities and owners, ultimately making the world a better place for working animals.

Your trust in our work is exceedingly humbling and we look forward to how much more we can achieve together in subsequent years to come.

Organisation Expansion & New Team Members

Recently, ZWDP expanded and we now have two additional team members: Katie Oliver, who coordinates activities at the Visitors’ Centre, and Nyambe Lungowe, our Education and Liaison Officer. They both bring a unique set of skills to ZWDP and have already levelled up the team’s output.

Among her many achievements over the past few months, Katie successfully coordinated the official opening of the Visitors’ Centre. This is something ZWDP has been working towards for some time to strengthen both the sustainability and impact of our work. Through tourism, education and community engagement, the centre is already providing a platform to diversify income streams while raising awareness about animal welfare, environmental conservation and rural livelihoods.

Nyambe has strengthened our relationships with key stakeholders - including traditional leaders - and is currently working on engaging the Ministry of Education to include animal welfare education in the Zambian school curriculum.

Seeing this progress towards our organisation's vision is a dream come true and we would never have reached these milestones without your wonderful support. Thank you so much for making this happen!

May Mobile Clinics

In our fieldwork and mobile clinics, the team treated 143 donkeys during May. This includes our own rescued animals at Maramba Farm, who received their regular dipping treatment. Sixty-three donkeys were due for deworming last month. With your continued support, most of the donkeys in the villages we work in have maintained a valid deworming status over the years, leading to improved body conditions and better animal welfare.

Our mobile clinics were held in Maunga and Siamasimbi villages, and the team also conducted two outreaches in Libuyu. During these clinics, community members are educated about general animal welfare.

New Visitor & Education Centre

The Visitor and Education Centre is finally open to the public! We are so pleased one of our long-term goals is finally a reality.

Your involvement in our work has been instrumental in achieving this goal and so, in honour of AAA, the centre has a permanent display of your logo on the wall. This is a daily reminder of the immense impact you are having in our communities.

Activities at the centre, including structured educational programs for various groups, are all ready to commence.

Maramba Farm Sanctuary

The rescued donkeys at Maramba Farm were all healthy and well during May. The sanctuary has been colourful over the past few weeks as our rescued donkeys have taken on a new look wearing coloured identification collars. This makes it easier to identify each animal and their specific needs.

We are also happy to report that five out of 27 donkeys were rehomed last month, as part of our rescue and rehabilitation program. These donkeys included:

Black’s foal Joe,
A geriatric donkey called Luyando.
The lost donkey whose owner never turned up.
Twambo, another recently-rescued geriatric donkey.
And the lovely girl, Shimbi.

We are saddened these donkeys had to leave Maramba Farm and they will be dearly missed, but we are comforted knowing they will receive all the love they deserve from their new owners in their forever homes.