Pure Trade Africa’s Corporate Philanthropy Programme
As our company grows, so does our responsibility to give back to the people, communities and organisations which have taken it upon themselves to bring about positive change in society.
As part of our commitment to honest and responsible business, each staff member was given the opportunity to nominate a charity to whom Pure Trade Africa would donate, on their behalf.
For the month of March 2021, our focus fell to Protect Ponta which was nominated by our Managing Director, Bruce Thomas.
Why Protect Ponta?
When asked about why he nominated Protect Ponta, Bruce wrote:
“Protect Ponta do some phenomenal work looking after animals in Southern Mozambique. This is one of my favourite areas to go on holiday to and when Covid struck, the borders were closed overnight and the tourism industry that all the locals depend upon, vanished in an instant!
Protect Ponta then took it on themselves to then start assisting, caring and feeding the people in the area that were and currently are, being affected by this pandemic.
By supporting this organisation, it means that I am indirectly assisting the amazing and friendly people in this region of Africa and more importantly, it will allow the people to survive so that some day soon their lives can get back to normality once the tourism industry resumes in the area.”
The History of Protect Ponta?*
Protect Ponta is an animal welfare organization. Most of our Volunteers are based in Durban but the organization actually operates in a remote area of Southern Mozambique. If we are honest, initially there was no master plan, we just wanted to help and make a difference. It has certainly been a challenging, but rewarding 11 years.
Shannon Mathie and her family visited Ponta Malongane in 2010 and came across a dog that had been caught in a snare. He was in pain, terrified and starving. After finding the closest vet, a 4 hour drive away, the vet recommended that the only option was to have the dog put down. Shannon was devastated and on a mission to try and help other animals in the area. After teaming up with a few other like-minded individuals, Protect Ponta was started.
Our mission has changed over the years. As with any charity run by volunteers, who have their own businesses and families to attend to, we have evolved, learnt and adjusted to the local needs.
Protect Ponta Projects*
Our main aim was, and still is, to vaccinate and sterilise as many animals as we can to prevent the perpetual cycle of animal suffering. The majority of the local population in this area are extremely poor so understandably, feeding your dog or cat is not high on their list of priorities. We have a great relationship with Boxer and Hills who help us top up dog and cat food supplies.
Our clinics are run every 3-4 months and we hire our Vets from Maputo. To date, we have vaccinated thousands of animals, which has had a massive impact in preventing the spread of rabies. We have sterilised 640 dogs and 318 cats. Feral cats are a particularly difficult task as they are very elusive, and thus difficult to catch. We also deworm and apply tick and flea treatments on the animals we treat and again this is well into the thousands.
PROTECT PONTA – GOING FORWARD*
Our focus going forward will be a more holistic approach to help uplift both the animals and children in these areas. For a community reliant solely on tourism COVID is devastating. In April 2020 we joined forces with the Malongane Community Forum to start a soup kitchen and in 6 months we served 40,772 meals.
The local primary school has 326 children and 9 teachers and all use one toilet. In early 2021 we helped arrange a connection to a borehole and pump so we now have running water and we are currently building an additional 6 toilets which will be completed by July 2021. Of the 326 children, 42 are orphans, so in January we made sure that they were all kitted out for the school year with backpacks, books, stationery and uniforms.
In hindsight, there was a lot we could have done differently, but our biggest regret is not prioritising education. We have missed 11 years of lessons, teaching compassion and changing mindsets. We would like to set up a fun, exciting educational programme teaching children empathy and kindness. Rabies is rapidly on the increase so our lessons will help educate children on the dangers, how to spot them, avoid them and what to do if you are bitten.
We will be running 3 sterilisation drives this year (we did one in March 2021) with each costing in the region of R25,000. Everyone is a volunteer apart from the qualified Vets and unfortunately, the drugs, antibiotics and pain killers used in the surgeries are really expensive.
It has been a bumpy but rewarding road. We are seeing a marked improvement in the interactions and condition of the animals we now treat and this can only get better.
Our aim for 2021 is to continue our mission – vaccinate, sterilise, and educate.
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To support Protect Ponta, or to find more information on the work which they do, visit their website or connect with them on Facebook.
*Content provided by Protect Ponta.