Animal Compassion Club
Rising Academies School
CPI’s first educational programme for young people, an Animal Compassion Club, began in one Rising Academies school in May 2022. The club is run by CPI’s programme coordinator, Alie Turay, a former teacher and school manager.
The aims of the Animal Compassion Club are to:
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Teach students about the needs of animals
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Enable students to become role models by showing kindness, empathy and compassion for animals in need.
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Provide a forum for students to discuss important issues relating to animals in their communities.
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Empower students to have a knowledge and understanding to protect themselves and others in their community from dog bites and the risk of rabies.
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Motivate students to pursue veterinary / animal-related careers.
Salone Animal Talk
In Sierra Leone, there are only two qualified veterinary surgeons working in the community, in the entire country. This means that people have very little access to veterinary care or veterinary education about how to look after their pets.
Meanwhile, the use of social media is increasing rapidly. Salone Animal Talk is CPI's educational Facebook page aimed at communicating key information on how to care for animals and what to do if an animal becomes sick. The daily posts are written in both English and Krio and cover topics such as common infectious diseases, vaccination, sterilisation, and avoiding dog bites.
The page is managed by CPI trustee and veterinary surgeon, Rebecca Dobinson, and translated into Krio by CPI volunteer, Amadu Barrie. Within one month, the page gained over 1000 followers, and people began to quickly engage with questions about their pets, which Rebecca has been able to respond to remotely or refer to a local vet.
A recent message we recieved:
It translates roughly into:
"For a long time, I have been waiting for something like this which gives some guidelines on how to care for my dog.
I am very happy to see this Facebook page."
