Volunteer Diaries

People who give their valuable time to animal projects have an interesting and sometimes an extremely challenging job on an emotional level. The daily ups and downs, emotional roller coasters as a result of animal injuries, rehabilitation success stories and financial difficulties, make their lives interesting and challenging. Here is their stories, directly as it is being experienced everyday and told in their own words. ^ To The Top ^

Claudia Schnell My name is Claudia..... Louise Joubert Hi to everyone. Some days I feel like the local nutcase around, but I am told that I am the founder trustee. Working at SanWild has always been a blessing despite the hard times. I am truly honoured to have been given the opportunity to help God's creatures when many people could not give a damn about their welfare and safety. Andre Grobler My name is Andre Grobler and I am one of the SanWild founding trustees. It has always been my dream to be involved with conservation and while growing up on my father's cattle farm in the Waterberg; I spent as much time as possible in the bush. Living close to nature has given me a lot of insight into nature and wild animal behaviour. Sometimes life can be extremely tough here, but I thoroughly enjoy my work. Yolandie Pienaar My name is Yolandie..... Zagaria I am Zagaria and I have worked at SanWild for many years.....I think it has now been 6 years! When I came here I initially worked as a labourer, but Ms. Louise needed someone to help out with the animals and I really love working with them. I am to see that all is okay at the rehab centre. They call me the Mongoose-Man and I love the 35 banded mongooses in our release program. They are my children. Rebecca Molamella My name is Rebecca. I started working at SanWild five years ago as a general cleaner, but over the years I have learnt a lot from Ms. Louise and now I help her to raise injured and orphaned animals. I still do work as a cleaner as well, but when animals need looking after I remain at the house so that I can make sure the babies are all right. I very much enjoy working with the animals as God made them all very special and we should care for them.