Nov 20, 2016

A Humbling Experience

PART ONE

In 2008 I was invited to help out at a wildlife and animal sanctuary in Greece. At the time I was ready to move on from what I was doing and besides who wouldn’t say yes to a three month adventure holiday on a Greek island? I mean, how hard could looking after a few animals be, right?

The EKPAZ sanctuary is situated on the Greek island of Aegina, is easily accessible by ferry from Athens and is one of many Greek islands that have year round residents not 100% reliant on the tourism industry.

A bit of exploring will reveal a wonderfully woven sense of community, fantastic local restaurants tucked away in interesting little villages and seaside towns and scenery worthy of finding itself on postcards; the kind you see held up by a designer magnet on your friend’s parents kitchen fridge, right next to the latest photos of the grandchildren.

Well, three months turned into four and still today I reckon those were the hardest four months’ work I’ve ever done; tough months, both physically and emotionally.

As much as it is dismaying to discover how some human beings treat animals it is equally satisfying to feel that one is making a difference, while at the same time embracing the opportunity to learn a few new skills. Skills like scrummaging through the waste skips to be found outside various supermarkets when that is the only affordable source of food available for the sanctuary inhabitants; and I’m not just talking about the animals housed there either.

You should see what gets thrown away at these places on a daily basis when an item hits its ‘sell-by date’. In truth it’s quite shameful the waste that takes place on our planet when people and creatures are at the same time starving. I do realise there are various logistic challenges that make it easier said than done, not to mention the potential legalities that may or may not get invoked, but we weren’t saying no to the many tubs of Haagen dazs ice-cream (we filled the whole back seat and boot of the sanctuary Fiat on one particular morning and ate ice-cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner over the next week!), packets of chocolate biscuits, Halva bricks, bread, yoghurt, fruit and vegetables in perfect condition that we found. In fact we were more than happy to partake together with the furry and feathered friends we were taking care of.

At this point I have to confess that it’s a truly humbling experience popping out from inside one of these waste skips, arms loaded with all sorts of goodies to find passing local inhabitants staring at you with a combination of amused and ‘feeling sorry for you’ eyes. Doesn’t take long to get one’s mind past that though, helped along of course by the selling to oneself that they probably knew we were some of the crazy volunteers working at the sanctuary and looking for desperately needed food for the creatures housed there. They just didn’t know the whole of it ...