Market Day by the Sea!

We have a lot of 'pre-owned' cats here in Jacobsbaai. We know that because we have personally homed, loved and put to rest under the bushes in the back garden, three that made our home their permanent base, and we have three more that are now firmly settled, namely Basil, Morris and Kindle! We homed Sage to the nursery where she chats to the customers and tells them that she is never fed! Wally went to our friends in Philadelphia (not the American town I hasten to add...... he would have had a problem now with the new President, being an alien! Hmmmm... cat or president...I let you decide!) Blackjack comes every evening for his supper but still won't let me get closer than one meter!!

Blackjack popping in for supper!

And there are others who have been left to fend for themselves when the owners move on, or dumped by those wonderful people who make life so rewarding.

So when Amy, who lives round the corner and is passionate about cats (and who has personally trapped, neutered and released at least a dozen cats, and who puts out food and water every day) asked me if I would like to help with a new privately run animal shelter situated in Vredenburg and long overdue, I said yes!

Let me qualify that 'yes'.

I am happy to do the behind-the-scenes-stuff. I can provide food, give donations when and if I can and make things to sell at their market days.

But. I cannot work with the animals. I get too emotional and want to bring every dog or cat or donkey or duck or whatever home with me. I would be in tears daily, and I would end up being extremely rude to the people whose animals are removed for the animals sake. I would enjoy chaining said owners to a pole, a short chain with a barbed-wire collar, with no food, water or shelter from the elements. I could happily shove fireworks into various outlets on their bodies and kick them every time I walked by. Oh yes, and make them fight each other and leave them bleeding in the street.

Anyway, I digress!

So I happily volunteered to man the stall at a market day on Saturday. It was held at St Helena Bay at a venue I had never heard of and didn't know existed! Never mind, I bravely set off with a box of bits and pieces from Amy plus the cash box (boosted with our first donation from Rob), my water and my chair and eventually (a few minutes late as I did get a little lost and had to backtrack), I met up with Ronel who had by then organised the table, put the cloth on and had arranged most of the items for sale! After we had introduced ourselves to each other, she left to go and do a few house visits and check up on the dogs that lived there. I must add that Ronel started the shelter, appropriately called 'Lighthouse Animal Shelter' and Amy designed the posters.

To the point!

And I had a great time!

There were lots of stalls selling a variety of items from food to jumble.

Some of the outside stalls.

We were in a huge barn-like building, out of the wind and the sun, even though it did get quite hot towards the afternoon. The first thing I did was to find the loo! One of the neighbouring stall holder ladies pointed me in the right direction and off I set. An interesting trek through another enormous barn where a few men were spray-painting the chassis of a lorry. Towards a dark corner I ventured, passing piles of tyres, boxes, fishing nets, tools, until I was quite worried that the toilet was either an open pit, or a long-drop with a sea-view! But no! I finally found a beautifully tiled, clean, functioning loo! Relief!

Our table!! Neat and tidy, thanks to Ronel!

It's amazing how people are drawn to an animal rescue group. I sold quite a few books, and a set of table-cloth weights (very useful in this part of the world...... inside the house sometimes!) But what really impressed me were the number of people who gave a donation because that was the only way that they could help us. Several people took flyers and at least two ladies want to help in some way.

The other tables inside the barn.

And the downside of the day? My chair broke so I had to stand for the last hour but it didn't matter.

Ronel came back to help me pack up and I handed over the money! After I had paid R80 for the table, there was just on R400 in the cash-box. We were thrilled.

And will I do it again?

Yes!

This Saturday coming, 4 February at Port Owen in Velddrif.

Better find another chair!