Fiji, especially the island of Taveuni, has been a dream destination of mine since I read Jostein Gaarders fantastic novel "Maya".. I just needed to see the garden Eden live.. and in 2022 I had the chance to spend 7 weeks as a volunteer at PASH, a modern little clinic with a shelter in Nadi on the main island. 

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This place is much more modern and well equipped than anticipated, and the shelter is a truly lovely place for the animals, with a nice setup of enclosures, easy to keep clean and maintain, a decent quarantine area and a great surgical theater. It almost didn't feel like like shelter work. They serve a lot of private clients in the clinic as well, which helps with funds towards the care of strays or rescues. 

I would have loved to offer more help to the countless strays in the streets but I can still say that we made a change for the animals that were brought in. 

https://www.pashfiji.com/

 

The highlight of my trip was a one week visit to Taveuni at the end of my stay, where I met Julie from Taveuni animal lovers, a truly inspirational woman. She took it upon herself to help the whole stray population of the island, working closely with local authorities to support the cause and international vets to do the surgeries. She organizes deparasitation, vaccination, castration and overall health care campaigns regularly and is making a huge impact on the local dog population. As taveuni is a fairly small island, she stands a real chance to put uncontrolled breeding to a halt!

 I hope to be able to visit this project soon and get involved!

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https://www.taveunianimallovers.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Fijismobilespayclinics/

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