Kibera youth speaks on his passion for dog rescue and animal welfare

“There are people who own dogs but do not have time to take them for a walk, and there is pet sitting which is like any sitting but for pets. It is more of personalised care for the pets within their premise,” he said.

He recalls not growing up in a companion animal culture, having a unique interest in animal welfare is basically out of interest, and dealing with grief. 

“When I started out, I was dealing with grief, I started rescuing some stray puppies from the street as a way of dealing with the pain of losing my mother. They became a motivation to me because now I had to figure out how I am going to feed them and ensure they have a shelter,” he said.

Today, he has 20 stray dogs under the Kibera Youth for Stray Animals with some having been rehired with suitable owners.

“We have so many non-profit organisations in Kibera yet none was addressing the animal protection issues. I saw a gap and I worked towards bringing a difference. I have seen how local authorities deal with suspected rabies cases, they just poison dogs, which is not the solution, which should be preventing rabies,” he said.

With the support of different stakeholders, Kibera Youths for Stray Animals do the vaccination campaign in the community. They help with the sterilization of stray animals in order to control the overwhelming population.

“We bridge the gap within the community, animal welfare bodying other stakeholders. We are witnessing a change of attitude in the community with regards to how people handle animals within us,” he said

“We do not have a vet capacity and we have partnered with Kenya Society for Animal Protection and Care and TNR Trust to access the community.  We know stray cats and dogs hotspots so we lead them to where they are,” he added.

He notes that although they face challenges like lack of funds, there is a change of attitude towards animal welfare with children being their major ambassadors.  According to him, they have found forever homes for some of the rescues while twenty dogs are still in the shelter.

“Most of the injured animal cases are reported by the children and its good to see the younger generation appreciate what we do and help in taking care of these animals. They have seen these animals transform from abused animals to healthy ones that you can walk with a leash and they want to be part of it,” he said.