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Volunteers
CHARLIES ANGELS - OCTOBER 2003
Life, ah life!!!!
Just when you think things can never be as bad
again, especially after the forest fire, there
sometimes comes a ray of sunshine and hope
starts again.
In the beginning of October I woke up to
incredible pain in my lower back and left leg.
I'd had back problems on and off during the last
2 years and knew this to be the start of a
hernia (slipped disk). Now it was at its worst
the sciatica nerve was now affected. I was taken
to hospital for an MRI scan and it showed two
disks were affected - immediate operation was
necessary - 10 days in hospital - 1 month of bed
rest!!!! Who would take care of my cats.
Anyway at present it didn't matter because my
health insurance policy wasn't active for
another 6 months. No operation, increased pain.
Medication and painkillers - hope dies.
Then came the ray of sunshine in the form of
Elena and Martine from Germany. They arrived on
the 6 October and Bianca from Holland arrived on
the 7 October. Charlies Angels had arrived . . .
(insert photos of Elena and Martine and Bianca)
We had arranged previously that they would come
for a weeks working holiday - it was just a
miracle that they were here at the beginning of
my crisis.
They took wonderful care of me and the cats and
all three girls carried me through tha week wih
devotion and dedication, even though the pain
couldn't be hidden there was sunshine and
laughter all around. They each even took cats
and puppies home to re-home.
Best Summer Ever by the volunteer worker Irene
from Finland
I heard of Jeannie first when I was looking for
a place to do my EU practise in 1999, but cause
I didn’t know how to contact her then it just
fell through. About a year later I happened to
find her website and so I decided to finally get
in touch with her. Cause I had decided to take
another year break from my studies and cause I
love animals and I like living in Turkey, I
asked if she needed a volunteer for the summer.
And she did!
So, I came and I met Jeannie and her
sweethearts. I had two first impressions that I
can still recall. First I met Batman, who is a
very distinctive and adorable cat gentleman,
when you get to know him, but before you do, you
can just find him sucking your shirt and not
letting you go, which can get you to think other
words than gentleman of him. I fell for him
immediately and he made me feel very welcome to
The Cat shelter. I am so sure that he knew that
he got me around his paw! It took rather a long
time for me to deny anything from him; I
showered the grass, I put the laundry to dry,
well I did everything he on my shoulders even
though it took twice as much time…
The second impression was that Jeannie really is
something special. She got many visitors the day
I first started and she still advised me what to
do, hosted the visitors, helped the cats and
worked hard herself as well. She seemed to be so
full of energy! This impression has lasted. I
admire her for her energy! It is amazing how
much one person can do if she/he is persistent.
And with the help from the others one can do
even more! Nothing is impossible! I hope we can
all put our strength together this summer and
find a new place for The Catshelter.
A little by little I started to know the cats
and their personalities. I never learned to know
all of their names, but then again my name
memory has never been so good…It was so lovely
to sit down and have the cats around after
everything was done. It was just too bad that I
usually didn’t have so much time for that cause
I had to rush back to Marmaris where I was
taking care of one girl in the evenings. Also I
loved spending time with the dogs we had! I
tried to take them for a walk as often as
possible and play with the puppies we had. They
are so wise and well trained thanks to Jeannie!
Last summer was one of the bests, but also one
of the busiest I’ve ever had. Just cleaning the
inside of the house took about 2-3 hours and
then there was also the garden, where Jeannie
spent a lot of time to get it look as good as it
looks. It is such a shame that it will be torn
down! Just when the trees and the grass were
getting stronger…
Every day something unexpected happened. To
mention a few, I recall one morning when I saw
from the dolmus an injured dog beside the road.
Jeannie went to look for him, but she couldn’t
find him anymore. What she did find was a little
turtle, who had also been in the accident and
who needed love and care. So the Turtle moved to
the kitchen to get better. Another morning when
I arrived, Jeannie had got 15 cute kittens, who
all had quite bad eye infection and who needed
regular medication. In a week they had become
very playful, curious kittens, who just loved to
make a mess.
All these unexpected things that happen take
time from the daily routines and they keep
Jeannie even busier than she already is. I
learned a lot last summer and I know that I
still have a lot to learn, but I hope I can help
her so that she doesn’t have to do everything by
herself and that maybe she could have some time
for herself as well. I am grateful that I can
work with her and that she has patience to guide
me. Since I was a kid one of my biggest dreams
has been working with the animals. I’ve always
had a lot of pets from rats to cats and my
sister still has, but now when I’ve started to
study to become Bachelor of the Social Services,
I can’t take any cause I just don’t have enough
time for them and that wouldn’t be fair for the
pets. I would have never believed how hard it is
to live without pets when you’ve had them all
your life! That’s one reason why I’m so glad of
having a chance to spend my summer with Jeannie
and her pets. Now I have some pets around me at
least in the summer time… |
