Kim would like to say huge thank you to all the amazing volunteers who gave up their valuable time to help at the ACE shop, with a special big thank-you going to Dave and Carol (pictured above) who not only had the excellent idea of a temporary ACE shop but also worked tirelessly most days in the shop to help ensure its success.
The money raised in these 2 weeks will be going directly to the animals of Luxor. This money will nearly cover a whole months running costs, that’s hundreds of animals!
So thank you again to all our supporters, it is times like these that we realise how lucky we are to have such a wonderful group of volunteers helping us in our work. Without you we just couldn't do what we do out in Egypt. THANK YOU.
Also a brief update on Kim, she has had a few complications, which has meant even more appointments with various specialists, to ensure they get her medication right, but on the whole she is recovering remarkably quickly considering. She hopes to return to Luxor as soon as the Doctors will allow!
Kim wants to say a HUGE THANK YOU to her wonderful husband Ayman, and we all join her in this. A thank you, not only for taking care of ACE in her absence (alongside his normal work), but for staying in Egypt to do this while she was so ill in the UK especially when he so desperately wanted to be with her!!!
Colin visited Luxor in August with his wife, Kate, and one of his daughters, Rebecca; they were recommended to visit ACE by restaurateur Laura from the Jewel of the Nile Restaurant. One of our local ongoing businesses who support ACE and our work.
The following day they visited the hospital and met with Julie Clarke, one of our volunteers who showed them round ACE explaining about our work .
Colin says: "One of the 1st donkeys we met was Felix; he was so pleased to have our company and trotted round the buildings and outside with us throughout our visit. He stole the hearts of our family and our cameras were clicking constantly. Julie Clarke explained the work of ACE and its education programme with school children and she explained the benefits of giving them hands-on experience with looking after and understanding how to care for their animals. The facilities at ACE looked superb and we were impressed with the dedication of the staff and volunteers and were pleased to see the results of their work and education, watching the locals bring in their donkeys and horses for proper care and attention."
Their other daughter, Jessica was left in the UK as she suffers from a very severe form of ME/CFS and has been hospitalised and bed-bound for three years. It had been her wish that this year her family had a good holiday and went somewhere far away and hot – they certainly found that in Luxor!
"Through our local church friends Jessica had a donkey sponsored in her name from the Donkey Sanctuary in the UK. When Julie Clarke told us of her dream to continue to look after Felix and use him to educate the children we decided that we wanted to help and offered to sponsor Felix on behalf of Jessica and Rebecca.
On our return home Rebecca was so keen to show her sister pictures and video of Felix and a photo of him is in prominent place in her hospital room...We think Felix may have been teething as he wanted to cool his mouth on the chilled drink can!
We are looking forward to seeing Felix growing up and hearing about his adventures!"
Everyone at ACE would like to say a very big thank you to the whole family for this very generous donation, and fantastic opportunity to help us educate the children in Luxor who visit us for education on animal care and welfare. The majority of families have at least one donkey as a part of every day life, so it is particularly important to educate them on handling, maintenance and care with donkeys. We look forward to telling everyone about Felix in his work in the education room!
Felix sends special donkey kisses to Colin, Kate, Rebecca and Jessica!
To Jenny Fogg, a vet from the UK who came out to help ACE for a whole month. She worked incredibly hard and we are very grateful for her dedication! She is pictured below with Felix…
…As is Jo, who came to help us at ACE for a week!!!A big thank you to you both!!!
And some exciting Felix news will be coming very soon!!!!
Not only have our vets being diagnosing and treating the obvious, but they’ve also been busy looking for the not so obvious… This usually involves using a microscope to diagnose various diseases. Our vets are very keen to develop their skills, and try and learn as much clinical pathology as possible with the limited resources we have.
Pictured below is a demodex mite. This mite sits under the skin in the hair follicle and causes hair loss as well as being itchy! Luckily once a diagnosis is made by finding the mite under a microscope, treatment can commence!!
Pictured above is a demodex (the odd looking creature in the centre!!!)
We also perform blood smears on a lot of our equine patients. Blood borne disease are very common in Egypt, so anything with a fever has a smear performed which is then examined under the microscope. Pictured below is a blood smear which shows the presence of Babesia, a parasite that causes fever, lethargy and weight loss. The parasite is the small dots within the large blobs (the red blood cells).
Pictured below are all our Egyptian vets, David, Assma and Hannah, sitting in the lab looking at slides under the microscope!
We just wanted to let you all know, that Kim, Manager of ACE Luxor, has recently been diagnosed with a rare tumour of the heart and has had to return to the UK to have open heart surgery. Needless to say that this has been an extremely worrying time for her family and friends, including all of us here at ACE, her second family. However we are pleased to report that the operation a couple of weeks ago, was successful. She is recovering very well with her family here in the UK. All check ups are showing good progress and she hopes to return to Egypt, and to carry on with ACE as soon as the Doctors will allow her, albeit, we hope, at a slightly slower pace!
We also of course wanted to wish her the very best in her recovery, and hope she is looking after herself and not worrying about ACE too much!
Kim pictured dematting a cat at ACE.
Finally a message from Kim, for those who may wish to send her get well cards or flowers, she would rather, as is her way, that people spend the cost of a card as a donation to ACE. There will never be any changing her, and her selfless ways, and we wouldn't want to!
I am sure I speak for everyone when I say... "GET WELL SOON - ACE is missing you very much and we all cant wait for your return!!"
Rita, her dog out in Egypt, eagerly awaiting her return!
Kim would like to say huge thank you to all the amazing volunteers who gave up their valuable time to help at the ACE shop, with a special big thank-you going to Dave and Carol (pictured above) who not only had the excellent idea of a temporary ACE shop but also worked tirelessly most days in the shop to help ensure its success.
