A Day in the Life of SPANA Vet Ai

Aida, 27, works for the Tanzania Welfare Society (TAWESO) – a charity funded by SPANA to help working animals and communities in the Mtera region of Tanzania.

My alarm goes off…

…at 6.00am. I shower then I have a breakfast of tea and bread. After that I go to the TAWESO office, which is just a five minute walk away.

I got the job…

…after I heard about TAWESO while I was studying veterinary medicine at university. We had one subject called animal welfare which I found really interesting. So I researched the TAWESO, applied for a job and came to work with them as soon as I finished my studies.

A child strokes a plastic donkey in an animal welfare class in Tanzania

My typical week…

…is very varied! We run some mobile clinics, on Tuesdays we have school programmes and sometimes we go house-to-house to talk with owners about donkey welfare.

On mobile clinic days we go by motorbike to various locations around the Mtera lake. It’s a huge reservoir created for hydro-electric power. Primarily we treat donkeys’ skin wounds, stomach diseases, leg problems, and internal parasites. There’s always such a great demand for medical attention. A lot of donkey wounds are due to the use of yokes designed for oxen which harm the donkeys. But the owners are too poor to buy different carts so we help.

We also train owners in animal welfare. We do that for five hours and then go back to the office and write up a report or plan the next event.

Sometimes I have lunch at work, which I bring from home. I usually eat ugali (cornmeal porridge) and tilapia from the lake.

The worst part of my job…

…is how far I am from hometown. I came to this village without knowing anyone and it’s very far from my family, who are a 12 hour bus journey away. So I can’t see my parents and sisters very much.

The best part of my job…

There are so many things I enjoy. For example, I love animals so I like to spay and neuter animals to help prevent unwanted animals and the welfare problems that follow. We sometimes do this in Dar es Salaam for two or three days at a time.