Just outside the picturesque village of McGregor is The Eseltjiesrus Donkey Sanctuary that has held a special place in my heart since my first visit there about ten years ago, when I adopted one of their rescue donkeys, Sheila.
As the Sanctuary approaches their 10th birthday in 2017, they have sent me this note and a request for additional support …. Have a read and if you can, please offer them your kind help.
‘We find ourselves overwhelmed with gratitude for the support shown by our friends and donors over the past decade. The Donkey Adoption Programme is our biggest source of donations, and it has been pleasing to see the steady annual growth in the number of adopters. To those of you who have supported the Sanctuary in this way, or by capital donations, we thank you deeply.
We also want to let you know about another way that a few of our supporters have chosen to assist us during this first decade. With the purchase of our farm and the improvements (fencing, paddocks, and irrigation) necessary to get them ready for our donkeys, we have taken out an access mortgage bond with ABSA.
While we are making the same sort of steady progress towards paying off that bond as many of you undoubtedly did when purchasing a home, it frustrates us to have to pay as much as we do in interest payments on the bond when there are so many other good uses for our funds.’
To reduce the balance on the bond – which in turn reduces the interest payments due – some of our supporters have been incredibly kind and generous in advancing us interest-free loans for a set period of time. We fully realise that not everyone is in a position to provide this level of generous help, so we are doubly grateful to those who have been able to do so.
So while thanking you for whatever forms and levels of support you have been able to give to the Sanctuary to carry it through its first decade (with many more to come!), we also want to let you know about this additional way that a few of our friends have been able to assist us.
If you think that this is something that you might be able to consider doing as well, we would be happy to have a confidential conversation with you about this, with absolutely no obligation on your part to commit to anything unless and until you had all of your questions answered. As another option, you may wish to consider providing for the donkeys in your will. Again, we have full information on this, please consult us.
Whether or not this is even within the realm of possibility for your consideration, please know how much we and the donkeys appreciate whatever support you might be able to give as we enter into our second decade. Many thanks!’
Promoting the welfare and status of donkeys through a culture of caring.
For more information contact Johan van Zijl at: info@donkeysanctuary.co.za or call: 023 6251593. Website: www.donkeysanctuary.co.za
