K9 9K

One of the ways we celebrated 15 years of providing veterinary care and humane education in the Cook Islands was to join with the Hash House Harriers on Monday to do a run / walk with our furry friends. (We also commemorated this occasion by creating great-looking new EHF T-shirts which could be bought for $20 in mens and ladies styles!)


The event was held at the Punanga Nui Market in Avarua and was advertised in the newspaper 2 weeks in advance. In spite of a severe petrol shortage on the island (no petrol at the stations since Friday) there were still 50+ people in attendance, many of whom brought a can of dog or cat food to support our work here. The weather was perfect and Slacker (Andy), the ring leader of the Hash Harriers, welcomed everyone with his jovial remarks.


He then proceeded to tell us where we were going: down to the back road past Pandanus Petrol (still out of Petrol), and, depending on how long you wanted to run / walk, you could continue down the back road until you saw any road coming back to the main road. This split the walk into a 1.5km, a 3km, and a 5km track, the longest path going down to the roundabout by the post office before returning to the market. Everyone enjoyed the exercise before returning to the group for a bit of a social.

As is usual in the Hash Harriers, down-downs were given out for various reasons resulting in various attendees having to drink out of dog bowls. A sausage sizzle (hot dogs in a slice of bread with fried onions) was available with bread being donated from the local Turoa Bakery. They were $2 / snag and the money raised was kindly donated to Esther Honey.



All in all it was a good event to say thanks to the community for their generous support. Without the support of the community, as well as the support of our head office in the US, we wouldn’t be able to offer this service to the Cook Islands. Many organizations struggle because they are not accepted into the community in which they are trying to operate but that is clearly not the case here. I mention the support of the head office because without the work that is done there we would not have the volunteers, the supplies and equipment, the facility, or any form of organization. It really requires a lot of work behind the scenes to get all this together and to celebrate 15 years of service here without mentioning that effort would be, well, I can’t think of a word.

There should be a movie made here of pictures from the last 15 years. So many volunteers and thousands of animals helped. A huge thank you goes out to all the volunteers who have made the journey over here to help, also to those whose contributions make this opportunity possible for both the animals and the volunteers, and to the community!

Thank You!!!

It’s not all work!!

When volunteers come here to volunteer, it’s sometimes hard for me to remember that they also need some down time to re-energize and continue to take care of all the animals on this island. The volunteers are scheduled to work five days out of the week with two days off to explore what the island has to offer. This can include many activities ranging from relaxing on the beach on any side of the island, snorkelling, walking a trail, going to town, grabbing a bite to eat at the various establishments around the island to scuba diving, paintball, fishing, or even going to another island.

During the week however, we now have some regular activities in the evenings to break things up a bit.

On Mondays, we join the Hash House Harriers for a little socializing and exercise. Each week, trails are created in new locations around the island to allow everyone to see island views that they would not see if they stayed on the main road. One can choose to walk or run and the trail is kept interesting with various trail marks to keep participants guessing. Once we’re all back where we started, we catch up on a few drinks before heading home for showers.

On Tuesdays, we join a local dance group and find out just how hard it is to move like the locals do. We usually go for about an hour and begin by joining the kids at the amateurs for a little warm-up; the guys learn how to shake their legs and the girls learn how to move their hips. It can be quite a work out as the drum group picks up the pace on their pate’s (local name for the wooden drum they keep the beat on). After the warm-up comes the dancing where you can try a few routines with the group. Older kids start moving in at this point and the level of dancing is heightened. It’s good fun to practice and after a while, if you stay long enough, you start to learn the moves. Dancing often makes me sweat more than the running did the day before.

On Thursdays, those who haven't had enough exercise on Monday and Tuesday can join us in training for the Week of Running held at the end of September. A track has been set where runners are timed to see how long it takes them to complete 5, 8, 10km. This can really be exhausting if the sun is up. We’ve had a number of volunteers who have been keen runners and actually run around the island, some of them more than once. Not me, yet!

Finally, on Friday nights, we usually go out and dance until well after midnight. There are several good places in town and different groups of volunteers like different things, but I’m game for most choices. In some of the places, the locals will lead you on to the dance floor to dance to the local music and will show you how it’s done freestyle. You can shock them with the moves you’ve been practicing on Tuesdays. It’s all very joyous and if you’re lucky you may meet some of the best dancers in the Cook Islands (they compete for these things). They’re good guys and they are willing to teach you.

So it’s not all work, although we are still on call 24 hours.