Dear Friends and Supporters,
It is with the greatest pleasure and gratitude that I introduce to you the second member of the AnimalCare TagTeam: my dear friend and our former volunteer, Joy E. Saga. Joy was our volunteer going back to 2011, especially during events. She is also a very good friend, great listener, great empathiser and is ever-willing to help whenever I am in need. Joy continues to be very supportive of AnimalCare now even though we no longer participate in events.
Joy actually needs no introduction in the cat-caring community as she supports and helps many cat-carers. She is a rescuer and cat parent too.
For those who might have missed our announcement last month, the AnimalCare TagTeam is a team of friends (younger than me) who will take over the running of AnimalCare after I am gone. They are our succession team.
Welcome on board, Joy and thank you!!
Here is Joy’s self-introduction:
Raised in Cat City (Kuching), I grew up loving animals particularly cats. [Confession: I love cats more than humans.] Many people will say to me “Oh, you are from Kuching, now wonder you like cats”. This statement is not true. There are equally as many cat haters in Kuching as well. The fact that I was raised in Kuching, did not influence my love for them in any way. Perhaps, I was a cat in my past life. Perhaps I was born just loving them.
We always had cats at home. When I went to college for my tertiary education, I even rescued a kitten and flew him home with me when I completed my studies!
On one hot summer day of 1996, I had to rescue a neighbour’s cat on a townhouse roof (about 3 storeys high) in the UK. The poor boy was so dehydrated and frightened. To access the roof, I had to unscrew the fire escape glass pane at the top floor and inched my way onto the roof. Thank goodness he cooperated and let me hold and rescue him.
These are some of the few crazy things I had done for the sake of my feline family. I have plenty of stories to tell, but that is for another day.
If my poor memory serves me well, I first got to know about AnimalCare and Kah Yein through the blog circa 2011 or earlier. I was experimenting with blogging and at the same time, was volunteering at ISPCA in Ipoh. I spotted a blog on fostering and it all took off from there as my values resonated with AnimalCare’s. I did what I can, when I can, as I truly believed and loved what AnimalCare was doing. I enjoyed volunteering and helping Kah Yein at booths and could do so when I was jobless. Now, with a full-time job, I can only support behind the scenes to make sure that the animals continue to receive all the help we can give.
We do not live on this planet as sole superior beings. We share our planet with the animals, plants and all that breathes and lives within. In sharing, as superior beings (or so we claim), we need to be trustworthy custodians to pass this world down to the next generation. Doing that little bit may seem like a drop of water in a vast ocean, but that one drop can create a ripple of tsunami for a change that we want to see. Do it anyway. You never know what impact it has to another, especially the animals.
So join us, this mini army, to create a community that embraces kindness towards animals. Together, we can create that change. Believe!
