In a country where concepts such as pets and recreational riders do not exist, there are many animals, especially in the countryside, but they are part of the decoration. Donkeys and horses help with the work. If the animals get sick or injured, it’s an economic blow; emotion is not involved. You are poor, life is hard, you live day by day and the future is tomorrow.

Diseases and death, accidents, carcasses of dead animals, it’s all part of everyday life. Then you will be quite surprised when suddenly a white car drives up on the village square with people in white coats who come to your workplace or school to tell you about the importance of good health for horses, donkeys and mules, and who let you as a school student take part in a “Brooke Donkey and Horse Day” drawing competition, whilst outside they are treating the animals for free.

This happens everywhere within Brooke-Egypt’s working area. 28 veterinarians, their assistants, the Brooke-farriers, the drivers of the mobile clinics, the Brooke-trained rural guides, all are committed to teaching the notion of animal welfare to the widest possible audience.

There is knowledge transfer to school children, rural children, veterinary students, local government veterinarians. And does it help? Without exception, the students and veterinarians see the acquired knowledge as an enrichment. And the children we educate today will hopefully apply the lessons later.

Unfortunately, even among animal owners there will always be people who do not want to learn, and disasters such as the corona pandemic cause a huge setback, but broadly speaking, education does have a positive effect. Aware of the health risks posed by unskilled quacks, animal owners are demanding better care for their animals.

Some quacks are re-trained by Brooke; others focus on another profession that they can practice without training. We see less and less horrible practices such as seton and firing. As long as there are working animals, the Brooke-Egypt teams will continue their help, which largely consists of knowledge transfer.