BAWA

Vaccination Program

By Permission of Insight Magazine
Text: Elizabeth Henzell Photos: Patiria Jennides

Move'em on, head 'em out
Head ‘em out, move ‘em on
Keep them doggies moving - Rawhide!

Something like that! But while the words are a jumbled confusion in my brain what I am watching is more like a well orchestrated symphony. 6 o’clock Wednesday morning 7 April and the BAWA –  Bali Animal Welfare Association  –  ‘rabies vaccinating’ teams are ready to move out. Their trendy clothes, the very coolest of tight jeans and jackets, some in bandanas, caps - Che Guevara style - belie the serious nature of the job ahead.  Inside the clinic the tiny puppies and kittens are just waking up. Dreamy little kittens start to meow as they smell the home-cooked stew. Once a mother always a mother! The puppies, though, seem more interested in the “troops” with ‘we’re coming too, huh? we are, ya, huh, huh’ barking and tails wagging.

At the entrance to the clinic kitchen in Lodtunduh  I stop, stunned by the majesty of Mount Agung across a sea of green rice fields. The morning is clear and Agung is breathtakingly beautiful but there is no time for contemplation as the BAWA rabies vaccinating teams are packed and ready – six vehicles -  rollin’ rollin’ rollin’.

The ravishing Revina, as ravishing as you can get at this early hour, is the team leader.  The vet in the group I am travelling with.  She preps her team for their task ahead. Revina graduated four years ago and is now doing a Masters in medical science. She will administer the vaccine. 

Move em in, head ‘em out... the seven of us pile into the Toyota van. Yande is the driver, Apel, Made and Guru will work the nets and collar the dogs with the red ribbons, and another Made will record the owners’ names, their dogs’ names, ages and a brief description. He has to write fast because all this is done on the run! These guys are fit!

As we alight from the vehicle the jackets come off to proudly display their BAWA T-shirts. The Kelian, the head of the Banjar in Batu Bulan greets us. He has given written permission for BAWA to vaccinate the dogs in his Banjar. As I look along this beautiful Bali village street people quietly start to emerge from the front of their compounds. There are at least 30 –  40 people, some holding their dogs, others running free.

An old man is standing at a warung entrance with an equally as old dog. Made speaks to him and he gives a slight shake of his head –‘no, I cannot hold my dog, I am too old’. The dog is suspicious and turns to run. With a movement that I didn’t see coming Yande has netted the dog. His howls send a number of other dogs running but Apel, Made and Guru have them too. Revina moves in with the ‘esky’ of vaccines and in less than four blinks four dogs are vaccinated. ‘yum yum yum’ Revina quietly soothes the dogs with this English expression! I am not convinced the dogs believe her but it is all over in a second.

Yande takes scissor-like instruments from his cool jeans and the red ribbons are fastened around the dogs’ necks. A spray of red paint is applied to a puppy not yet old enough for a ribbon that could be too tight in the future. 

Since the first recorded human death caused by a bite from a rabid dog in November 2008, BAWA’s founder, Janice Girardi, has been stressing the importance of vaccinating Bali’s dogs. A systematic program to vaccinate 70% of the islands dogs will eradicate rabies. This has been her mission.

Batu Bulan’s dog loving residents are all waiting at the front of their compounds as directed in the letter from BAWA. Made is recording it all. I am particularly impressed with one young girl who is patiently sitting with her caramel brown Bali dog and two of the most beautiful cats I have ever seen. Bali moggies  –  butter balls, their fur thick and clean. Inside her compound another four healthy Bali dogs are waiting with the rest of her family members. They hold them gently, reassuring them, as they are vaccinated. The cats, too.

Made records it all. By 11am ninety-nine dogs have been vaccinated by this one team. Multiply that by six teams and you can see the success rate of this program. It just needs support – government and community.

As we leave the old man is sitting in front of the warung, his dog beside him.
My hearts calculatin' 

Success will be waitin', 

Be waitin' at the end of my ride. 


Rawhide!

elizabeth henzell for Insight Bali