Kathleen Schulze

 

Animal Care

(SPCA)

2 months

Nationality: German

 

“Her knowledge and expertise really made a difference in our animal clinic” – Juan August, SPCA Volunteer Supervisor.

 

Kathleen Schulze came to Cape Town as an experienced veterinary assistant from Germany, hoping to gain work experience and use her knowledge from her home country to assist the SPCA animal care project. SPCA is the oldest animal welfare organization in South Africa. The organization covers a vast area, approximately 11 000km² and looks out for the interests of domestic, farm, working and traction animals, animals reared for consumption, wildlife, animals used for entertainment and exhibitions, as well as animals used in sport and for research.

 

During her time at SPCA, Kathleen worked fulltime in the Animal Clinic, where she monitored the work being done in the clinics and the operating theatre. Kathleen started off with the pre-medicine, providing animals with necessary medication ahead of their operation and shaving them in case the animal was going to need surgery. She assisted with the anaesthesia and was a full-time assistant at the operation theatre.

 

Because of her experience, Kathleen was able to assist on all aspects at SPCA, and had a great deal of responsibilities at the Animal Clinic and for the operation process. Despite there being 104 staff members at SPCA, Kathleen managed to become a valuable member in the SPCA team in a short period of time.  Her dedication and work effort have been tremendous in the two months at her project, with her often working longer hours than volunteers are expected to.

 

“She always showed great enthusiasm and was keen to assist wherever we needed her. She is confident, well-spoken and has shown great pride in her work”, praised her supervisor.

 

Kathleen found her volunteer work at SPCA to be incredibly valuable, since she was able to gain a lot of work experience as a veterinarian assistant. According to Kathleen, she enjoyed the increased amount of responsibility she had, the amount of work that was being done on a daily basis and the speed thereof, and mostly the support and friendliness of the local staff.

 

We are happy to hear Kathleen had such a wonderful learning experience at SPCA, and we are delighted she has made such a great impact at the organization with her expertise and work effort. Plenty reasons to award Kathleen “Volunteer of the Month” for February! Congratulations Kathleen, you deserve it!

-  Mark Wijsman, Head of Information Office