Getting Sheila's Dogs Home
Donation protected
I am sponsoring this campaign for my friend Sheila Phipps who is stranded in Indonesia without sufficient funds to relocate herself and her two dogs. This wonderful lady took me in and supported me when I was the one who was stranded. This is the absolute least I can try to do to repay her kindness and generosity.
Unable to find work in the UK and not wanting to depend on Social Security until she reached retirement age, Sheila went to Indonesia when she was in her mid-fifties to work as an English teacher. She quickly adapted to the culture there and found she loved the lifestyle and the people. She found her work as an English teacher very fulfilling, especially as she was helping teenagers and young adults get the qualifications they needed to find universities places in Australia as well as other countries.
Unfortunately, upon reaching the age of 67, she has been told that she will not be able to renew her work permit and that she must leave the country by the end of July 2016. Although obviously very upset, she resigned herself to making preparations to relocate herself and her two dogs back to the UK.
Sadly, she now faces the prospect of having to leave without the “family” she established in Medan – an affectionate 5-year-old Golden Retriever named Noodle and an adorable 2-year-old mixed-breed named Blackie, both of whom she adopted a few years after arriving in Indonesia.
She calculated that she had just enough money to do this if she sold all her household and personal possessions and if her dogs travelled as excess baggage. Imagine her horror when she discovered that UK rules for importing pets are the most stringent and expensive in the whole European Community.
She has already taken the right steps with up to date vaccinations, doing blood tests, and implanting microchips. Unfortunately, she then discovered that the UK does not allow pets to be flown in as “excess baggage” but insists that they must travel as “cargo freight”, even though excess baggage and cargo freight may well be on the same flight! There is a massive price difference between travelling as excess baggage and travelling as cargo freight, which increases the cost tenfold. This regulation is imposed by the UK government, not by the airlines themselves.
Sheila will now need to find around 60,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah (around AUD$6,000) for pet transport costs if she wants to relocate the dogs – a breathtaking sum on a teacher’s salary. As she also needs to pay for her own flight home, she has come to realize that she may well have to leave her beloved pets behind to face an uncertain future.
As painful as it would be to leave the dogs behind, she has done her best to find new homes for them in Medan. But Indonesia is not known as a nation of dog lovers. Those who do love dogs have already, like Sheila, taken in pets of their own. If Sheila cannot take Noodle and Blackie with her when she leaves, the only alternative is to put them to sleep. This is tragic not only for two young, healthy, loving dogs – but also traumatic for their “Mum.” Moving away from Indonesia, a place Sheila has come to consider as home, will be hard enough. Having to euthanize two innocent pups that she loves like children will only add to her grief.
Please help Sheila and her beloved dogs move together if you can. We would be extremely grateful for anything that will help. If enough people can look into their hearts and just make small donations, this could mean the difference between a sad or happy ending for Blackie, Noodle and Sheila.
Unable to find work in the UK and not wanting to depend on Social Security until she reached retirement age, Sheila went to Indonesia when she was in her mid-fifties to work as an English teacher. She quickly adapted to the culture there and found she loved the lifestyle and the people. She found her work as an English teacher very fulfilling, especially as she was helping teenagers and young adults get the qualifications they needed to find universities places in Australia as well as other countries.
Unfortunately, upon reaching the age of 67, she has been told that she will not be able to renew her work permit and that she must leave the country by the end of July 2016. Although obviously very upset, she resigned herself to making preparations to relocate herself and her two dogs back to the UK.
Sadly, she now faces the prospect of having to leave without the “family” she established in Medan – an affectionate 5-year-old Golden Retriever named Noodle and an adorable 2-year-old mixed-breed named Blackie, both of whom she adopted a few years after arriving in Indonesia.
She calculated that she had just enough money to do this if she sold all her household and personal possessions and if her dogs travelled as excess baggage. Imagine her horror when she discovered that UK rules for importing pets are the most stringent and expensive in the whole European Community.
She has already taken the right steps with up to date vaccinations, doing blood tests, and implanting microchips. Unfortunately, she then discovered that the UK does not allow pets to be flown in as “excess baggage” but insists that they must travel as “cargo freight”, even though excess baggage and cargo freight may well be on the same flight! There is a massive price difference between travelling as excess baggage and travelling as cargo freight, which increases the cost tenfold. This regulation is imposed by the UK government, not by the airlines themselves.
Sheila will now need to find around 60,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah (around AUD$6,000) for pet transport costs if she wants to relocate the dogs – a breathtaking sum on a teacher’s salary. As she also needs to pay for her own flight home, she has come to realize that she may well have to leave her beloved pets behind to face an uncertain future.
As painful as it would be to leave the dogs behind, she has done her best to find new homes for them in Medan. But Indonesia is not known as a nation of dog lovers. Those who do love dogs have already, like Sheila, taken in pets of their own. If Sheila cannot take Noodle and Blackie with her when she leaves, the only alternative is to put them to sleep. This is tragic not only for two young, healthy, loving dogs – but also traumatic for their “Mum.” Moving away from Indonesia, a place Sheila has come to consider as home, will be hard enough. Having to euthanize two innocent pups that she loves like children will only add to her grief.
Please help Sheila and her beloved dogs move together if you can. We would be extremely grateful for anything that will help. If enough people can look into their hearts and just make small donations, this could mean the difference between a sad or happy ending for Blackie, Noodle and Sheila.
Organizer
Kazz Fokes
Organizer
Perth WA
