For the past five years, my wife Zarina has been the only thing standing between 60 abandoned stray dogs and certain death in Uzbekistan.

There are no suitable shelters here. No government support. No charities. No rehoming system. Nothing.

When people dump unwanted dogs, they die — unless someone steps in.

Zarina stepped in.

What started as helping a few strays slowly became 60 lives that nobody else would take responsibility for. Dogs that were injured, starving, abused, or simply thrown away.

She refused to turn her back on them.

But the cost of that refusal has been her own health.

For five years she has lived in survival mode. No days off. No staff. No separation between home and shelter. Sleeping in her clothes. Exhausted. Mentally and physically drained.

The photo of Zarina on the bench is not an exaggeration. It is a daily reality, between her chores (cooking rice for dogs, cleaning and caring for the 60 dogs)

And next week, for the first time, I am being forced to leave Uzbekistan and return to the UK to work - because we can no longer survive like this.

We are not giving up on each other. We are trying to save each other.

But we cannot do it alone anymore.

This fundraiser is not simply to buy dog ​​food.

It is to build a small, proper, staffed facility where the dogs can be re-homed abroad, cared for safely, and where Zarina can finally step out of constant crisis mode and begin to recover her life.

Because right now, she is carrying 60 lives on her own shoulders — and she is collapsing under the weight of it.

These dogs cannot be rehomed inside Uzbekistan. Euthanasia is not an option she can live with. And abandoning them is something she will never do.

So we are asking for help to create the only real solution:

A safe place for the dogs.

A chance for Zarina to rest.

A way for us to rebuild our lives and our future together.

If you are reading this, you are one of the first people in the world to truly see what this has cost her.

Please help us before compassion destroys the person who showed it.

This fundraiser is organised by Zarina's husband, family and friends.

Follow our journey on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/uzbekistan_strays_in_need