Help Demi Rescue Curaçao's Forgotten Dogs

Here is my story of how I met Demi:

It happened on a vacation in Curaçao, a beautiful island complete with beautiful sunsets and resort pina coladas. The pristine resorts will make you forget your normal life and everyday worries. However, don’t ever rent a car there! Because if you do, you will venture out you will see the pain, the neglect, the forgotten, the torment- the dogs.

It is the dogs. They are everywhere but most do not see them. You touristy you, rents a car to go to the coolest beach where you can swim with wild pigs and you have the greatest of times. Wow, look at you. You are Facebook worthy! But then beach day is over and from years of doing this voyage, you have the dog food and the water and the little foil plates because you see them. They are there-Right in front of your eyes as you drive back to your safe resort. The dogs are standing next to the island highway as the cars whizz by, but still, no one sees them. But you do, you pull over. You have the basics, food and water. Usually the dogs are in a group of three, seldom less. You feed them. But it is not that come to Jesus zen time where you are at peace. There is nothing but raw fear here. When you enter the dogs’ world, You take in the fear, the danger, the despair. You feed them quickly because you are scared that they will be scared and dart into traffic. They are so skinny and you know that they must be dehydrated, so you pour the water. You pour it quickly and try to get into that fucking car ever so quickly. You are tormented, no zen.

Dogs are freaking amazing beings, so much more than our less than human selves. They forgive. They forget. They are loyal to a fault. They just make things right. After several years, I came across one of those invisible souls along the highway on my way back from touristy pig beach and late for a dinner at my swanky touristy resort. There he was, emaciated, dehydrated, unloved and invisible. I felt like him in a way. I did. We gave him the dry dog food in the tin plate, we filled the water in a plate that looked like it was maybe filled a month ago, and went to quickly to leave so as not scare him into traffic. When I went to grab the driver’s side door of that rental car, to avoid the dog running into traffic, there it was. I paused. Time stopped; it was zen. When I opened the car door the dog rested his weary head on my hand. He saw me. I was not invisible to him. He wanted me to know that.

Of course, I still left, but he didn’t leave me. I thought mindless beachside novels would do the trick, maybe even more pina coladas? Nothing was numbing the thoughts… I rent the car, I stake out the place where it is not so touristy and where they do not look kindly upon a fair skinned tourist looking for a dog. I find him! After 8 hrs of waiting, of seeing countless dogs searching for something, for anything, I ignore them coldly because I was only looking for him. I found him. He is exactly as I found him: still emaciated, still so sick but still so loving. He gave me hope that I could rise from my own ashes-full of hope and love.

And then I met the others! The others who are so much better than myself, so kind, so much more real, so much more raw, so much more authentic. They too are invisible until you need them. Then when a dog is in need, there they are! They want no accolades, no pats on the back. They only care. What a concept in this difficult day and age! They are the rescuers. They rescue. They take the worst, the most invisible and find a way. They save these dogs when no one else will. They never ask for help; they often use their own funds to try to save at least one more.

My “invisible” is this Demi. I need to evolve somehow into a person like this. She is a Dutch girl in her 20’s who saves these invisible dogs that most people do not see. Somehow, someway she finds a way.

She takes the worst of the worst cases… the dogs who will not make it. The ones that are bloody, the ones that are indescribably skinny, indescribably forgotten. She tries to save them, however she is a terrible business woman. I know this from my own experience with her. She is too kind and too generous with what she has or doesn’t have. She would never survive on Wall Street or Greenwich. To this day she has not given me a bill for helping me adopt my street dog. She paid vet bills, immigration bills, high protein food…in her 20’s?? I think back what I was like at her age and sadly I just wasn’t that involved.

There needs to be more role models like this young woman. She halfheartedly told me that she lives in a not so nice home because it is the only place that she could rent that will accept her rescued dogs. In her 20’s? I cannot fathom this dedication? I need to be more like her.

I need to get her the funds to start a rescue in Curaçao because for some reason, getting a nonprofit rescue costs as much as buying a used car. My ultimate goal because I am a dreamer and believe that good always prevails somehow and someway is to fund Demi a home that she owns where she can save the dogs in her invisible zen life. If you are a dreamer like me, give her a donation. $1 or a bazillion… I hope if you are still reading this that you do. I’m thankful to have known her and to be inspired by her. Here is to those invisible souls that are not so invisible. You matter and you have changed me forever.❤️