AWOL ~ July 2011 ~ Donkey Newsletter ~ Page 1 of 6

If you ever wondered why AWOL's mission is to improve tack it is plainly seen here. This is the wooden bridge that goes across a donkey's back over which the rope or chain of the cart that it pulls goes. There is an awful lot of downward pressure on this piece of tack so having nails protruding out of it is definitely not something that anyone wants to see.

These are poor farming people who buy a nail or two and then hit them into the wood with a stone or piece of brick. Seldom does anyone own a hammer.

Move your cursor over this picture to get a better view of the head collar that this young man has made and you will see that he has used an old motorcycle chain. Probably something that he just found broken by the side of the road.

Hard cash is in very short supply out in the villages that we work in.

On inspection we removed all his tack and took it away to be destroyed and replaced it with AWOL tack made from locally purchased materials. It still only costs AWOL about £5 to £6 to change all a donkey's tack but that would be an awful lot of money for him to find.

You may remember this donkey from a few months ago when Dr Mohammed removed a tumour from above its eye.

It has healed so well and all he has to show for it now are a few missing eyelashes. Regrettably these will not grow back but at least now he can see where he is going.