About Us - Animal Welfare of Luxor - Egypt

Animal Welfare of Luxor - AWOL - was started as a voluntary organisation in 2007 by Jan Bennell and two friends, English retired couple Pauline and Graham Warren who have lived permanently in Luxor since 2004. Jan lives in the UK and does the fundraising and administration, Pauline is out in the villages caring for the animals and Graham makes replacement tack for the donkeys on the West Bank. We all work as volunteers, take no salary, and no expenses.

Though we had all seen significant improvements to the animals on the east bank of Luxor and particularly the calash horses that give tourists tours of the town, the condition of the animals of the large farming community of El Marise and the surrounding villages, on Luxor's west bank, remained unchanged. There was, and still is, a desperate need for animal care on this side of the river. Rather than wait for someone else to do it, we decided to try our best to do all we can so that was the basis that brought about the foundation of AWOL. We have a mobile unit, which is Pauline and Graham's own vehicle, and we use this to go to the West Bank and treat the animals. We make many hundreds of head collars and other tack for donkeys, and exchange these for the chains that are traditionally around the donkeys noses which we take away and destroy. These poorly fitting items cause injuries, pain and distress.

Education is at the heart of everything that AWOL does.

AWOL became a UK Registered Charity No. 1124154 in May 2008 and Luxor charity No. 7 in September 2009. AWOL is going from strength to strength and we were all pleased to welcome both UK based Dawn Wallace as our fourth trustee and Dr Mohammed as our first veterinarian.

AWOL has to deal with problems where we find them

At AWOL we all passionately care about the welfare of animals
and in turn the welfare of the family that owns them.

Having spent many years helping people care for their animals and getting to know so many families we realise that it is not cruelty but a lack of understanding and outdated practices that compound the hardship. We do all that we can to improve the lives of amongst others the large number of dogs, horses and the extremely hard working donkeys through preventative medical care, treatment and education.

AWOL is making a real difference in the villages that form the farming community of El Marise and as we grow we were able to expand to cover the neighbouring village of Armant working from our mobile unit - as you can clearly see from our diary pages. AWOL owns a small piece of land on which in late March 2011 we started to build a basic medical centre where AWOL will be able to do so much more for the animals.

To see where AWOL is located and where you can meet us CLICK HERE.

We welcome like minded people to join us both in Luxor and in the UK to raise awareness and of course funds to help the community and especially the children grow with a better understanding for the animals that work so hard for them.

Fundraising The lifeblood of AWOL We all wish it wasn't so but without money it is impossible for AWOL to function so fundraising events organised by Jan and AWOL Supporters, mostly in the UK, form the lifeblood of the charity. If you can help Jan with fundraising for AWOL in any way please contact her on 01372 726702 or by e-mail to jan@awol-egypt.org. If you want to help AWOL to help the animals but are not able to raise funds then please consider starting a Standing order for £10 a month. Click Here for full details.

UK Registered Charity No: 1124154

This page was updated on 15-Jan-2012

Egyptian Charity Luxor No: 7 Registered 2009