https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vafa-Animal-Shelter/212270544782:

How did I get to VAFA from the USA? The trail has taken so many twists and turns that looking back, I can hardly remember the path. But the motivation was always the same. I was searching for an environment in Tehran where I could practice my beginners Persian and where I could volunteer using one of my life skills. I am a nurse, but certainly did not want to have anyone's life in my hands and not be able to express myself adequately. I have had dogs all my life and owned a farm where I raised sheep, cows and goats. My farm work partner was a finely tuned, expertly trained Border Collie. VAFA seemed like the perfect fit. I could do practical work, no human being's welfare would be my responsibility and I could utilize what I thought was my extensive experience with the canine species. Experience? Ha!! What experience? Nothing in my life has ever prepared me for this adventure. I first arrived at the VAFA shelter in Hashgerd about 1/ 1/2 months ago and walked into a huge outdoor pen containing about 200 dogs. Excited to see a new face the dogs rushed at me, pressing so tightly around my legs that I could not move, They were all rearing up on their back legs with paws on my back and shoulders, and pawing my arms with their clawed feet. The only thing that saved my 105 pound body from falling over was that I had an equal number of dogs on all sides, propping me in an upright position. As things calmed down and after I managed to plaster my back against a fence, so I could stand upright, I took a few deep breaths. I tried to comprehend what was going on. I could see immediately that some of the dogs were friendly, but others very poorly socialized. If they had ended up in our local shelter at home, they would have been euthanized immediately. Then I noticed that Farah Azari, a lead volunteer, was peacefully ambling around the pen with 10 to 15 dogs following her, as if she were walking in a field of clover with a bunch of puppies. Hummmmm.......she seems knows something that I surely do not know! So, here is were my learning process and tremendous respect for the VAFA volunteers and workers started. Here is where I shed my western sensibilities and opened up to the reality in the lives of my new two legged and four legged friends in Iran. The stories and pictures on Facebook are fascinating, but they tell little about the smells, sounds, dangers, wounds, hardships and expenses the volunteers and workers face. They can not tell about the countless gestures of kindness you see second by second. Actually witnessing the generosity, commitment, skill, patience and perseverance that the volunteers and workers offer to these socially maligned and often abused beings has been truly astonishing. I wish that every one of you who opens this Facebook page could see these heroes at work. But certainly, if you can not come here in person, please, support them with your donations and, most especially, with your most sincere wishes for their safety and well being. Bacheha, it is truly humbling being in your company. You are the greatest !!!!!!! 

Maryam

(If you live abroad & would like to know how to help, please EMAIL us at : 'info@cal.ir" , let us know where you live and we will get back to you with information..

Go to link