VN January 2023

Vetnuus | Januarie 2023 20 An initiative of the SOUTH AFRICAN VETERINARY ASSOCIATION Non-profit Company: 1998/016654/08 Non-profit Organisation: 000-234 NPO Public Benefit Organisation: 130001321 I am greatly encouraged to see how the CVC has grown and evolved from its humble beginnings here in 1998, to what it is today. This is thanks to the rescue operation conducted by Dr. Rissa Parker, under the nurturing oversight of our CEO, Gert Steyn and, in large part, to the commitment and dedication of our current CVC manager, Claudia Cloete, and the faithful stewardship of Vhonani, who was instrumental in providing continuity and stability fromVethouse. I am particularly grateful to see the many ways colleagues have run with it and established CVCs in communities all over our beautiful country in so many creative ways and permutations. I could not have envisaged this when we started the journey 24 years ago. My own involvement in CVC has evolved in a similar and most gratifying way. My private practice is situated just a few hundred meters away from one of the most impoverished informal settlements in my beloved Nelson Mandela Bay. This shanty town is sandwiched between the Dawid Stuurman International Airport, the suburb of Walmer where I work and reside, and one of our city’s oldest established “Townships”, GQEBERHA, fromwhich PE derives its new name. Over the years, since the demise of the original CVC Clinic in 2008, I had provided CVC services to my community in stops and starts (when my fundraising efforts bore fruit and when personal energy levels permitted). These days, CVC clients from the informal settlement present their pets to us at my practice. A growing awareness amongst the residents, of the value of vaccination and sterilisation, means that this new generation do not have to be persuaded, they ask for these services directly. v Best regards, Dean Sim CVC-NMB CVC News I CVC Nuus Greetings fromGqeberha (a.k.a. Port Elizabeth), the birthplace of ourmovement! Max and Red’s owners, Endinako (pictured with Dr. Sim) and Sanele brought them in this morning to be neutered. My staff had chatted to them last week about the advantages of having them sterilised! So encouraging to see CVC work bearing fruit in the new generation!