Recent Projects 

In February BEVA Trust virtual volunteers supported a bespoke online training session for Meru Animal Welfare Organisation’s small veterinary team in Tanzania.The session was held at 2pm Tanzania time, which covered donkey care and management, behaviour and handling and cart and harness in three lectures held via Zoom. Volunteers Joanna Gillingham, Violette Cassiers and Alex Thiemann prepared and presented their lectures the small team of vets, para vet, vet nurse and director of the small chari

The Equine Veterinary Seminar is an annual event for Ukrainian vets and usually held in Kiev. Due to the challenges of 2020 volunteers and delegates were unable to attend in person. The decision was made to hold the seminar online and we were delighted to be able to continue to support the project. The seminar was held in December over three days, three sessions each day covering Dermatology, Orthopaedics and Ophthalmology/Oncology. 40 Vets from across Ukraine and some from Russia joined the web

Camilla Church shares her experience of lecturing to an international audience from the comfort of her own home. Through the BEVA Trust, I recently took part in an online lecture programme organised by World Veterinary Service and running as part of Ohio State’s university’s Global One Health Summer Institute. The World Veterinary Service would usually do these seminars live in Ethiopia, however due to COVID-19, an online seminar was done instead. Over the previous twelve months I ha

I have too many fond memories of volunteering in Lesotho at the Semonkong Hospital Project - I was unable to select a single memory! The scenery of Lesotho is unmatched and our visit to Maletsunyane falls was incredible. The whole country is over 1,400 metres above sea level and the Semonkong Hospital Project location was over 2,275 metres above sea level. I certainly won't ever be castrating 30+ horses at this altitude in the UK (Snowdon is 1085m, Ben Nevis 1344, Scafell Pike 978m)! My memorie

I have volunteered for 3 BEVA Trust and BHS clinics now, and each has been an enjoyable experience; the first one I attended was just after I graduated and I really benefited from the surgical experience in an environment where I was not afraid to get stuck in, and each time I go I get more experience and am now confident teaching others. The best part of the clinics, however, has got to be knowing I’m making a difference to each of the horses we see. This really hit home for me when I was visit

With COVID-19 putting BEVA Trust projects on hold we asked former volunteers to share their fondest memory with us. It is hard to pick my fondest memory of volunteering at the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust as so many come to mind! However, one patient I will always remember was a little donkey that presented to one of the village clinics we attended. He had an incredibly painful eye that was completely closed, crusted shut and covered in flies, as well as a large abscess over his dorsal spine.

We had been warned that, even by Gambian standards, the country was experiencing something of a heatwave for the time of year. As we sweltered on the tarmac outside Banjul terminal building, queuing with fellow passengers for our own temperatures to be checked lest we introduce the ‘novel Coronavirus’ we’d been hearing about, the whole situation seemed somewhat surreal. With the blessing of our practice and after a multitude of vaccines, we left a sodden, storm-swept UK with cases full to bursti

From the "sublime to the ridiculous" doesn't even start to portray the contrast.Having disembarked, the heat whilst standing on the tarmac was impressive. The airport was basic but was undergoing renovation but in the light of the corona virus outbreak every passengers’ temperature was taken and alcohol hand wash offered. Heather the cofounder of The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust met us at the airport. The drive to The Derek Knottenbelt Veterinary Hospital was revealing but not quite as much as

Andrew Harrison and Luise Harrison have set off to The Gambia to provide veterinary support to the Gambian Horse and Donkey Trust. Here's an insight into their preparations.Ah well, we’re off. We’ve left TCEH and Upton upon Severn trying to recover from Storm Dennis last weekend, when we were both on call. It was fairly busy in terms of number of calls ( and a C section on a TB mare in the middle of Saturday night) made more difficult by having to circumvent flooded roads. We’ve left Lucy, our 1