DTBF requests your generosity for one of our own

A Dare To Be Fabulous sister, Jill Robinson, founder of Animals Asia, is at ground zero in Chengdu, China, helping survivors of that horrendous earthquake that killed tens of thousands and left millions homeless. Read Jill's story here

Jill's famous moon bear sanctuary, situated in Chengdu, miraculously escaped the devastation caused by the earthquake, and I'm happy to say that Jill, the staff, and the bears were uninjured. But Jill  feverishly continuing with rescue efforts to help the people and animals in surrounding villages, which is desperately straining the financial resources of the sanctuary. Please read the moving report below from Animals Asia, log on to Animals Asia, and donate as generously as you can.

We send our thoughts and prayers to Jill -- please let her know that the Dare To Be Fabulous sisterhood is supporting her.

Patricia Howard & Johanna McCloy

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We need your help urgently!

It's now almost three weeks since the devastating earthquake hit Sichuan in China and the full horror of the tragedy is really hitting home. As many as 90,000 people could have died in the quake and its aftershocks, which are still causing panic throughout the province. More than 365,000 people are injured, many of them also losing their homes and livelihoods.Animals Asia is extremely fortunate and grateful that no staff or animals at our Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Chengdu were hurt, but we too are facing a difficult time. We are in urgent need of donations to deal with two emergencies arising from the earthquake. First we are racing against time to rescue dogs and cats from a town in northern Sichuan, where the authorities have ordered a cull of all companion animals; and second, we need to rebuild four of the buildings at our sanctuary.

Four of our main buildings, including the big office and accommodation blocks have been so badly damaged that they will need to be completely rebuilt at a cost of hundreds of thousands of US dollars. A fifth building needs repairs. Initially, onsite staff (who launched an immediate donations drive among themselves for earthquake victims) were sleeping on the floors of the quarantine area for new bear arrivals, but are now crammed into the remaining buildings that have been deemed safe.

But rebuilding will come later. Right now, there are more urgent needs. Rescuing already traumatised family dogs and cats from being shot or beaten to death in the city of Dujiangyiang - one of the worst-hit areas is our highest priority. The authorities there have ordered a cull of all dogs and cats, even if they have owners, adding to the misery of survivors who are clinging to their pets for comfort.

We have set up a hotline and a receiving station at a local vet clinic for earthquake victims to surrender their dogs to us for safe-keeping until they are back on their feet and can take them back. Many people, terrified that their much-loved dogs would be killed in front of them have been hiding them in the ruins of their homes and risking their lives to go and feed them.

We have promised those who have handed us their pets that we will make sure they are well cared for. If, after six months, they are still unable to take their pets back, we will continue to look after them until they can be reunited. If they decide they can't take their pets back, we will try to rehome the animals.

So far, we have rescued around 100 dogs and brought them to Chengdu's Qi Ming Pet Rescue Centre, which can take about 100 more. We have also rescued some cats and a few starving dogs that have been found wandering around looking for food. We are giving each a health check and vaccination and will build a quarantine facility for the dogs at the shelter and provide them with food. All this too, of course, will cost money - and we're not sure how long we'll have to provide for these dogs.

I am the first person to question where donations are going in a crisis situation and I can assure you that any donation you make to our earthquake appeal will go directly to our work rescuing dogs and cats from the earthquake zone, vaccinating against rabies, building quarantine kennels at the Qi Ming shelter and supplying other local shelters with food and medical help. Being here on the ground, I will ensure your donation goes first to distraught dogs and cats. Any funds left over will go to rebuilding our bear sanctuary.

Given the enormity of the Sichuan tragedy, this is a difficult time for us to raise funds, as donors are understandably channelling their donations to the human victims of the earthquake. So please, if you are considering donating to the earthquake relief effort, remember that animals are victims too - and by giving to us, you may be helping to save the only family member a survivor has left.

Warm wishes,

Jill

Jill Robinson MBE
Founder and CEO
Animals Asia Foundation
PS: Don't forget to check my blog for regular updates on how we're helping earthquake survivors – both animals and people.

For more information visit Jill blog - http:/www.animalsasia.org/blog
To donate now please go to our website http:/www.animalsasia.org.

May 31: DTBF at Shea Stadium

On Saturday, May 31, I’ll be heading a group outing to a Mets/Dodgers game at Shea Stadium in New York. I will be wearing my other hat (literally) as the director of Soy Happy, which many of you already know about. Rather than going into a description about Soy Happy, I’ll defer to the website and let you check it out, if you’re interested.

Anyway. It’s through Soy Happy that I came to know Patti. (That picture up there is of me with Patti at an A's game a few years ago.) I was speaking at a conference back in 2001 and she introduced herself afterward, expressing her desire to help and to take action in her own region (D.C./Baltimore area.) She became my Soy Happy Manager for the Orioles and then for the Nationals, as well. When I returned for an Orioles game outing a year later, she played driver and guide to me. We’ve been solid friends ever since.

So. Back to the outing. On May 31, Patti will be joining us at Shea Stadium. We’re there simply to enjoy an afternoon at a ballpark, partake in veggie dogs, chat with a group of great folks, and simply be....soy happy! Dan Piraro, creator of the comic strip, Bizarro, will be there, too, along with his amazing wife, Ashley. As I wrote on the Soy Happy site, he’ll join a group that includes a noted residential architect, a fabulous flamenco dancer (that would be Patti!), a custom vegan glove maker (recently voted in by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum), an MTV video award winner, a former 3-time Little League All Star, an attorney who pro bonos for animal cases... and many others!

It’s as much about Daring To Be Fabulous as it is about being Soy Happy, so I invite you to join us! Contact me at johanna@soyhappy.org if you’d like to get tickets. You can also read more about the Shea outing by clicking on that link.

DTBF!
Johanna

Female Afghan Sprinter in a race against hate

Yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle featured a story about Mehboba Andyar, a female Afghan sprinter who, despite all cultural and personal threats to her pursuit of the Olympic dream, has continued to train for, and will now compete in, the Beijing Olympics. Andyar truly dares to be fabulous. Her courage and her conviction are an example for all.

The article is pasted, below. Please share your comments with us! Also, click on the link to the Chronicle and offer your comments there, too.

Female Afghan sprinter in a race against hate
Nick Meo, Chronicle Foreign Service
Friday, April 4, 2008

(04-04) 04:00 PDT Kabul, Afghanistan --

Many athletes at the Olympic Games this summer will undoubtedly have overcome numerous obstacles to represent their country in Beijing. But only one has been forced to endure a hate campaign.

Sprinter Mehboba Andyar has received threatening midnight phone calls, been jeered at by hostile neighbors and harassed by police. The anger is directed at the 19-year-old runner for being Afghanistan's sole female Olympic athlete. In a conservative Muslim society where few women have roles outside the home, many Afghan men believe females should not compete in sports.

"There have been so many phone calls from people saying I shouldn't be an athlete. There are often strange men hanging outside my home," she said. "Sometimes stones are thrown at the windows at night, and we have had threatening letters. I don't worry about these threats, but if my family didn't want me to go (to Beijing), I wouldn't."

Neighbors scream abuse and threaten her with physical harm each time she leaves her small mud-brick home in a Kabul slum to run. Last month, police officers arrested her father after a neighbor complained that Andyar had been entertaining strange men. Even though she was merely giving an interview to a French journalist and his translator, she says the police hauled the three men to the station. They were soon released after the precinct police chief intervened and apologized, she says.

Since the announcement early this year that she would represent Afghanistan in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter races, the determined Andyar refuses to be intimidated.

"I knew that I would have to be strong to be a runner in Afghanistan," she said. "At least my family and fellow athletes support me and want me to run for my country."

To be sure, she does have some male supporters, especially among the young and educated.

"If a woman likes sports, she should do it," said Naimullah, a 24-year-old university student who goes by just one name. "Afghanistan is changing. In a few years, people won't think this is anything unusual."

When Andyar arrives in Beijing to compete against the world's top runners who have honed their skills at some of the world's best facilities, she knows she has little chance of winning a gold, silver or bronze medal.

"We don't expect her to win," said Habibullah Niazi, a member of Afghanistan's Olympic committee. "But participating in the Olympic Games and running as an Afghan woman athlete is an achievement. All sports people support her. Unfortunately, many of the people do not."

Her interest in running began under the fundamentalist Taliban government in 1998, when she began jogging around the family's enclosed yard in Kabul to avoid the patrols of the Taliban's religious police. Aside from banning television, movies, music and kite flying, the Taliban prevented girls from going to school or work and participating in sports.

When the family fled to Pakistan, her father couldn't afford to join an athletic club where she could train properly. Instead, she ran at a park in Islamabad.

Today, Andyar trains on a cracked concrete track in the same national stadium the Taliban used for public executions. The track, bordered by a chain-link fence topped with razor wire, circles a patch of dried yellow grass where boys play soccer. She dons a track suit and head scarf and plans to do the same in Beijing.

"I am an Afghan, so I have to dress modestly," she said. "It is my culture."

Her training regimen is often interrupted by dust storms that sweep through the city. And to avoid the neighbors' wrath, she runs along potholed streets near her home at night while they are watching popular soap operas, maneuvering around trash piles and open drains.

Later this month, the Afghan and International Olympic committees plan to send Andyar and the only other member of Afghanistan's Olympic squad - a 20-year-old male sprinter named Massoud Azizi - to Malaysia to train at adequate facilities. There, coach Shahpoor Amiri hopes Andyar will be able to focus on running.

"She is an inspiration," Amiri said. "For us, it is enough that an Afghan girl is going to the Beijing games."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/04/MN5DVOUQ2.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle