Volunteer Profile: Emily

Meet Emily: the veterinary nurse from Aston Clinton, UK, who has just become Four Steps to Freedom’s newest volunteer in Tanzania!

Emily Gamble arrived at our base in Arusha in January this year, where she’ll be spending six weeks in the Tanzanian sunshine supporting the team at Mbwa Wa Africa Animal Rescue. She told us, 

I love Africa and love volunteering abroad. I saw a post on Facebook asking for vet nurses so I signed straight up!

Having previously volunteered at the Riverside Wildlife rehabilitation centre in South Africa where she looked after orphaned baboons and vervets, Emily is no stranger to volunteering abroad.

Before travelling to Tanzania last month, Emily admitted that her biggest concern was around Covid and ‘all the extra tests and hassle’ - but now, with her outbound travel behind her, she’s safely installed at our Volunteer House alongside regular volunteers Nancy, Nicole, Courtnie and Uli and Four Steps to Freedom founder Phyllis who is also visiting the clinic this month. 

Emily’s support has proven invaluable to our recent anti-rabies vaccination and spay / neuter campaign in conjunction with Mission Rabies and Worldwide Veterinary Service. Phyllis said, 

It’s totally incredible the work these guys are doing - vets, vet nurses and local people employed on a daily basis to assist. They work extremely long days and will even do field work in the dark with head torches if needed.”   

As well as supporting our anti-rabies campaign, Emily has been supporting the day-to-day work of the clinic, assisting with surgeries and looking after the animals’ recovery and wellbeing. 

Our volunteer team work hard, but taking down-time to rest and recharge is important too and we love sharing the sights of Tanzania with our visitors! If you would like to follow in Emily’s footsteps, find out how you could get involved as a volunteer - you don’t have to be a veterinary professional to be part of the team.

With your support, we will wipe out rabies sooner.