Our story
It was 2014, and dozens of maimed and injured dogs were bleeding to death in the streets Meserani, Tanzania.
Four Steps to Freedom founder Phyllis Hutchison was visiting the village of Meserani when she saw, to her horror, that dozens of maimed and injured dogs were dying in pain on the streets.
She learned that this was the aftermath of an ‘anti-rabies cull’ – a desperate attempt by the local community to stop the spread of rabies, following the tragic death of a local child bitten by an infected dog.
Angry and terrified, the community had come together to destroy the dog population that carried the disease.
“I just knew I had to do something.” Phyllis Hutchison
This was no isolated incident. Stories like this are a day-to-day reality in Tanzania, where children die of rabies and dogs are slaughtered every week.
Yet World Health Authority-approved research shows that anti-rabies culls don’t work.
Destructive, brutal, and ultimately futile, they do not prevent the spread of rabies into human populations: they do not save lives.
Canine vaccination and population control (sterilisation) is the only effective way to stop the dog-to-human infection cycle and stop the needless loss of life.
From Tanzania to Glasgow
Phyllis vowed to do everything in her power save other Tanzanian families and dogs from the kind of pain and suffering she’d seen.
She found her first allies in Jens Fissenebert and Sandra Kliegelhoefer, founders of Mbwa Wa Africa Animal Rescue, just over an hour’s drive from Meserani.
At that time Jens and Sandra’s rescue operation was no more than a couple of kennels in their back garden, but they quickly agreed to take in and treat the only dog that Phyllis was able to save from the massacre: they named her Dolcina and nursed her back to health, before finding her a loving new home.
In the photo, you can see Dolcina today: fully recovered and enjoying her new life.
Meanwhile Phyllis returned to Glasgow to start raising funds and support for her first humane Anti-Rabies campaign in Tanzania: the charity now known as Four Steps to Freedom was born.
Saving lives since 2015
March 2015: Our charity is founded by Phyllis Hutchison. Originally known as Friends of Mbwa Wa Africa Animal Rescue, we are a charity registered in Scotland, raising money to save animals and fight rabies in Tanzania, with Mbwa Wa Africa Animal Rescue as our base.
July 2015: In conjunction with Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) and with funding from the Marchig Trust, our first Anti-Rabies campaign sterilises 108 dogs in one week.
2021: Friends of Mbwa Wa Africa Animal Rescue is renamed Four Steps to Freedom, reflecting our proven four-step method of fighting rabies.
With support from Mission Rabies and WVS as well as dozens of educators, volunteer vets and animal handlers, we have successfully eliminated rabies from 93 Tanzanian villages.
Fundraising begins for the £300,000 Gongo Centre: the first Veterinary Centre of Excellence in the Arusha Region of Tanzania.
Help us write the next chapter
Thanks to the generosity of our volunteers and donors, the Gongo Centre has become a reality, and the premises and infrastructure of our Veterinary Centre of Excellence have been built.
Now we need your help to equip the Veterinary Centre and to expand our team of local vets and educators working to save animals, protect communities and end rabies in the Meru region of Tanzania.
By donating your time, money or veterinary equipment, you can help us to save more lives faster.
By sharing our story, you can help us to find the support that we so desperately need, to create the safe future that Tanzania’s children and animals deserve.