Helping cats in Gili Islands
Donation protected
My name is Susanna and I need your help, to be able to continue helping cats on Gili Islands in Indonesia. I am looking to collect about 6000 euros, to cover the cost of a work permit to Indonesia as well as one year rent of a tiny house I live in.
Here is my story and story of the Cats Of Gili -project:
I'm originally from Finland and back in 2011 I sold everything I owned (which was not much), quit my job and left Finland to travel around Asia for a year, just to take a break from my life. That was 4 years ago. I ended up staying, never returned to my old life in Finland, and I live here in Gili Trawangan island now.
Gili islands - Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air - are located about 2 hour speed boat ride from Bali and thousands of tourists come to visit these three islands every year.
These islands are beautiful. Crystal clear waters, white sandy beaches and relaxed island vibe. No cars or motorbikes. No dogs either, but the islands are full of cats!
There are cats everywhere in the islands. Some have homes, some don't, some have a relaxing life as beach bums around the beach restaurants, some prefer the local villages. Cats of Gili Islands have funny tails: short, long, bended, curly... there's no limit to the tail models here! And the cats are born with their weird tails, so no worries: no-one is doing anything to the tails to make them look so strange!
Most cats of the islands are healthy and do well, begging food from tourists or even stealing if you look the other way, taking a nap in the shade when the sun is too hot, climbing trees, playing with other cats and chasing small crabs on the beach. But there are problems too: breeding is out of control, and as much as we all love kittens, there are too many. There is cat flu, worms, ear and eye infections, horse carts going too fast and running over cats etc. It's heartbreaking to see sick and hurt cats.
I first started to look after cats around the area where I was staying. I paid for them to be spayed/neutered and I looked after them when they were sick. I helped a pregnant mommy cat give birth and looked after the cat family in my bungalow.
Back in 2013, when the date for my return to Finland got closer, I just couldn't stand the idea of leaving these islands, and all the cats I'd gotten to know, behind. I ended up staying. And I wanted to start helping the cats in more organized way, and I wanted to help all cats on all 3 gili islands.
Thus, a project called Cats Of Gili was born and launched in September 2013. I started totally from scratch, had no idea whatsoever what it requires to start an animal welfare project! But it was obvious the islands needed a dedicated crazy cat lady who will concentrate on the cats and cats only. That is me.
Cats Of Gili -project is part of Gili Eco Trust, our environmental foundation on the Gili Islands. However, the project is pretty much run by me and me only. Another person helps me by hosting a tiny and very basic cat hospital, but that's it, it's just 2 person project now. Our funding comes from donations, mainly. Gili Eco Trust sometimes pays our medical bills etc, but mostly we rely on generous, animal loving people who give donations.
There is no vet on the islands, but we organize free spay/neuter-clinics 3-4 times a year, with volunteer vets from all over the world helping out. We also work together with a vet clinic in Bali and sometimes they come to visit and we have a 1 or 2 day mini-clinics. During the 2 years the project has been running, we have organized 6 big spay/neuter clinics, where the vets have treated nearly 1 600 cats, of which over 1000 cats were spayed/neutered. In addition, we have treated sick cows, goats, rabbits and horses during our CAT clinics, and we've even had one rescued monkey and a baby python snake with a wound visit us. Monkey was checked and later sent to bali to a monkey rescue center and the baby snake's wound got stiches. So we help any animals that are brought to us, not just cats.
We have a tiny cat hospital where sick or hurt cats can be taken, and we look after the cats in need there. For kittens, we try to get them adopted as soon as they are vaccinated and ready to leave their mommies, if they had one (we get lot of orphan kittens, unfortunately). We also now have a small cat shop, where we sell cat food, collars, cat postcards, t-shirts etc, to further collect funds to help us help our feline islanders. 100% of the donations and cat shop sales go to helping cats. So far, nobody has been paid a salary, so all is pure charity/volunteer work.
I have been doing this for 2 years now and have been living on my savings and some little income I have been paid for doing some writing jobs to Finland. However, I have reached a point where my savings are gone and right now I don't have any income from anywhere. And that is why I am here in GoFundMe!
I am hoping to collect about 6000 euros. That will cover the cost of one year work permit to Indonesia, and 12 month rental of a tiny house I live in.
I am in a process of getting a work permit to be able to do actual, salary paying work here in Indonesia. The work permit, called KITAS, is very expensive, about 1500 euros in total, for just one year. But it is essential I get that, as then I can make a living here, and continue helping cats too! I have a job waiting for me, as soon as I get my work permit.
My monthly rent is 5 million rupiah (about 350 euros) per month. My house is full of cats, and each one of them came as a rescue case. I have cats that have just one eye, cats that I had to bottle feed when they were found as a tiny tiny babies without mommycat around. My house has 2 bedrooms and my idea was to rent out the other room, but seems the room always has a recovering cat living in it, or a mommycat with babies etc, so renting out the room for actual humans is not really working out.
So the 6000 euros I am looking for, will secure my being able to stay here for the next 12 months, and it will also make it possible that I can officially work and support myself. And once I do not need to worry about how can I pay my next month's rent, there is more time and energy left for helping our feline islanders!
In case the amount of money collected here exceeds the goal, rest will be given to Cats Of Gili, of course. We have big dreams for the future, first one being that at some point we will be able to hire a permanent vet to work on the Gili Islands. It is desperately needed. But that may need another crowd funding project at some point.
More info on the Cats Of Gili -project is on our website: catsofgili.com
Cats of Gili in Facebook: Cats of Gili
Cats of Gili in Instagram: cats_of_gili
Here is my story and story of the Cats Of Gili -project:
I'm originally from Finland and back in 2011 I sold everything I owned (which was not much), quit my job and left Finland to travel around Asia for a year, just to take a break from my life. That was 4 years ago. I ended up staying, never returned to my old life in Finland, and I live here in Gili Trawangan island now.
Gili islands - Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air - are located about 2 hour speed boat ride from Bali and thousands of tourists come to visit these three islands every year.
These islands are beautiful. Crystal clear waters, white sandy beaches and relaxed island vibe. No cars or motorbikes. No dogs either, but the islands are full of cats!
There are cats everywhere in the islands. Some have homes, some don't, some have a relaxing life as beach bums around the beach restaurants, some prefer the local villages. Cats of Gili Islands have funny tails: short, long, bended, curly... there's no limit to the tail models here! And the cats are born with their weird tails, so no worries: no-one is doing anything to the tails to make them look so strange!
Most cats of the islands are healthy and do well, begging food from tourists or even stealing if you look the other way, taking a nap in the shade when the sun is too hot, climbing trees, playing with other cats and chasing small crabs on the beach. But there are problems too: breeding is out of control, and as much as we all love kittens, there are too many. There is cat flu, worms, ear and eye infections, horse carts going too fast and running over cats etc. It's heartbreaking to see sick and hurt cats.
I first started to look after cats around the area where I was staying. I paid for them to be spayed/neutered and I looked after them when they were sick. I helped a pregnant mommy cat give birth and looked after the cat family in my bungalow.
Back in 2013, when the date for my return to Finland got closer, I just couldn't stand the idea of leaving these islands, and all the cats I'd gotten to know, behind. I ended up staying. And I wanted to start helping the cats in more organized way, and I wanted to help all cats on all 3 gili islands.
Thus, a project called Cats Of Gili was born and launched in September 2013. I started totally from scratch, had no idea whatsoever what it requires to start an animal welfare project! But it was obvious the islands needed a dedicated crazy cat lady who will concentrate on the cats and cats only. That is me.
Cats Of Gili -project is part of Gili Eco Trust, our environmental foundation on the Gili Islands. However, the project is pretty much run by me and me only. Another person helps me by hosting a tiny and very basic cat hospital, but that's it, it's just 2 person project now. Our funding comes from donations, mainly. Gili Eco Trust sometimes pays our medical bills etc, but mostly we rely on generous, animal loving people who give donations.
There is no vet on the islands, but we organize free spay/neuter-clinics 3-4 times a year, with volunteer vets from all over the world helping out. We also work together with a vet clinic in Bali and sometimes they come to visit and we have a 1 or 2 day mini-clinics. During the 2 years the project has been running, we have organized 6 big spay/neuter clinics, where the vets have treated nearly 1 600 cats, of which over 1000 cats were spayed/neutered. In addition, we have treated sick cows, goats, rabbits and horses during our CAT clinics, and we've even had one rescued monkey and a baby python snake with a wound visit us. Monkey was checked and later sent to bali to a monkey rescue center and the baby snake's wound got stiches. So we help any animals that are brought to us, not just cats.
We have a tiny cat hospital where sick or hurt cats can be taken, and we look after the cats in need there. For kittens, we try to get them adopted as soon as they are vaccinated and ready to leave their mommies, if they had one (we get lot of orphan kittens, unfortunately). We also now have a small cat shop, where we sell cat food, collars, cat postcards, t-shirts etc, to further collect funds to help us help our feline islanders. 100% of the donations and cat shop sales go to helping cats. So far, nobody has been paid a salary, so all is pure charity/volunteer work.
I have been doing this for 2 years now and have been living on my savings and some little income I have been paid for doing some writing jobs to Finland. However, I have reached a point where my savings are gone and right now I don't have any income from anywhere. And that is why I am here in GoFundMe!
I am hoping to collect about 6000 euros. That will cover the cost of one year work permit to Indonesia, and 12 month rental of a tiny house I live in.
I am in a process of getting a work permit to be able to do actual, salary paying work here in Indonesia. The work permit, called KITAS, is very expensive, about 1500 euros in total, for just one year. But it is essential I get that, as then I can make a living here, and continue helping cats too! I have a job waiting for me, as soon as I get my work permit.
My monthly rent is 5 million rupiah (about 350 euros) per month. My house is full of cats, and each one of them came as a rescue case. I have cats that have just one eye, cats that I had to bottle feed when they were found as a tiny tiny babies without mommycat around. My house has 2 bedrooms and my idea was to rent out the other room, but seems the room always has a recovering cat living in it, or a mommycat with babies etc, so renting out the room for actual humans is not really working out.
So the 6000 euros I am looking for, will secure my being able to stay here for the next 12 months, and it will also make it possible that I can officially work and support myself. And once I do not need to worry about how can I pay my next month's rent, there is more time and energy left for helping our feline islanders!
In case the amount of money collected here exceeds the goal, rest will be given to Cats Of Gili, of course. We have big dreams for the future, first one being that at some point we will be able to hire a permanent vet to work on the Gili Islands. It is desperately needed. But that may need another crowd funding project at some point.
More info on the Cats Of Gili -project is on our website: catsofgili.com
Cats of Gili in Facebook: Cats of Gili
Cats of Gili in Instagram: cats_of_gili
Organizer
Patzy Susanna Pätäri
Organizer
