In May 2024 Steffi Conduit travelled to Fez, Morocco, to the American Fondouk to spend a week volunteering and delivering CPD to local vets and vet students about neonatal care. Steffi shares her experience of volunteering at the American Fondouk. This trip was kindly sponsored by BEVA Trust and once in the country I was looked after brilliantly by the American Fondouk Director Ahmed, and his wife and colleague Imane.
The American Fondouk is a unique none profit organisation which provides free veterinary care for the working donkeys, mules and horses of Morocco. They also offer education to animal owners and CPD to local vets to improve the welfare of these animals. The American Fondouk is very close to the Fez Medina where the residents rely heavily on their working equids for their jobs and daily lives and therefore provides an incredible service to the local people and their equids.
I arrived to beautiful weather and a very warm and welcoming reception from the Fondouk’s driver, Said. He delivered me to my home for the week which was a lovely little villa above the hospital. Following settling in that afternoon and evening the real work began the following morning. The hospital begins its day with rounds during which the plan for the many inpatients is discussed and the teams for the day decided. The inpatient team then proceeds to take care of all the inpatients including performing reassessments, bandage changes and any treatments required. The outpatient team sees any cases that arrive during the morning with most days being very busy with a wide range of cases including respiratory disease, wounds and colics. So obviously I got stuck in and helped out with all the cases I could!
We were lucky that a 1-day old foal was brought to the hospital on the day of my arrival providing an excellent teaching opportunity for the week. We were able to not only discuss the treatment of this foal as a group, but it also provided an excellent opportunity for me to teach the staff practical skills including the specifics of neonatal ultrasound, the Madigan foal squeeze technique and how to monitor and provide supportive care as the case progressed. The foal helpfully developed multiple problems including neonatal isoerythrolysis, sepsis and pneumonia, allowing us to discuss what the gold standard treatment would be and then working out how we could provide as close to this as possible with the equipment and medications available to the American Fondouk. However, this was not the only exciting case of the week. Respiratory disease is a big problem in Morocco as the animals live in a dusty environment with very dry feed therefore coughing due to equine asthma and secondary bacterial pneumonia is a common complaint. We also saw many interesting ophthalmic cases which was very timely as one of the American Fondouk Board members, Dan Biros, a small animal ophthalmologist who works at MSPCA-Angell in Boston came for a visit in the second half of the week, bringing new equipment including a brand-new ophthalmoscope and tonometer which had been donated to the American Fondouk.
Once all the days cases were seen and the inpatient tasks completed, we all moved to the cool conference room to learn about foal care! Over 5 days I taught vet students, Fondouk clinicians and interns and local vets about what is normal, how to perform a neonate work up and about common neonatal conditions and how to treat them. We ended the week with a workshop where we worked together through a series of real-life cases seen in my hospital in the UK, coming up with appropriate diagnostics and treatments. Everyone was incredibly interactive with brilliant questions and thoughts creating a wonderful learning environment.
But it was not all work! Ahmed and Imane were incredible hosts, and the evenings were spent immersed in Moroccan culture. This included trips to amazing restaurants in Fez, a traditional Moroccan spa and an incredible concert with Andalusian music and traditional Moroccan dancing. However, the highlight of the trip was a visit to the Fez Medina where all these equids work to see them in action, visit the famous Chouara Tannery and eat at a traditional Riad for dinner. I also got the opportunity to visit the Mules of Medina Project, set up and managed by the American Fondouk which provides safe and clean stables, food and a sand paddock to enjoy being an equid at the bottom of the Fez Medina. This is an experience most working equids in Morocco do not get, they are often tied up in buildings and have very little access to good quality forage with some of them ending up eating plastic bags and other objects leading to severe colic. This makes the Projects an invaluable resource to the lives of these equids and their owners.
This was an unforgettable experience with amazing people, and I intend to go back as soon as they allow me! I would encourage anyone considering volunteering for the BEVA Trust to get involved as you will not regret it.