Dogs will now be able to join therapy sessions as Cheryl-Lyn’s Rescue Organisation and TLC Outreach Projects have joined forces for a Substance Abuse Therapy Outreach, incorporating the dogs as therapy for TLC Skills Rehabilitation.
Cheryl-Lyn Potgieter says APM Terminals in Killarney Gardens has donated a container to TLC Outreach Projects which will be used to help others.
According to Coleen Pietersen from TLC, she initially wanted to use the container help children and the homeless recover from abuse.
“I was blessed with this amazing container and thought this is an opportunity to try and get an ablution block up and running for homeless people – just to come and take a shower and get their dignity back. But could not get a piece of land for the container,” Pietersen says.
She says at church they are always reminded to ‘sow a seed’. That is when she decided to donate the container to Potgieter.
“I’ve known Cheryl-Lyn for years and saw how she takes care of abused and unwanted dogs,” she says.
Pietersen says the container will be utilised for therapy sessions.
“I will be taking some of our students starting from the 2023 intake and allow them to work with animals and find love again through animal therapy,” she says.
Potgieter expressed her gratitude to all involved.
“We are ever so grateful for their amazing generosity and kindness. Lastly, we would like to thank DS Logistics for delivering the container to the farm,” Potgieter says.
Background
TLC Outreach Projects is a registered non-profit organisation located in Table View. TLC, founded in 1996, is a community-based project with the goal of saving and changing children’s lives every day.
The organisation deals with children that have been abused in various ways, physically, sexually, and emotionally and that have lived on the streets of Cape Town, some of them even for years.
These children have taken drugs and had to live on their own from a very young age. They had to fight their way through a difficult, hard and dangerous life, not worthy of the one of a child.
Cheryl-Lyn’s Rescue Organisation is a foster-based animal welfare organisation operating from Table View.
Their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome as many animals as they can.
“Our journey started with an abused, neglected and lost mixed breed stray female dog, living in the bushes near Melkbosstrand, which nobody could manage to get near enough, to assist her,” Potgieter says.
In an attempt to gain the dog’s trust and then rescue it, Potgieter lived in the bushes, on her own, for three months, putting out food and water each day. She eventually won the dog’s trust and was able to rescue, medically treat and rehabilitate her. That scared, neglected and abused dog was renamed Daisy and now spends her days helping Potgieter take care of the rescued newcomers until they are strong enough to be rehomed.
In need of a loving home
Potgieter is urging the public to adopt dogs as many of them need a loving home.
She says a family was moving out of their home in Parklands and decided to dump their very old and pregnant dog in the park.
“A kind lady spotted this dog and then she confronted the owners and they said they cannot take her with them. The easy way out was to dump their dog instead of calling a shelter for assistance. How cruel can people be? When I arrived the dog was sitting with homeless people and she looked very uncomfortable and very weak. I had very little time to save her; if she steadied another few days in the park she would never have survived. I had to do what was best for her. She can still find a loving home, which she deserves,” Potgieter says.
She currently has a Back-a-Buddy crowdfunding page, asking for a donation from the public.
Raised funds will go towards a property in which Cheryl Lyn will be able to provide animals with a safe, loving and secure space to rehabilitate and have a better opportunity at life.
- For more information, visit /www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/cheryl-lyn.
