How SPANA started
In a time when a woman travelling alone was frowned upon, Kate worked tirelessly on her own in foreign lands. Initially, she was ridiculed but through hard work and determination, she won the respect and friendship of the local people.
"Early on my first morning I went to the market place and treated a donkey's sore and said the magic word 'Batel' (free).
"Before I had finished two more were at my elbow and before I had done those I was in a crowd of Arabs and donkeys. From that moment I never raised my eyes from donkey's backs. The crowd came and came. I counted up to forty then lost count. There were always six more waiting to be treated. About 1 o'clock the medicine gave out and I had to stop. I got a meal and refill of medicine and at 2 o'clock was back again with the same crowds all afternoon. Next day, exactly the same thing happened and I expect this will continue until they all get cured."
Taken from a letter from Kate Hosali, SPANA Founder, in 1925.
Kate's amazing compassion and dedication remains at the heart of SPANA's work to this day, as we try to improve standards of animal care wherever the need arises.
Click here to see a video of Kate's first visit to North Africa.
Kate Hosali, one of SPANA's founders, with just one of the many thousands of working animals that she treated.
Photo: SPANA
