Cora Bailey, who founded CLAW, shares moving dedication to Devilliers Daluxolo Katywa who helped her in the townships during the early ’90s.
Johannesburg, South Africa (17 July 2020) – Community-Led Animal Welfare (CLAW) has spent the last two decades working in impoverished communities where traditional veterinary services are often unavailable.
CLAW provides desperately needed veterinary services to dogs and cats, as well as vital animal care education to pet owners in Johannesburg’s poorest township areas.
CLAW has not only established a reputation for helping animals within townships; the organisation works closely with community-based organisations, schools, the Department of Agriculture and veterinary services around the city. They distribute food parcels, facilitate home-based care programmes to teach people how to care for the sick and dying, run food gardens, support child-headed households and help communities to access health and hospice care.
Cora Bailey has been the driving force behind the organisation but she has relied on the help of others to make it go as far as possible. During the early ’90s, when South Africa was transitioning from the Apartheid regime to democracy, she met Devilliers Daluxolo Katywa who became a fast companion and helped her navigate the civil unrest and violence within the townships in order to treat the animals in need.
Over the years, Devilliers became a massive part of Cora’s life and CLAW. Sadly, he passed away, leaving a void in the hearts of many. Cora wrote a moving dedication to the work that Devilliers did over the last 20 years. It inspired hundreds to recount their own tales of his dedication to animals and educating the public on proper animal care.
You can read Cora’s dedication below.
“Devastated and heartbroken at the sudden passing of my friend, Devilliers Daluxolo Katywa.
We met in the dusty streets of Doornkop when it was just a tiny shack settlement in the early 1990s
He would be there to help and translate when I dipped and dewormed the dogs, and gradually became a daily companion, volunteer and teacher.
My previously fairly sheltered life had never prepared me for the reality of life in the townships during those years of civil unrest and violence. He helped me make sense of it all, with his patience, sense of humour and extreme courage.
Over the years we have had so many unbelievable experiences and adventures, some of them I try hard to forget, and others need to be in a book one day.
His skill and endurance with trapping and rescuing wildlife in trouble were legendary. He would not give up on an animal in trouble, and many times this would mean protecting and staying with a trap until the animal was safe, even if it meant spending a freezing night sitting under a tree or spending days catching Egyptian Geese that were maimed with discarded fishing lines.
He taught this skill to younger staff members but was still involved in the memorable rescue of the Baboon that found himself on the 10th floor of a Sandton hotel in November last year.
I will miss him so very much.”
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