Our Animal Project

I love animals and enjoy watching them or having pets. When I was still working as a psychotherapist I had a tortoise as pet. He would walk freely around the therapy room and many patients would first greet him. When they were distressed he would walk over and sit at their feet. When i moved to Thailand I could finally realize my dream of having a dog and a cat. So I thought! Due to local customs I soon had three of each. Later with the foundation of the children project not only kids would be dropped off, but also many orphaned kittens and puppies. At times it would be more than we could handle and I had to refuse new ones, well knowing they would most probably not make it.

We started with one adopted child and every year or every second new infants were brought to us. As it became 5 we moved to a bigger house in the fields, that allowed us to run a small farm. We had a herd of goats for a while and also a few cows plus a small flock of geese. Today we raise ducks and have a few chicken and cat fish in our ponds.

Our dogs and cats mostly get along very well (with few exceptions). We even have a female dog that nurses rescued kittens. They often snuggle up and sleep together.  I often feel that there is a special atmosphere in our house. Sophie had a strong spastic when she came to us, but it would relax when she touched a cat, especially a purring one. Today she can move really well and has hardly any contraction. Being around our pets is very beneficial for her neurological problems. Nicolas has many behavioral issues and loves to be around our dogs. For our children it is normal to grow with a small pack of dogs and a whole bunch of kittens and cats. They wonder, why Western people have only one pet. In our house it is one for each plus extra ones to choose from. This also involves to help feeding and walking them and to learn to take responsibility.

When they grew older they started to rescue puppies from the road side, little birds and kittens, anything in need would be carried home and cared for.  They are very knowledgeable about our local wild animals, but also plants and environment in general. They know which Asian  animals are endangered and that they should not kill harmless and useful snakes.