The WAG Centre Build Campaign

Dear friends and supporters, 

Welcome to report 2 of our shelter fundraising campaign page. Between running our current shelter, rescuing and rehabilitating dogs, and the many projects we have on the go, it’s sometimes hard to believe we are also aiming to construct a new Centre. We are grateful for your support of our next big step! 

Since our last report, where we reported that we’d completed the topography survey, we are continuing to work with our architect here in Kigali who we’ve worked with before on our pilot and current shelter. We are in the final stages of having the full designs and project brief, which we need to submit to the City of Kigali for their comments (and hopefully, approval!). Once we have approval, it’ll be all hands on deck to fundraise to start constructing!

Together with our architect, we have discussed what we want our centre to look like, what features it needs to have, and how we can make it as welfare-centred as possible for all of our rescues. It’s been a really exciting process. We have also included community and teaching spaces in the plans too, so we can do more outreach and education in our facility. 

We will finalise the architectural designs and itemised budget over the next 1-2 months, at which point we will share them on this fundraising page and widely with all our supporters, so we can ramp up our fundraising efforts. We are also applying for grants to help us gain enough funds - so we hope to be successful in securing at least one large grant! 

We are continuing to face issues at our current shelter; due to a widespread water shortage in the area, we did not receive water through the municipal supply for several weeks and our water storage tanks ran dry. Our team had to go fetch water in jerrycans from a nearby water source - which was stressful and hard work, especially with the very hot weather we are experiencing at the moment in Kigali! Due to not having road access to the shelter, we were unable to get a water tanker to the shelter to fill our tanks that way. We are hopeful that we won’t experience any more water shortages this summer, but the dry season will last into September so keep your fingers crossed for us! Yet another reason why staying in our current location is simply not sustainable. 

Thank you for reading this report and for your support as we embark on constructing our very own shelter. We will continue to keep our supporters updated on the progress and of course take you along on the journey!