Donkey sanctuary volunteer hopes to educate the community about donkeys

Thirty-three-year-old Kelton Kumwenda has been with the Rest Ur Ass Donkey Sanctuary since its inception in 2018 and has grown quite fond of his four-legged companions. Originally from Malawi, Kelton moved to South Africa in 2016.

“I remember when we only had two donkeys, and as the sanctuary grew we kept welcoming new donkeys into our family,” Kelton explained. He added that at the time he started working for the sanctuary, he had no experience with donkeys but proudly mentioned that since then he has learned all there is to learn about them.

“My favourite part of the day is when we groom them, then I can see how much the donkeys enjoy the attention,” he said. He added that many of the donkeys at the sanctuary have gone through horrible ordeals and so they hope to help give them a better life.

“My favourite, although I love all of them, would be Thomas. He is very quiet and has a soft demeanor.”

Although he refers to the donkeys as his family, Kelton has a lovely wife and three kids; twin boys and a little girl.

“I hope to use my knowledge of the donkeys to help educate donkey owners. They need to understand that donkeys need care and proper conditions to live. A healthy donkey is a better donkey. I hope the people who buy donkeys take care in researching the sellers, and that sellers treat the donkeys better.”

He adds that he is very grateful for those in the community who support the donkeys through the drive-in movie nights and markets as they help keep the donkeys fed and healthy.

A typical day taking care of the donkeys includes feeding them in the morning, cleaning up their droppings, taking them into the bigger field to eat grass, and then around noon they groom them. In the summer they also spray some fly spray to keep the flies at bay.

“If one of the donkeys is sick, we stop everything and call the vet to come and look at it,” elaborated Kelton, adding that he is glad that they have a vet like Dr Michael Sutton. “As soon as we call him he is on his way to help.”

Kelton shared a sad story of one of the older rescued donkeys named Rebecca.

“One morning she fell and passed away,” said Kelton, he shook his head and explained that it was a very difficult thing to process and that it broke his heart not knowing what killed her.

“Many of the donkeys come from horrible owners, we try to give them treatment to get them healthy, but we don’t always know what they have been through. Maybe Rebecca died of old age or heart failure, I wish I could have saved her,” added Kelton.

Community members attending the next market day at the end of July are encouraged to say hello to Kelton, who will be wearing his signature blue RUA Donkey Sanctuary Jacket and a big smile.