By: Michelle Gunawan, Junior College 1 Teamwork

On the 24th of October 2022, the Junior College 1 Teamwork and Logic joined together to start their Design for Change Project targeting to help the Bandung Dog Guardian, a dog shelter in Lembang. The two classes have done fund-raising activities to gather enough funds to be donated to the said animal shelter. 

Bandung Dog' Guardian currently takes care of more than 300 ex-abused, sick, and stray dogs. 

Aiming to help the said  shelter by providing them with some of the goods they need, namely: food, blankets, and funds for medical bills, the classes held booths where they sold homemade food, items, and hosted games for students during recess and lunch time in Week 4.

One of the Project leaders, Vansh expressed, 'We chose to ease the problems by donating to Bandung Dog Guardian because they rescue, treat, and find adopters for the abandoned, disabled, sick, and old dogs around Bandung.'

Animals have no voice of their own, no social safety, or any rights under the law. They are vulnerable and, unfortunately, mistreated more often than most realise. In addition, many animal shelters and rescue operations do not have the resources they need to care for sick or injured animals. They rely on funds from the donation of the community to operate.

With the 'Design for Change' programme implemented this academic year of 2022-2023, the class also held an event to raise awareness around the school community, on animal abuse.

Ms. Lea Antzz, the caretaker at the Bandung Dog Guardian, talked about their struggles to continuously supply their dogs' needs. She said that in a day, the dogs can consume 3 bags of rice, the house they are in is getting too small for the increasing numbers of the rescued dogs, and that their workforce only consists of 3 people, including herself. However, she also added that they could not accept additional volunteers either as the dogs may not be comfortable with new people in their shelter.

Some volunteers from the class who went to visit the shelter on the 22nd of October had shared their experiences during our morning assembly in Week 4, emphasising the need to be more compassionate to animals and help protect their rights. 

'People shouldn't just want dogs because they're cute. If they chose to take care of one, they should stick with them till the end," Sidney, one of the JC 1 students, emphasised.