" In the summer of 2004, my boyfriend and I went on a great adventure that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. We decided to visit the ROLDA dog shelter in the very eastern part of Romania .

Having been an animal rescue volunteer for years, I have always been curious what people in other parts of the world do for animals. One day, I stumbled across ROLDA's website and was intrigued by the shelter's story and efforts. Because this world is so big with problems, especially involving animal plights, are often bigger than us, I live by the saying, 'Think global. Act local.'

The more I read about ROLDA, however, the more I wanted to visit and make an exception to this rule! When we arrived to the shelter, truly off the beaten-path, we were greeted by Rex, the friendliest dog in all of Romania !

Not only was he a big dog, he had a big heart and was ROLDA's official greeter and mascot. (Sadly, Rex died from an epileptic seizure shortly after our visit. We will miss him.) My boyfriend and I were absolutely impressed with the shelter. It was clearly built with love and compassion and to the highest of standards. It was BETTER than many of the shelters I've seen in Southern California.

And, it was obvious that all the dogs were HAPPY and very comfortable. There was no fear or sadness in THIS shelter!

As was to be expected, they went crazy, barking zealously at our arrival. Dana introduced us to each and every dog, detailing their stories. We all took turns hugging and playing with the fur-babies. I fell in love with Hope, a fluffy white mutt, as she is one of the sweetest and most trusting dogs I think I've ever met. Yet, she is completely blind as a result of animal cruelty !

After the shelter tour, we were shown our sleeping quarters. We were delighted to hear we were actually going to stay AT the shelter! (Dana and Rolando live in town.) Immediately next to the shelter dog runs is a charming 2-story home that warehouses all that is needed to run the operation. The 2nd floor, however, is reserved for human needs. Dana lovingly prepared a bedroom for us, complete with comfy house slippers. She gave us the afternoon to settle in, unpack, shower, and relax. My boyfriend, Katya and I couldn't believe our luck. How often does one go into a foreign land and get treated like family guests? And for us, being from Los Angeles, this was quite a (delightful) shock to our systems !

And the view! This was DEFINITELY not LA! From our window, we could see nothing but beautiful rolling hills dotted with grazing horses and cows. And, we were constantly reminded by a neighbor's braying donkey that we were in the country; the Romanian countryside !

The next day, Katya was invited and escorted by Dana to ROLDA's veterinarian. She was given a complimentary exam and feline vaccinations! We were so grateful to have that all taken care of before our long journey back home. While Katya was at her appointment, my boyfriend and I explored the countryside. We saw all the typical country critters and even met a wonderful neighbor lady who was bottle-feeding an orphaned colt!

She and I had fun trying to communicate in our only mutual language of French. (She knew not a lick of English and I knew not a lick of Romanian.) We took pictures together and met her dog, a ridiculously spunky Pekinese mix who decided my bag of Bagel Chips was a scrumptious delicacy.

On our last night, Dana stopped by the shelter with a 'surprise' in a carrier. Earlier that day, a woman contacted her worried about the fate of a puppy she had seen thrown into a trash can by a man. Dana successfully retrieved the pup out of the garbage making it the latest ROLDA rescue.

Lola was immediately given lots of love and care.

(She and Katya even swapped stories of their individual rough starts in life!) We wanted desperately to adopt the little Rottweiler but knew it was not realistic at the time for us. Instead, another American family adopted Lola and she actually arrived to the States before we did! Lucky dog. Lucky ROLDA dog!"

writen by Stephanie K.Haugen (USA) 2005

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites