WINDHOEK – Just like any other year, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Windhoek held its annual fundraiser, this year titled ‘Animals by Night’, at the FNCC last week.

The evening raised funds to support homeless animals in the community, started like many other fundraiser events with a welcome drink, but thereafter evolved into an evening with a difference.

Namibian artists such as Hage Mukwendje and Davido Indongo among seven others were those who stood up for animals and shared their talents to the benefit of the animals in need in the community. 
Something-Artsy’s founder, Jaimee-Lee Diergaardt who was part of the guests brought all the artists together and helped with promoting the event on social media. 

One of SPCA’s high-end sponsors, T&C Marketing Manager Bianca Karsten was pleased by the initiative, commenting, “the whole concept was a really nice interactive way of doing the fundraising”. 
Namibian artist, Kelsey van Schalkwyk said the initiative was not only important to animals, it was also important to artists, as they were given a platform to perform.

“What an amazing opportunity it was to paint at the SPCA Art Slam, we as artists were very privileged and excited to take part in the event,” she added before congratulating the organisers and the artists that participated in the fundraising. 

“Artists who were present at the charity, they are all so talented and selfless to donate their time to make a difference in our community because our pets are our friends and family. They love and adore us with the purest and kind hearts, expecting nothing in return. We as people are able to defend and speak-up for ourselves, while animal rely on us to speak-up for them. Let’s stand together to help and re-home as many as possible by helping our local animal shelter the SPCA of Namibia,” van Schalkwyk stressed.

“Animals are our companions, our workers, our eyes and ears, they appear in ancient cave paintings, and on modern commercial farms. We have domesticated some of them, while others remain wild and are sometimes endangered by our activities. They keep us company, and while they can provide comic relief, they serve us as valuable assistants. Human interference and the destruction of animal habitats have resulted in several of the native animals of this area becoming endangered,” explained one of the local artists, David Indongo.