OUR STORY
With heart and soul for children and animals.
Our Vision
With the centre founded on one woman’s ever-expanding heart, and shaped by big, bold dreams, it’s no surprise that our organisation was destined to stretch even further than its original scope. With 80% of our animals coming from the nearby townships, we started to connect with the residents there and soon realised that the suffering animals were a symptom of a deeper problem: suffering people. We began to partner with other community development organisations to look for solutions, and this is where the magic began.
Our Philosophy
The beauty of animals – even neglected and abandoned animals – is not just the resilience they embody, but also the bonds they form with people, despite, at times, suffering at their hands. Our rescue animals started out as victims, but soon became the real heroes – the vital connection in our outreach work. We discovered that the healing power of these beautiful animals could help mend the broken souls of traumatised children – and even their parents.
Our Mission
We’re now proud to partner with incredible people and community residents in a bigger, more beautiful dream of restoration that spreads far and wide within our local neighbourhood – offering health and hope to children, adults and every living thing caught up in the movement.
Dassenberg Rescue Centre currently functions in these two primary areas – animal rescue and community outreach – but, naturally, we can’t promise we’ll stop there!
THE BEGINNING
A Love for Animals
In 2000, Mayanna Muter settled on the Klein Dassenberg farm in Atlantis, to realise her dream of breeding mixed-breed horses. She recruited farm workers from the nearby Atlantis Township to prepare the land for the project.
On weekends, the workers brought their children to the farm to help take care of the animals, and one afternoon the children told Mayanna about “Death Hill”, a small deserted spot near Atlantis, which sounds as bad as it was. On hearing the children’s accounts, Mayanna set off for Death Hill right away, and was devastated by what she found: dying horses and other animals, starved of food and water and exposed to the elements, because they were no longer needed or could not be fed. Mayanna’s decision was made: Dassenberg became a haven for battered and neglected horses. Shortly after, when she found a half-starved dog at her gate, Mayanna expanded her refuge centre to accommodate dogs as well.
During these early years, Mayanna financed everything from her on pocket. In 2009, the Dassenberg Horse Rescue Centre was founded and officially registered as an NPO, and as more donations were received from abroad, we were renamed Dassenberg Rescue and registered as an NPC in 2018, with 60 dogs and 40 horses in our shelter’s care.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Spreading Roots in the Community
With the centre founded on one woman’s ever-expanding heart, and shaped by big, bold dreams, it’s no surprise that our organisation was destined to stretch even further than its original scope.
With 80% of our animals coming from the nearby townships, we started to connect with the residents there and soon realised that the suffering animals were a symptom of a deeper problem: suffering people. We began to partner with other community development organisations to look for solutions, and this is where the magic began.
The beauty of animals – even neglected and abandoned animals – is not just the resilience they embody, but also the bonds they form with people, despite, at times, suffering at their hands. Our rescue animals started out as victims, but soon became the real heroes – the vital connection in our outreach work. We discovered that the healing power of these beautiful animals could help mend the broken souls of traumatised children – and even their parents.
We’re now proud to partner with incredible people and community residents in a bigger, more beautiful dream of restoration that spreads far and wide within our local neighbourhood – offering health and hope to children, adults and every living thing caught up in the movement. Dassenberg Rescue Centre currently functions in these two primary areas – animal rescue and community outreach – but, naturally, we can’t promise we’ll stop there!