July 15th 2010 was an ordinary day in an ordinary year and I was looking forward to the Summer holidays and a break from the school where I had worked for many years.

Checking into my Facebook account I was scrolling down the usual ‘chatter’ from friends when one post caught my eye. Kevin, a very close dear friend of mine, had posted a picture of a young man, his nephew, and dog along with a link to an incredible story published by the Mail on Line.

This story touched me deeply and Brin’s face captured my heart and I immediately wrote to Kevin asking if it was possible to get him out.

Kevin’s reply came back ‘I have no idea but it will probably mean a lot of fundraising and work’.

I saved the article and thought about how one would ever start rescuing a dog from such an impossible place and before I knew it I was searching for airlines on the web and sent out over 50 emails to each one with the line :

‘I am trying to find a way of transporting a dog from Afghanistan. Can anyone advise?’

Almost immediately emails came back from airlines but not what I needed. Standard replies of how to transport pets did not offer any possibility of even coming close to what I was hoping for as this was not to be an ordinary travel plan.

But then I found Nowzad.