A journey to the heart of an island in search of a woman that believes saving an animal is like saving yourself. Mary Rose Krijgsman and her team of volunteers built a beautiful 7.5 acre “NO KILL” sanctuary, Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary, in the lush tropical rain forest to alleviate the animal abandonment and overpopulation concerns facing the island of Hawaii. This is a place where animals are rescued and where it is believed that healing is a four-step process: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Mary’s vision for the world – no more homeless pets through kindness to animals.

 

My journey began with a flight to the Big Island of Hawai’i to meet a woman that taught me more in one afternoon about the human spirit than any person I had ever met. This woman is Mary Rose Krijgsman; the quintessential angel of peace, who is here for the well-being of the animal kingdom. Her spiritual connection to animals runs deep, and the lesson she teaches through her work strengthens and motivates every heart she touches. Poetic Couture Magazine’s objective was to endorse a foundation for our yearly sponsorship, and we were not only humbled by the experience at the Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary, but founder Mary Rose inspired us beyond all expectations.

 

After landing, I embarked on my adventure to the heart of the island, where the rainforests blessed my trail, lush green Hawaiian landscapes merged mountains to seaside, and I became witness to cascading waterfalls, towering palm trees, banyans, and lava rock; followed by surprising bursts of blossoming rainbow shower trees that all beckoned my arrival. The gentle breeze and the bright blue sky lit with sunshine whispered ‘Aloha’ as I crossed over into another land. It was magical.

 

My publisher and I stayed at a posh resort, set amongst beautiful clusters of cabanas overlooking the ocean and enchanted gardens of pink flowers and statues. Surprisingly, upon our arrival, a man with a t-shirt, shorts, and no shoes pleasantly greeted us, along with his dog, Ice. With a good night’s rest, I was anxious to meet Mary after searching many months for the ideal organization.

 

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"All the animals have a story, and Mary
can recite them all in infinite detail as I
cordially encountered each and every
one of them, making it even harder not
to grow even more attached to them."

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An early stretch of the arms and splash of cold water to my already curious eyes, and we were off to our location.  Our drive of anticipation, and unexpected escapades led us down small winding unpaved roads. With a left at the yellow fire hydrant, we arrived at our destination. Mary greeted us with a hug wearing her special t-shirt which she admitted to being the most fashionable attire she owned and especially picked for our meeting. As I entered the sanctuary, her loyal followers, an assortment of dogs and a cat she called her greeter, escorted me. The greeter, I came to learn, had, at one time, suffered from an affliction – a fear of any and all human interaction – until Mary spent months teaching her how to communicate. After a short while, this ball of furry grey was rubbing my leg with a gentle purr accumulating every lost hour of love and affection she’d missed in her lifetime. Mary knows all her animals by name, and a team captain leads them all. For the canines, a gentle socialite, a dog by the name of Crystal who bowed her head to welcome me as I approached her. For the felines, an astute ginger tabby cat named Khan. All the animals have a story, and Mary can recite them all in infinite detail as I cordially encountered each and every one of them, making it even harder not to grow even more attached to them.

 

Bridgit was the first dog Mary introduced me to; she was one of the founders and the first dog Mary saved. “We are very connected,” she said with a heartfelt smile. “When I found her she had terrible mange [a class of skin disease] so I took her to the ocean every morning at 6:00 and that’s what healed her,” she said with compassion. Mary continued to inform us that with chemical treatments, the animals would sometimes get the mange back. She further told us that it could be called a puppy Pit Bull disease because this breed is in- and over-bred on the island. This  is how their immune systems get suppressed, making them susceptible to mange. “Bridgit has taught me a lot about Pit Bulls. There is a stigma attached to them and they are misunderstood. When I was in Utah at another sanctuary, I embraced one of the Michael Vick dogs, she was great,” she cheered, and then we both laughed.

 

Continuing down the forest trails, we were introduced to a dog by the name of Polar Bear, a gorgeous white Husky who was rescued by a friend whose neighbor was going to shoot her. The next dog we met, Sunny, a beautiful Labrador, was wacked over the head when he was young. Then there was the magnetic Pua, the most stylish of them all, dressed in a beautiful coat of rich golden-brown, blessed with  piercing green eyes, and the lean legs of a model. I was surprised to learn that Pua was very neglected, and was living in the wilderness behind a drug store until Mary spent a month trying to save her. But, if you’re looking for any signs of PTSD or health concerns, you won’t find them on Mary’s animals. Each animal is treated with the same four-step process: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual healing. It’s hard to overlook the obvious success of this process, as they all beg for Mary’s attention and I witnessed firsthand the candor of their personalities. There is one common thread between the dogs and cats here – love and compassion. Every story digs deeper and I became completely captivated in the presence of these animals.

 

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"The idea of a sanctuary came to Mary in
a dream and stems from her longtime
work with whales as a professional
diving instructor"

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The idea of a sanctuary came to Mary in a dream and stems from her longtime work with whales as a professional diving instructor for those in the Army. But it started as many things at once, she recalled.  She explained to us mortals that her work with whales, sharks and dolphins as a diver taught her that “intelligence comes from the heart,” and it was with this work that she came to understand the bond we all share with animals. It taught her how alike we are with them, how important this conscious communication is, and that saving an animal is much like saving yourself. “I have always been in tune; I have always had a very deep kinship with animals,” she says confidently.

 

When I asked Mary what her future dreams were for this new world she had created where a chromosomal DNA connection between humans and animals may have its place, the future seems bright, so long as the support keeps coming. “We are getting animals from all kinds of situations: from abuse, neglect, from people having too many animals, over breeding, people moving, and from people losing their jobs. If they still have a house, we provide them with food so they can keep the animals, but if they lose their homes, then the animals have to come here,” she said.

 

Most of the animals, however, that the sanctuary currently adopts out are for people who want puppies and kittens, so caring for the adult animals is causing a saturation point with the sanctuary until they receive more help from volunteers and foster persons. The key to Mary’s dream is the quality of the care and the animals. This is where it starts for her, so she will keep the number of animals to the minimum required to be sure that the care of the animals is top priority until the sanctuary can expand further. But this does not slow Mary down; every morning she wakes up to is a new day of adventure and excitement. It was meant to be for Mary, when she started she had very little financial support, and the dogs and cats just kept coming. There was an intuitive moment where she realized this was to be forever her home as well. With a hammer and some nails, she and her sister will build more spaces and she will find more help. “It just happens,” she explained.

 

Mary is organizing spay and neuter clinics and will take care of 30 dogs per day or 100 cats per day to help others outside the sanctuary. Launching a NO KILL Hawai’i is her long-term goal and the driving force behind her long days and nights of gratifying work. For the first time that day, I saw Mary’s  brow reveal her disappointment and sorrow as she disclosed to me that the local humane societies are killing 15,000 animals a year. “It’s way too many,” she expresses with deep concern. But shortly thereafter, her indomitable smile returns, “for the future I think in the different communities I would like to see small sanctuaries, in subdivisions … each subdivision could have a small sanctuary where maybe 30 dogs or 50 cats would live.” She closed by saying that an expanded foster network would be needed for this plan, so the animals could have a temporary place until a home is found. This is one of the many examples of her further expansion once her land is full.

 

A native of the Netherlands, her gentle accent and kind disposition enveloped me, and I was transported to this momentous celebration of one woman’s vision. To know Mary is to know her animals. With over 300 of them now, clean, wise, well-nourished, and famous for their position in the sanctuary; they all carry the same personality, Mary’s personality. They are happy, fulfilled, living in the moment, and well taken care of. To have witnessed an animal haven in the middle of a rainforest, led by a fully trained animal rescue effort, was a gift. One woman and her team of hard-working associates with a vision to save animals, and for a future where there are no animals that are starving, scarred, abused, diseased, or without homes.

 

A gentle rain, followed by skies of blue and a rainbow, endless paths of green and trees, each animal has his own plot of land at the Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary on which to call his home. This is a place where smiles are featured on busy contributors and friends, and a new society of its own is saving lives every day. This is a community of peace and refuge for animals to roam, to swim and play freely in the pond, and to know what life can be like without pain and sorrow. I am most grateful for the lessons I have learned about bravery, benevolence, and perseverance through the eyes of this amazing woman, with a vision to change the world, one intelligent heart at a time.