Who We Are
We are a compassionate organization based in Uganda. Established in 2018, the Podrska Foundation advocates for all sentient beings to bring about positive change to human and non-human animals.
You have the power to save human and nonhuman lives.
About us
We are a compassionate organization based in Uganda, established in 2018, with the mission of advocating for all sentient beings, bringing about positive change to human and non-human animals, and creating awareness of the intersections of human and animal rights. We believe that everyone deserves to live a healthy and cruelty-free lifestyle, and we’re committed to making a cruelty-free plant-based lifestyle accessible to everyone, regardless of their background, culture, or socioeconomic status. We also believe that the promotion of human and animal rights is essential to the creation of a just and equitable society.
The Podrska Foundation is dedicated to promoting a plant-based lifestyle through education, outreach, and community engagement. We strive to create a world where all people have access to healthy and sustainable food choices. We’re also deeply committed to advocating for animal rights, recognizing that non-human animals are sentient beings with the right to live free from harm and exploitation.
At our core, we’re a group of passionate individuals who share a vision of a kinder, more compassionate world. We know that every choice we make has an impact on the world around us, and we’re dedicated to making a positive change. We believe that human rights are interlinked with animal rights and environmental sustainability, and that by promoting a plant-based lifestyle, we can contribute to a more just and equitable world for all beings.
The Founder
Dash Meizler (a.k.a. Fahd Kharim Ssevume)
My passion for helping humans has been with me since I was a child growing up in Uganda. I saw my parents struggle to get my four siblings and me educated. In 2007, when I had to transition from my primary school to a secondary school, my parents had no money to pay for my secondary education but they did not give up. As a result of a lie about me having no father, I was taken to a remote rural area where I secured a place in a school; that experience left me sleepless for many nights. While finishing school, I experienced hunger for the first time as there was nothing available to eat there. The hunger for both an education and food was what motivated me to undertake humanitarian work. I don’t want others to sleep on empty stomachs or children to drop out of school because their parents can’t afford to educate them.
My compassion for non-human animals took root late in my life long after I stopped working on a poultry farm on which I had grown up. It all started when a friend sent me a video showing the Taliban cutting off people’s heads. I was so disturbed that I asked my friend not to send me such videos. He replied “gwe nga osala bano” – which means “how come you also slaughter others?” I asked him “which others?” and he replied “chickens.” I dismissed his comment as laughable until one day when I was slaughtering a chicken, and, in the process of taking off their head, theirblood spilt on my foot. At that moment I hoped that I would never die like that. And, suddenly, a statement made by the same friend who sent me the videos popped up in my head: “So you don’t want to die the way you kill chickens, but you are playing God by already killing living things the same way in which you don’t want to die.” I suddenly felt a connection between the taking of a chicken’s life and the taking of a human life. That was my last act of slaughter. However, I did not become vegan immediately as I continued to eat what others slaughtered. But I started making connections between animal products and suffering, I started valuing the lives of non-human animals as much as I valued humans. Since 2018 I have been living a vegan lifestyle and helping others develop empathy for and justice towards our non-human fellow inhabitants of this planet.
Interview with Dash
Vision
Our vision is to educate and empower the most vulnerable humans to fulfil their needs and those of non-human animals, and thus live lives that are healthy, environmentally sustainable, and, above all, ethically oriented.
Mission
Our mission is to respond to the urgent needs of at-risk human beings and to advocate for non-human animals. Each of our programs encourages participants to make choices informed by compassion for non-human animals.
Values
- We meet the needs of the vulnerable with empathy.
- We respond to crises in a timely fashion.
- We engage with our beneficiaries honestly and openly.
- We demonstrate the joy of service.
- We take responsibility for our actions and keep record of expenses.