There is so much to adjust to when you move to a new country, especially coming from a first world set-up to a developing nation. There is so much sadness you see on the streets here. As a mad animal lover, one of the hardest things for me to see are the amount of homeless animals. There are thousands of them. It is breathtakingly painful. I have adjusted now and I don’t get the pain in my chest in quite the same way, but then I have learnt to not think too deeply about it. Pick your battles. You need to for survival. I hate the part of me that can turn my head away, but I know I need to, my heart is too soft to cope.
There is a huge group of expats here who rescue, foster and re-home the animals. They feed the homeless, taking them food every day. They capture the kittens, hand rear and socialise them so they become beautiful pets. They capture the mature animals, nurse them back to health, and there are some kind hearted veterinarians who neuter the animals. I love this generosity and this kindness.
Sally
When school started I noticed a stray dog who lived on the street the school is on. There is a lot of construction going on and she seemed to have attached herself to the workmen who live on site. I hoped they treated her well, gave her scraps of food and let her shelter from the heat of the day and the rain. I could see that there was shelter for her, but I found it difficult to deal with as she was emaciated, and so sad. Seeing her was a daily struggle for me. One day we arrived at school, it was Thursday so I was driving, and there was a tiny puppy with her. I just could not cope with that. I was in tears and I pulled over on the side of the road, unable to leave without doing something. I messaged this group of animal lovers and I told them about this situation, asking for help. They responded immediately, such is the passion for protecting these animals. I could not take this dog and her puppy to my home. With small children, a puppy of our own and living in a condo, there was nowhere safe to quarantine the dogs. Rabies is active here. I tried to get them rescued by a rescue centre but they could not help. So, I started to feed her.
Every day, give or take a few and weekends, I take a bowl of food and leave it.Pretty soon she
Beau
figured it out and pretty soon she had me under her spell. She started to look so much healthier with smoother lines as she put on weight. This dog knows her business, she knows how to work the streets, she is seasoned at this. She waits for me, she knows my car, she eyeballs me through the tinted windows. If I forget her food on the school drop off I quiver in fear and guilt. She follows me down to the school and sits staring at me with that ‘Yo Bitch, sort my food NOW’ look…she likes me though, her tail wags, and now she comes up close to me. Today she touched me with her nose and gave me a big sniff.
My driver I-Bug thinks it is hilarious. One day I walked up the road to get coffee and a guard at the construction site stopped me to tell me how he has observed her control over me. He said ‘she knows you now, she sits and waits, she knows your car’. The first time I saw baby-daddy come sniffing at her, she snapped at him and I secretly applauded her assertiveness. I don’t know that my efforts helped but when baby-daddy came sniffing to me for food, I stared him down. He is not a street dog, he is well fed and cared for. I sternly told him to keep it in his pants or else! I told him the food was not for him.
I named her Sally, her puppy is Beau. Sally looks at me and captivates me with her big brown eyes that can switch from manipulative emotion to ‘Yo Bitch’ in a split second…beau is cute, the image of his dad. He is getting bigger now and this morning he barked at me. This one will be wilder and I worry about what his future will be. I worry for both of them and at night sometimes I look out the window in their direction and hope they are okay.
