A Hard Month

This month has been a month has been tough.  I have lost 2 things that i had come to care about.

The first of these things was a dog.  Now when i came to this country i had no intention of getting a dog or owning one while i was here.  There were just too many things that seemed like they would be a hassle and with no real way to take him home i just did not want to have to deal with that.  All that being said my host brother, Morro Dremmeh, had a dog when i showed up to site.  Now Gambian dogs and American dogs look similar they do not have the same sort of raising.  They are expected to be guard dogs and they are in my opinion abused to make them meaner and more aggressive.  The only problem is nobody ever takes the time to teach them obedience or commands.  Which does not make a whole lot of sense to me, but it is the way things are done here.

One day not too long after arriving in village the dog came in limping.  He had been hit with a machete and his leg was cut open. The cut was about 2 inches long and over an inch wide.  After a couple of days of watching the dog suffer and not getting better, i decided to offer my assistance to try and make him better.  They accepted my offer and after 2 weeks of caring for the animal.  He was out of danger and making good progress in healing, which was amazing considering people kept taking his bandages off and putting sand in the wound.

Now that he was better, i noticed a new and very disturbing trends.  He was very aggressive towards other animals and people.  This made me realize that he would eventually do something stupid and kill an animal sooner or later.  I was trying to teach him commands and manners, but it was a very slow process and he had way too many years of bad training.  So eventually he did kill a calf and i was told i had to pay either 10,000 delasi or they would kill the dog.  Now not having 10,000 delasi and knowing that he still was not trained very well i did the only thing i could do and let them kill the dog.

Now i was not overly attached to this dog, but i did like him and i am not a fan of killing animals.  This though i had known was coming was still a sad day.

Now for the second thing that has made this month hard.  My CUBS HAT is no more.  My host mother took it and said i could not wear it because it had too many holes in it.  So it was a sad day.  Not to fear or worry though i have placed an order for a new hat and i should have it before too long.  So I give a huge thanks to the girls that immortalized my hat in my going away book. I will always have great memories of that hat and maybe someday the new hat will fill its shoes.  So until then i am wearing a Tilly Hat.  While it is not the same I have grown to love it as well.

Ok so that is all i know I will try to give you more stories later.  Maybe matt’s travel woes will make an appearance.  before too long.

~ by mattcarte on 04/17/2010.