Hard Lesson Learned

While in high school I developed a unique soft spot for animals. I felt more passionate about animal rights compared to human rights simply based on the fact that animals don’t have a voice - they can’t tell us when things are wrong or when they need help. Coming to Malawi and seeing how animals are treated initially struck me as very sad and I had a strong desire to do whatever I could to help them. Quickly I learned that majority of animals here (cows, goats, chickens, ducks, pigs, and the like) are all used for sustenance for Malawians. That knowledge didn’t prevent me from crying during my training when 11 of us slaughtered a chicken as part of a learning how prepare for cooking. I’ve grown a lot since then and seeing a goat or pig carcass in the market don’t phase me anymore.

Fortunately, dog is never on the menu. Instead, dogs are used as a means of protection or security at peoples houses, meant to be a warning for when people or other animals are approaching the house. Even still dogs here are not treated with the same amount of respect as Americans give them. Rocks are thrown at them as a means of teaching methods to stay away from people or eating things (same goes for goats and pigs). I don’t agree with it, obviously, but Malawians have been doing it for years and who am I to come in and try to change their minds?

As I’m sure many of you have been able to gather (based on all my chit chat about Peter and other pups around the house), I am a huge animal lover. I live in a compound area where three dogs (two female, one male) were living before my arrival. In the time that I’ve been here I’ve had the privilege of witnessing four litters of puppies, amounting to a total of 16 pups, 13 of which I assume are around Bwanje. Dogs are not fed like a part of the family here, often times leading to severe malnutrition of the mothers and often times resulting in an unhealthy litter. 

I’ve become quite familiar with something called distemper, a virus passed from mother to pup or between dogs which is (fortunately) not very common the the states. I’ve seen two degrees of distemper, one being a slow growth process for the dog and other being neurological damage. My pup Chule (choo-lay, or “frog” in Chichewa), had the developmental form of distemper, making for a long growing up process but otherwise he has matured successfully. I’ve seen one other dog with that level of the condition, and gave him to my counterpart for a good home. Currently, there are two neurological distemper puppies around my house which is where the hard lesson as been learned.

I’ve realized quickly that these two puppies, Toodles and Wendy (I’m on some sort of Peter Pan/Hook naming kick I think), that there will always be a form of retardation that they will not outgrow. In the states this might be less of an issue, but in a culture where throwing rocks at dogs is acceptable these dogs will not survive. The problem is they can’t learn, their brains do not function in a way that they understand “punishment” or “training” by rocks. Unfortunately, from my inexpert option, I don’t feel they will ever outgrow it and there is no means of fixing it.

My choice for Toodles and Wendy is to euthanize them. It’s most humane, being that the 1) the life set out for them unarguably will include incomprehensible cruelty, and 2) the puppies that they will undoubtedly have some day will likely have the same condition. Bringing this up to my neighbor, who has promised Toodles to a friend, she said no, that I could not take the dog. Even after explanation (multiple times) of the disease she thinks that I want to sell the dogs to make a profit. This upset me to no end being that, obviously, I’m not at all trying to make a profit, but rather doing what I think is in the best interest of the dogs. At the time I basically said “Well, I don’t care, I’m taking it anyways” knowing that the pup will be better off.

I felt angry and upset that my neighbor could not see the good that I was trying to do for this dog, only able to think that I have some ulterior motive with the puppy. I felt a huge conflict within me realizing my morals were going against the Malawian culture, so what was I to do?  Multiple journal entries later and a long conversation with my parents, I began to see it all a different way.

I came to Malawi to learn about a culture, not to change it. All that Malawians have seen of white people are how we come in and change things, encourage what we think are better ways of doing things (case in point, my garden), and more. It would be blatantly wrong of me to take the puppy without my neighbors consent, potentially causing a lot of problems being that she considers it property. But simply put, this is not my culture so who am I to come in here and do things my way? There are certain times where culture wins out over morals, and this situation is a prime example.

It is a tough thing to bite your own pride and knowingly turn over the reins when all you want to do is the right thing. It’s challenging to sit back and do nothing in a situation where you know you can make a difference. But that’s what I came here for, right? To learn about another culture, to leave mine behind and adopt a new one? It’s not easy when it comes with many hardships and tears. I strive to approach all situations as a learning experience, seeing what I can take away from it and how I might do differently next time. It’s not always easy, especially when the learning can push you beyond your comfort zone into sadness and heartbreak. But when we keep our hearts open to such things, they change who we are, and most always for the positive.