 |
| Koko loves it when you talk to him! |
Hello my Dear Friends and Family,
I am asking for help.
And you will know if it feels right to step forward.
As some of you know I
rescued a puppy here in Rwanda back in July.
His name is Komera, a Kinyarwanda word which means “Be Strong”, but
everyone calls him Koko. This is Koko’s story.
During my initial Peace Corps training I lived in Rwamagana
with a Rwandan family. They live in a
gated, private compound enclosed by a high block wall. In one corner of the block wall, down low, by
the ground, is a hole for water drainage.
One night while lying in bed trying to settle into sleep, I
could hear a puppy wailing his little heart out. This went on for three full nights and
finally stopped. A few days later while
walking around my neighborhood with some of my Peace Corps friends, I saw a
puppy watching us. When I tried to pet
the little guy he ran away and down into a hole someone had dug into the ground
and had stuffed with newspapers. I
realized this was his home. I also
realized this was the puppy I had been hearing cry for two nights. He was about 5 weeks old, too young to be
away from mother and litter mates. I
worried about him, but had to walk away.
One day, a week or so later, when I came home from a full
day of Peace Corps training, the family umukozi (an umukozi is a person who
cooks and cleans for the family, usually they are young, anywhere between 14 to
26 years old, and are orphaned) began chattering to me excitedly in a mixture of
Kinyarwanda and English. I could tell
Beneficience (the umukozi) wanted me to come and look at something. I followed
him over to the corner of the yard where the drainage hole was in the wall that
surrounded the family grounds. There
was a little puppy hovering close to where Beneficience did his cooking. It was the same puppy I had seen a week or so
ago. It had found its way into my
family’s yard, through that little hole in the wall! I tried to pet him and he
scurried away through the hole.
He visited us two more times. Each time it was around the time I came home
from training. During his first to visits he scurried away when I tried to pet him. However, on his third visit something was
terribly wrong.
Beneficience greeted me in agitation, “April, Mama bad, Papa
bad, come, come, imbwa , imbwa (dog is imbwa in Kinyarwanda).” I found the puppy laying on his side, lethargic,
and breathing rapidly. He did not budge
when I picked him up. My heart was
breaking for him. This little guy came to us when he was at his rock bottom.
 |
| Koko came to us when he was at his rock bottom. |
I want to take a moment here to explain Mama and Papa’s
responses. Beneficience felt that Mama and Papa were bad because they would not
help the puppy. But they are not
bad. There is a history about dogs
related to the genocide that I will not tell for now. Let’s just say that more than likely, their
choice to not help a puppy is wrapped up in emotional memories. However, they
have a large extended family of children that they support and care for that
are not their biological children. Now I am one of them. They treat me as one of their family. They
are amazing people. But I was about to
cause some angst in the family just by being me. I would not leave the puppy’s side. I informed Mama I would be sleeping
outside with the puppy.
Beneficience found me a box to put the little guy in and I
made a bed for him out of my Peace Corps T-shirt and one of my skirts. Then I began making phone calls. Many people’s hands were in this but in the
end arrangements were made for the puppy to be taken by car to Kigali where my
friends, Brian and Amber, took him under their loving wings. However, that was not to happen until the next
morning. So I bundled up preparing for a long night.
 |
| Koko warm inside the house and in his little bed. So much better than a hole in the ground! |
Mama and Papa could not stand the thought of me sleeping
outside. So after Papa and the rest of
the family were tucked in bed Mama came outside to inform me that I would come
inside to bed and that I was to bring Koko into my room with me. I could tell that Mama was secretly delighted
about this. So Koko and I had a nice
warm place to sleep for the night.
Before going to bed inside the house, Koko received many stroke and lots love. Three of the younger children
gathered around intrigued. I showed them
how to pet him. At some point Koko began to respond to this attention and
became more alert. He sat up in his
box. I asked Beneficience to bring some
igitoke (a non-sweet banana that is cooked up like potatoes). We mashed the igitoke up and watered it down
so he could drink it. The pup devoured
it! Yaaah! He was getting his strength back.
Then we gave him water and he slurped it right up. He went potty and then was ready to get back
into his box. He slept in his box by my
bed with my hand on some part of his body all night long.
 |
| Koko after one week with Brian and Amber. A healthy puppy! |
 |
| Koko resting after a good run in the hills of Bubazi, the community we live in. |
I have had Koko for a little over one month now. He is loving, smart and well behaved. But he is still a puppy and he requires a
safe place to grow and mature. This
morning he ran out of the yard, as puppies will do, and I was running after
him. A man took a swing at Koko with a
shovel. When people swing a tool here, it is wide and hard. Thank goodness Koko was running so the shovel
just clipped his rear end. In that
moment I knew I needed to send Koko home to the US.
I have an enormous amount of work to do here in Rwanda. My days will be long and I do not have a safe
place to contain Koko. I am looking for
a safe loving home for him for the next two years. I am asking for help in this. So if your heart draws you to this task
please let me now. Koko and I will be
eternally grateful to you!
