by Sarah Schmidt, President, BIG FIX Uganda
More than 8 years ago, I met a local village leader (called an “LC1”), Mr. Bosco, in one of the most remote areas of Northern Uganda and his beloved little dog, Nancy. When I was first asked to explain why BIG FIX Uganda’s annual fundraising campaign matters, my thoughts went back to the day I met that gentle man and his dog.
During my travels to Uganda, I had heard that animals in the North were suffering so much because there had been no veterinary services in the remote villages during the more than two decades of war in the region. As a result, dog overpopulation, starvation and suffering, and frequent rabies deaths plagued the area inhabited by the Acholi people. I knew BIG FIX, an NGO based in the U.S.A., could at least do something, so we organized a project to provide 10 days of free veterinary clinics in villages, offering rabies vaccination, de-worming, spay/neuter, and wound treatment.
During one of those first days, we set off for one of the most remote areas of Northern Uganda, in Palaro subcounty, near the border of South Sudan. I was told that we could only travel there during “dry season” because the place could not be reached during the heavy rains. Even though the roads were dry, I remember wondering how the van we were in would survive the rugged trip across roads that were nothing more than swaths of pot-holed dirt carved through the heavy bush.
When we finally arrived at our destination, many grateful dog guardians were there to greet us. Some had walked long distances to bring their dogs and they all waited patiently as we treated them one by one.
Among the first to greet us that morning was the Local Chairman 1 (LC1) of the village, Mr. Bosco. He came to thank us for the services and brought his beloved dog Nancy to be spayed.
After she was spayed, I put a blue and red collar on Nancy that I had gotten from my local dollar store. Mr. Bosco was so grateful for the help we had given Nancy and spent quite a while talking to me that day as I cared for the dogs in the recovery area.
Although our lives and experiences could not have been more different, Mr. Bosco and I had some of the most important things in common. In the same light I perceived my own dogs, Mr. Bosco boasted that Nancy was the best and smartest dog in the village. Beyond the façade of a small brown dog, Bosco saw in Nancy a friend, a protector, a helper, and an intelligent being. Though there was little about the LC1’s life that I was capable of understanding, his unconditional love of his dog was something I knew very well.
Mr. Bosco told me that during the time of the war, when people were forced to leave their homes and live in government camps, he had taken his family dog with him. He tried for so many years to get help for his dog, to get his dog vaccinated, or to have wounds treated, and no help was ever available. He told me that the Acholi people of Northern Uganda have a saying for the situation when a person gets sick but has no money to go to the doctor: You will heal like a dog. This means that either you will live or die, but you won’t have any help. This is what the situation was for dogs from the time the war started until BIG FIX came to that remote village in Palaro in 2012.
When I think about the LC1 and Nancy, I am forced to ponder What would I have done during those times my beloved dogs were injured and suffering, if there was no veterinary doctor to help them? It is a thought that hasn’t allowed me to abandon BIG FIX’s mission in Northern Uganda.
I am not a war trauma survivor. I have never lived in poverty. I have never worried about being abducted during the night and forced to serve in a rebel army. But so many people in Northern Uganda are just like me: they love their dogs.
Since those primitive MASH-style BIG FIX clinics in the villages in 2012, we have managed to build a small hospital in Gulu which is filled with basic supplies and equipment. We finally have a new kennel to safely house hospital patients and dogs in need. The next step is to transform our old shabby kennel into a proper isolation treatment unit. That is one of the primary aims of our current fundraising campaign. It is the next logical step forward in improving the quality of services we provide for dogs in Northern Uganda.
When BIG FIX left that village in Palaro in October 2012, Mr. Bosco asked me to please make sure BIG FIX kept helping dogs in Northern Uganda, because they mean a lot to many people like him.
I have never had the chance to see Mr. Bosco or Nancy again, but it is in part because of them that I remain determined to ensure that BIG FIX continues this important work, to help dogs to live better lives. For the dogs and the people who love them.
More than 8 years ago, I met a local village leader (called an “LC1”), Mr. Bosco, in one of the most remote areas of Northern Uganda and his beloved little dog, Nancy. When I was first asked to explain why BIG FIX Uganda’s annual fundraising campaign matters, my thoughts went back to the day I met that gentle man and his dog.
During my travels to Uganda, I had heard that animals in the North were suffering so much because there had been no veterinary services in the remote villages during the more than two decades of war in the region. As a result, dog overpopulation, starvation and suffering, and frequent rabies deaths plagued the area inhabited by the Acholi people. I knew BIG FIX, an NGO based in the U.S.A., could at least do something, so we organized a project to provide 10 days of free veterinary clinics in villages, offering rabies vaccination, de-worming, spay/neuter, and wound treatment.
During one of those first days, we set off for one of the most remote areas of Northern Uganda, in Palaro subcounty, near the border of South Sudan. I was told that we could only travel there during “dry season” because the place could not be reached during the heavy rains. Even though the roads were dry, I remember wondering how the van we were in would survive the rugged trip across roads that were nothing more than swaths of pot-holed dirt carved through the heavy bush.
When we finally arrived at our destination, many grateful dog guardians were there to greet us. Some had walked long distances to bring their dogs and they all waited patiently as we treated them one by one.
Among the first to greet us that morning was the Local Chairman 1 (LC1) of the village, Mr. Bosco. He came to thank us for the services and brought his beloved dog Nancy to be spayed.
After she was spayed, I put a blue and red collar on Nancy that I had gotten from my local dollar store. Mr. Bosco was so grateful for the help we had given Nancy and spent quite a while talking to me that day as I cared for the dogs in the recovery area.
Although our lives and experiences could not have been more different, Mr. Bosco and I had some of the most important things in common. In the same light I perceived my own dogs, Mr. Bosco boasted that Nancy was the best and smartest dog in the village. Beyond the façade of a small brown dog, Bosco saw in Nancy a friend, a protector, a helper, and an intelligent being. Though there was little about the LC1’s life that I was capable of understanding, his unconditional love of his dog was something I knew very well.
Mr. Bosco told me that during the time of the war, when people were forced to leave their homes and live in government camps, he had taken his family dog with him. He tried for so many years to get help for his dog, to get his dog vaccinated, or to have wounds treated, and no help was ever available. He told me that the Acholi people of Northern Uganda have a saying for the situation when a person gets sick but has no money to go to the doctor: You will heal like a dog. This means that either you will live or die, but you won’t have any help. This is what the situation was for dogs from the time the war started until BIG FIX came to that remote village in Palaro in 2012.
When I think about the LC1 and Nancy, I am forced to ponder What would I have done during those times my beloved dogs were injured and suffering, if there was no veterinary doctor to help them? It is a thought that hasn’t allowed me to abandon BIG FIX’s mission in Northern Uganda.
I am not a war trauma survivor. I have never lived in poverty. I have never worried about being abducted during the night and forced to serve in a rebel army. But so many people in Northern Uganda are just like me: they love their dogs.
Since those primitive MASH-style BIG FIX clinics in the villages in 2012, we have managed to build a small hospital in Gulu which is filled with basic supplies and equipment. We finally have a new kennel to safely house hospital patients and dogs in need. The next step is to transform our old shabby kennel into a proper isolation treatment unit. That is one of the primary aims of our current fundraising campaign. It is the next logical step forward in improving the quality of services we provide for dogs in Northern Uganda.
When BIG FIX left that village in Palaro in October 2012, Mr. Bosco asked me to please make sure BIG FIX kept helping dogs in Northern Uganda, because they mean a lot to many people like him.
I have never had the chance to see Mr. Bosco or Nancy again, but it is in part because of them that I remain determined to ensure that BIG FIX continues this important work, to help dogs to live better lives. For the dogs and the people who love them.