In Memory...

Mwewe is gone now. In the end, the decision was not all that difficult. Last Tuesday, Mwewe kept me up all night long. He couldn’t get comfortable when he was lying down and his breathing was deep, slow, and definitely labored. I had talked to a mzungu on the ranch about the dog and that I really felt he had suffered enough. He said I could simply stab it in the heart with a knife. Easier said than done. I was close to being able to do it but having never killed anything before, I had a hard time convincing myself that I could do it right the first time to end his suffering immediately. The following morning I went searching for the mzungu that had no misgivings about killing things and he mercifully borrowed a gun from the owner of the ranch and I brought him to Mwewe. We received very strange looks from the villagers as I was rushing to Rose’s house and a mzungu with a gun followed closely behind me.

It is now a week later and still the participants in my study are talking about Mwewe’s demise. I believe it was more the manner in which he died that has caused people to talk. It is not every day you see a mzungu in the village, much less two, one of whom was carrying a gun. The story has made it all the way to the next village and circled back to the workers on the ranch. I have explained many times that he was suffering and it was a merciful thing to do. They seem to understand but I can’t help but wonder what they are saying when they speak fast.