Namibia - Namibian Dogs
[This is another great post from the mind and heart of Erin.]If you grow up "in location" in Namibia you don't have a high view of dogs. They are not treated as additional family members. They are rarely pet, bathed or fed and in fact, they are often tortured by the children, especially when puppies.
Most of them are no bigger than the height of your knee and weigh less than 50 lbs. They are skinny and maingy and almost every bone in their body is protruding.
Doing anything that would be considered care giving for your dog, doesn't concern most people.It's a rather foreign concept to actually buy dog food for your dog. The dogs simply walk around from trash heap to trash heap scrounging for anything they can find. (And "anything" does not usually mean meat. It's typically rice and porridge.)
Now, this isn't to say anything against the Namibian people. We live in a very poverty stricken country, and this is just simply part of life here. We usually try and stop the children when they are torturing the dogs, but honestly we focus much more on teaching people to take care of their wife/husband and children. We figure if they are able to get that down, then it will naturally follow into other areas of their lives.
All that to say, I would like to have a dog. ...But NOT a typical dog (the above mentioned). I would like a BIG dog.... a scary dog...... a dog that will keep us safe. Ever since I became pregnant, I have had these maternal instincts, if you will, that cause me to look at situations much differently.
For example, the house we are building is right next to the workers shack and farther away from the other houses.. I'm not quite sure how many people actually sleep in the worker's shack, but in the night they are quite rowdy and there is lots of drinking. The bars on our house are weak (to say the least) and I think I myself could easily break them. The door is fragile, and there is no barb wire (or anything protective for that matter) around the house. I never would have worried about this much pre-baby, but now I am concerned.
People here are typically afraid of big dogs, and that is why I want one. It only takes a moment for something horrible to happen and I would like to try to prevent even the temptaion if at all possible.
I know this might sound like a bit of a silly post, but please pray for us that we would really hear from the Lord on this matter. We don't want to assume that just because we would like to have a dog, that it is the Lord's will. Please pray that this would become clear to us. We do not put our trust in anything but the Lord, not bars, or doors, or man, or alarm systems, or dogs, but at the same time, we want to be wise. We have no idea how much one of these dogs would cost or how much it would cost to take care of it. Honestly, that isn't much of a concern. We will trust that whatever the Lord's will is, He will take care of all that it requires.
Thank you in advance for all your prayers. We do not take them for granted.
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