Bahati the Tanzanian Wonder Dog!!!

Meet Bahati, (which means Lucky in Kiswahili). Three weeks ago I was walking down a path in our village when I heard this awful cry coming from the woods. Following it I found this pitiful puppy who it seemed had been attacked by another larger dog and was left for dead. Bleeding all over, stumbling and shaking he was clearly in shock. He was soooo skinny, crawling with bugs and some other unrecognizable parasite... it was love at first sight.

These first two pictures were taken two days after I found Bahati. The first night we thought he was going to die but as luck would have it my neighbor and friend, Mama Nelson, is a veterinarian... Yeah, what are the chances... although she was used to caring for sick chickens, cows, and goats...Bahati was on painkillers, sprayed with antibiotics, and given an anti-worm shot all in the first 24 hours of his arrival... and this is also how he got his name... he is one lucky puppy.












Now mind you most of the locals were laughing at me everyday, caring around this dog like it was my baby. "Katie's Mtoto Mbwa" which basically means my baby puppy. In Tanzania dogs are NOT kept as pets, most are strays and end up getting hit by cars at night. Some are kept as guard dogs but for sure no one considers them "man's best friend" here. (Here is Bahati after one week... having recieved his rabies shot he was feeling better and getting stronger everyday.)




Now what to do with this little guy... bringing him home was not an option as my building does not allow pets, finding him a home in the states seemed just as tricky as the 25 hour flight with multiple planes and then a 6 month quarantine seemed stressful for Bahati and expensive... for me.






Bahati, true to his name, worked his way into the hearts of many of my Tanzanian friends... seeing these grown men handle this dog with such care, feeding and playing with him everyday... calling themselves Baba Bahati (parents are named after their first born so I of course was named Mama Bahati). Growing stronger and bigger everyday Bahati, loved by many, now has a permanent home. Making a deal with Mama Nelson, the vet, I had a proper cage built for him and she will be his new Mama when I leave... (Best case scenario being adopted by the vet... seriously lucky and ridiculously cute.)