As part of our daily lives here as a non-profit foundation in the community, we’re called upon to assist with many things. I happened to be visiting Uatsi on the Indigenous Reservation a couple of days ago. One of the families we work with there has the cutest little puppy, Bambina, who is only about 2 or 3 months old. She’s normally active and happy. But she looked nearly dead. The family said she hadn’t moved the whole day. And she was cold to the touch — something that doesn’t happen much here in the Tropics on a hot day.

The indigenous, like most poor people in the world, wouldn’t spend the little money they have (if they have any at all) on a pet. This turns out to be the reason why Bambina was sick in the first place. She’d never had any of her shots. Laura and I decided to take her to the vet ourselves. Turns out she has something called gastrointestinitis. The doctor was wonderful (after waiting 2 hours for him) and didn’t even charge us for the visit. The antibiotics and other medications cost us $20.

Bambina is temporarily at Laura’s house being nursed back to health. She’s still not out of the clear, but doing better than she was 2 days ago.