Kindness to animals brings rewards

“I solemnly promise to be regular and punctual in the attendance of my school; to be dutiful and respectful to my teachers and pupils and loving and kind to my fellow pupils; not to make any use of obscene language or say anything hurtful or disrespectful to anyone, and to be kind to all dumb animals, to honour my father and mother, love and serve God and love all men. In conclusion, I will do unto others as I would like others to do unto me.”

Those are the words of the Bon Accord Primary School pledge.

Recently, an eight-year-old student of that school, Hadiya Cave, exhibited an inspiring example of being kind to animals – and doing unto another as she would like to have done to herself – when on her way home from school she jumped into a deep drain to rescue a vomiting puppy.

Her act, while aligned with some elements of her school pledge, was not done specifically because of the pledge, but because, as I discovered upon meeting her, she has a natural love and compassion for animals. (Shyly, she told me that she wants to be a vet – a word her surprised mother said she was not aware that Hadiya knew).

A man watching nearby was touched by Hadiya’s puppy rescue, and, shortly after, rewarded her financially through a presentation made to her at the school assembly.

One would think that rescuing a puppy is a natural act, like breathing, and not necessarily deserving of public reward.

However, we live on an island where many would not notice a puppy in the drain in the first place, and even if they did, they would probably not make an attempt to help it, for various reasons – eg “I not going down in that dirty drain,” or “It is only a puppy,” or “It will find its own way out.”

Being rewarded in front of the school made Hadiya an example to the other children, who saw that kindness is admirable, worthy of reward and should be emulated. The public recognition also boosted her self-esteem and cemented the fact that her kindness to living beings was the way to go.

Some days after the puppy rescue, Hazel Ann George (fondly known as “Ann” by people in the community) called me and said, “I have a wonderful story for you” – and proceeded to tell me about Hadiya and the puppy.

“She lives in a household of 12,” Ann said, explaining that Hadiya’s single mother worked hard as a security guard to make ends meet for her family.

At Ann’s suggestion, members of the community and some of my friends and I contributed items to make hampers for Hadiya and her family. Ann, who does extra-curricular activities with the students of Bon Accord Primary School, arranged for us to make a presentation to Hadiya at the school assembly.

Because people often mispronounce my name, I asked the principal (Ms Desma Frank) to introduce me as “Auntie Ellie.” When briefly addressing the students before the presentation of hampers to Hadiya, I pointed out how her actions were an example of the school pledge in action.

As the term “dumb animals” always jars me, I also made sure to point out that “dumb animals” does not mean animals are “stupid.” In this case, “dumb” simply means that they cannot speak, and that despite this fact, Hadiya had understood the puppy’s “language” as it silently called for help.

I said to the children: “If you fell into a deep drain, would you not want someone to help you out?”

I ended my part of the talk by telling them that if they had animals at home who needed help, they could always reach out to me for help through an animal rescue organisation (Venus Doggess Of Love).

After the presentation of hampers was made and the children and teachers headed off to their various classes, a little girl came up to me. She told me that she thinks her neighbour’s dog swallowed a bone, as he was coughing and not eating.

“Can you help him?” she asked.

The principal got one of the girl’s teachers to give me her father’s number and I called and made arrangements to go and check on the dog.

In “Auntie Ellie” a new opportunity has come into being and will be explored when school resumes.

I shall update you on it in a future article.