Zimpapers Logo

Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday
During the dry season, the dogs in our village and those from way beyond the mountains, follow the sound of the village drum at night. It does not matter how far the drum sound is coming from, these dogs will get there because they know that a beast has been killed to celebrate a bira or a kurova guva ceremony. The ceremonies to honour ancestors happen only in the dry season. They will stop in November, when the rains come and everyone starts working in the fields.

There is plenty of discarded bones and leftover sadza. The dogs have a feast.

I saw the dogs arrive at the kurova guva ceremony in our village homestead last week. Before the beast was killed, there was just a couple of our dogs around. Once the drumbeat started, strange dogs rushed in through the gate one by one or even in twos or threes. Suddenly there was a dog party going on around the homestead.

We lost a couple of steaks from the cooler box because one dog, from some faraway village, managed to smell the meat when nobody was looking. This dog lifted the lid with its mouth and grabbed two pieces of T-bone steak

Jemba, our neighbour from up the hill, threw a stone at the dog, hitting it on the head and forcing it to drop one piece of meat into the dust. Another mangy- looking dog with black and white spots saw the meat and grabbed it from the dust and ran away with it.

The following day, when the ceremony was over and it was late afternoon, a few relatives and other elders gathered around a big clay pot of beer. The dogs were still around, sniffing and searching for bones and sadza. My cousin Reuben sat on the long bench in front of our kitchen hut, filming the dogs and taking pictures.

“You know, in Africa we have some amazing varieties of dogs,” he said, zooming in on one tall gray dog with sad-looking eyes. “This one is probably related to the greyhound. These types of dogs can run. Whose dog is this?”

“Who knows?” said my cousin Piri. “Why do you take so much interest in dogs? A dog is a dog.” Imbwa imbwa chete. “Sis, we must learn to change our attitudes towards dogs. Have you not heard that a dog is a man’s best friend?” Reuben asked, addressing the merry-looking and slightly drunk elders enjoying the seven-day brew.

“A dog is your best friend if he does not steal, guards your homestead at night, stops thieves from stealing your chickens and goes hunting with you and catches rabbits. A dog must know that it is a dog, and not a person,” said Jemba.

“An African dog is different to a European dog,” said Bokina, the former trainee priest. “The European dog is treated like a person. His food comes from the shops and his meat is even frozen. He eats biscuits and is taken to the doctor when he is sick. In Europe, they have hospitals for dogs. Sometimes I wish I was a European dog, and then I will have no worries about what to feed the children on a daily basis. What if it does not rain? In my next life, I want to be a German Shepherd.”

Bokina was in high spirits. He is often like that, especially when he has been drinking for a day or two. His ability to speak English increases remarkably.

“Why do we keep dogs unless we are friendly to them? Why we scold each other saying, ‘Uri imbwa yemunhu’, meaning, you are a dog,” said Reuben. “When it comes to looking after dogs and pets in general, we cannot be compared to Europeans. They love their pets. They even leave millions for them when they die. ”

Reuben then took his iPhone and started googling on dogs and pets who inherited large amounts of money from their owners. The first story was about a dog who inherited $12 million from billionaire Leona Helmsley. Leona Helmsley had a small dog called “Trouble”. Helmsley died in 2007 and left two grandchildren out of her will. A judge later reduced the dog’s inheritance to $2 million.

“Trouble” retired to Florida in 2007 soon after Helmsley’s death. He was cared for by Carl Lekic, the general manager of a hotel. According to newspaper reports, Mr Lekic said he needed $100 000 a year to care of Trouble. The monthly budget breakdown was as follows: $8 000 for grooming, $1 200 for pet food and the rest of the money was for general upkeep and payment for a full-time security guard. This amount helped the dog to live a lavish lifestyle until its death at the age of 12 in 2011.

Leona Helmsley’s will had stated that “Trouble” was to be buried with Helmsley in a large family mausoleum at Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Westchester County, New York. But the cemetery’s board said pets could not be buried in a cemetery. “Trouble” was later cremated and her ashes are kept in a special private place.

Rueben said leaving so much wealth to an animal instead of a person was not unusual in Western culture. He then went on to google some more and read stories about other rich people who leave a lot of money to their pets.

On a website titled Everplan, it read: “Once a novelty, it’s now become expected for the unimaginably wealthy to leave millions to their surviving pets to ensure there’s no disruption in their spa treatments and fancy feasts. Like the old saying goes, you can’t choose your family. But if you’re an animal your family can sure as heck choose you, which is probably why many of the world’s mega-rich have chosen to bequeath more of their inheritance to their loyal pets than to their often spoiled kids.”

“Ah, vakomana! Dai ndiri imbwa zvangu!” said Bokina, wishing he was a dog.

“But who would have you as a pet?” asked Piri and everyone laughed. “You got to have something really special to be a loved dog. There is a beauty competition among dogs, you know. Even these skinny village dogs compete for attention from each other and from their owners.”

Reuben ignored Bokina and Piri. He kept on reading in English and translating to the elders. He read that Michael Jackson left his chimpanzee called Bubbles $2 million which was payable upon Michael’s death.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek”, died in 2009 at the age of 76. His widow set up a $4 million trust for their dogs and an additional $1 million for a domestic worker who cared for the dogs. Miles Blackwell, a publishing magnate and his wife loved animals. They had no children and he left more than £10 million to an organisation devoted to rare farm breeds including dogs, chickens and sheep.

In 2010, Gail Posner, a rich lady, left $3 million in trust funds and her $8 million mansion to three dogs. The pets went to a pet spa each week in an expensive car called an Escalade. Ben Rea, a British antique dealer left $12,5 million in 1988 and almost his entire estate to a cat called “Blacki” and to three cat charities.

Maria Assunta, the childless widow of an Italian real estate investor, rescued a stray cat called “Tomaso” from the streets of Rome. She left $13 million to the cat when she died in 2011.

“Chiiko chinoita kuti vanhu ava vadaro? Kupa imbwa nekitsi mari isu tichitambura so?” asked Piri. Why do Westerners give money to dogs and cats while we starve? “Too much money and loneliness can do that to you. You end up loving animals better than people,” said one elder.

“Hazvisi zvega. Vanhu ava vanoudzwa nechikwambo kuti ita mari yakawanda wozosiira imbwa yako (The Westerners with money go to a witchdoctor or a magician who gives them charms to get rich on condition that they leave the money to their dogs upon death),” said Bokina shaking his head.

The elders clapped hands saying Bokina was right since there was no other explanation as to why millions of dollars are left to dogs and other pets by rich people when there are so many poor people in the world.

There is plenty of hunger around our villages because last year it did not rain much. Due to lack of food, we do not look after our dogs well. But some of us never look after the dogs well anyway, even when there is plenty of food around. We beat them up. They hunt and we take away the wild game from them.

As long as the drum continues to beat at night, the dogs in our village will attend the party. Perhaps, it’s time we start loving our dogs more. At the same time, we can also ask those in Western countries to love their dogs less, so we can somehow share some of the inheritance with the dogs.

Dr Sekai Nzenza is a writer and cultural critic