Recognising True Compassion

Photos: Tousif Farhad, volunteer, obhoyaronno

There is a common sight in Bangladesh that can wrench your heart in a matter of seconds- that of a street animal being abused. When we come across a sight as terrible as this, we link it to illiteracy leading to a lack of morals and ethics. But very recently, Obhoyaronno Animal Welfare Foundation has proved the situation to be quite different. 

On October 9th, 2015, Obhoyaronno, with support and sponsorship from Humane Society International, hosted the first 'Dog Lovers' Day' in the country, to recognise and celebrate the real dog lovers of Bangladesh. Along with celebrating the compassionate souls of the society, Obhoyaronno provided free treatment and vaccination for their dogs along with safety kits.

“There is an unprecedented notion in our country that animal welfare is only considered by the 'rich and educated'. What I have learned from hosting this event is that compassion has absolutely nothing to do with literacy and education,” says Rubaiya Ahmad, founder of Obhoyaronno Animal Welfare Foundation. The event moved from Dhanmondi, to Karail Slum, and then finally Gulshan. “When we were in Dhanmondi, Rabindra Sharabar, to celebrate Dog Lovers' Day, we were shunned by a man who was ' literate and had a high social status'. He said 'this is a developed, literate society. There is no room for such nonsense' when we told him that we were there to celebrate dogs and dog lovers. We were surprised by his reaction, but ultimately had to leave because of his persistence to drive us away.” On the contrary, when the programme moved the Karail Slum, Rubaiya and her volunteers were met with some of the most compassionate people they had come across. “Starting from toddlers, to parents, to religious adults in the community, they all were caring and wonderful to the dogs in their area! I was surprised to see that not one dog was starved, not one was ill, not one was unhappy. That really proved to me that literacy and compassion do not go hand in hand at all,” says Rubaiya. In Gulshan too, Obhoyaronno were able to carry out the event with cooperation and support from all the dog lovers and other members of the crowd. 

On October 21st, 2015, Obhoyaronno, again with the sponsorship and support from Humane Society International, hosted World Rabies Day. The Bangladesh Government also celebrates this day every year. This year Obhoyaronno took the initiative. With the help of volunteers from the Animal Welfare Club of Dhaka University, Obhoyaronno was able to vaccinate around 40 dogs in five hours, covering almost 80 percent of the dogs in the area, to make Dhaka University a rabies-free campus. 

“It was another delightful day for us, especially with the amount of love and support we had gotten from the members of the university- student and faculty alike. ‘I was especially touched when a Muslim religious man came to me to share his sorrow of losing his dog. As I listened intently and noticed the sheer sadness in his countenance, I realised how, right at that moment, stereotypes were being shattered, especially in a country where it is believed that our religion prohibits dogs” says Rubaiya. With the man's narrative, many were reminded of Surah Kahf in The Quran about the only real dog that appears in the text, as a companion of the People of the Cave, a small group of young men who, threatened by an ancient king after refusing to abandon their faith, hide in a cave and take a 309-year-long nap. During these three centuries of hiding, their dog lay stretched out at the entrance of the cave to keep any intruders at bay.‘

Obhoyaronno Animal Welfare Society plans not only to celebrate both these events on an annual basis, but also move it to different cities across Bangladesh. “We celebrated both these events along with World Animal day, which was on October 4th. We plan to move outside the city once we expand our regular activities.” 

With the objective to find real compassion, Rubaiya and her team were pleasantly surprised with the people they have come across as some of the most kind-hearted and loving people, in the most unexpected of places. “We want to celebrate the uncelebrated. All the well established dog owners and lovers make maybe only 1 percent of dog lovers in the country. If we look in the slums and villages, we will find many, many more. These people not only have big hearts, but accordingly carry out their responsibilities as humans by caring for all creatures– people and animals alike.”

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Maybe we already are a great nation. Maybe we've just been judging the wrong crowd.