Last week, my host nephew (7 years old) brings home the cutest puppy on the planet. It was cute, tame, even-tempered, playful, and loving. I could not imagine a more perfect puppy. Yesterday, Justin took a few pictures with me and the puppy. I couldn’t help myself but post the pictures immediately on Facebook and Instagram. I was obsessed. All I could talk about yesterday to my teacher and fellow volunteers was about the puppy.

While I was working on a project with another volunteer yesterday, I became worried about the puppy as it was raining a lot. Georgians keep their dogs outdoors and I knew that our puppy would not be indoors safe and warm. So as soon as I got home for dinner, I asked where it was. The puppy was accidentally run over by a van yesterday and its hind leg was badly injured. I was in such disbelief. They asked if I wanted to see it and I jumped at the opportunity.

They led us to the barn and the puppy was crouched over in a corner wet, cold, and dirty. It was whimpering and crying in pain. I tried holding back my tears, but I was shocked to find it in such a miserable condition. It was all alone, hungry, and clearly in misery. I felt so helpless and useless. I wished that they at least cleaned up the puppy from the rain and mud. I wish that it didn’t look in so much pain. I wish it was indoors in a safe place. The concept of having a dog as a member of your family is so foreign that I had to remind myself that there was no malicious intent.

Crying at this point, I called a friend of mine that was very familiar with dogs and is certified in first-aid. I explained to my host brother that she may help. He immediately jumped into his van and went to get her. She brought over her first aid kit and created a splint for the broken leg. But our sweet puppy wouldn’t take any medications, food, nor water. It just crouched over in puppy-fetal-position whimpering. I cannot even describe to you how horrible that sound is to the ears. It is utterly depressing. As a family, we decided that she should take the puppy home and try to save it.

At 7:00 a.m., my friend called me and said that it did not make it. Our puppy joined puppy heaven around 6:00 a.m. this morning, which we assumed was due to internal bleeding.

As much as I cried, my nephew had a tougher time. When I saw him this morning, his eyes were practically swollen shut from crying all night.

But it gets worse, the second I saw my host mother, she said that one our pigs delivered 5 piglets today and attempted to eat all of them! One our piglets did not make because the mother pig got to it too fast. I’m just grateful that the remaining four piglets are at least healthy.

Clearly, breakfast was somber this morning.