Note for the folks at home: One of the first cultural obstacles many Americans hit in Kenya is the Kenyan attitude towards animals. Animal life in Kenya is valued solely for its uses to humans: animals that produce meat or can do labor are really the only ones worth a second thought. Anything smaller than a kitten is generally considered a pest, and this threshold is sometimes raised to bigger beasts, like dogs. While a foreigner may initially be repulsed by the outright cruelty to animals that is so commonplace in Kenya, the underlying argument eventually appears: why should the human species waste time making another species comfortable, when humans themselves are dying all the time? "Animal Rights" starts to look like a pompous pass-time for people fortunate enough to have their own safety and survival guaranteed. That being said, it still bugs me to see stones thrown at poor lil' dogs. Love for canines is a rarity around these parts, and being "the insane white man who thinks dogs are children" is the price I pay for my puppy-loving.
