Living as a "native" has some great advantages, for instance the privilege of seeing and experiencing first hand the real Seychellois way of life, its climate, culture and customs. It may come as no surprise to learn that poverty, inequality, limited education and lack of suitable health care are as much a part of the Seychellois way of life as they are in many other parts of the world.
I learnt from a local lady about how attitudes to various aspects of life are ingrained and passed down through the generations. Issues such as prejudice, adultery (very few people actually marry) fathering children by different women, domestic abuse, drug abuse and single parent families are common place. Exploring how some of these problems are dealt with, lead to the discovery that there are no effective laws or suitable support structures to protect the most vulnerable in society. With very few opportunities for change, a lack of trust in the system is common, with many people living in fear and mistrust as an everyday experience.
On the rare occasions when tragedy strikes, the last place you expect to find it is on holiday. After all this is your bit of escapism, your paradise away from it all. Where "Bounty" style beaches entice and lull you into believing nothing could, would or should go wrong.
I have to admit I wanted that to be true during my time in the Seychelles, to experience only the idyllic fantasy that seemed so perfect, whilst remaining in a protective cocoon as a "tourist abroad". However this was not to be, as living as a native brought home to me the stark reality that tragedy can and does strike wherever it wants to and is no respecter of persons, position or power.
Another victim where no laws of protection apply is in the care and treatment of animals, more specifically dogs. Rather than being viewed as pets, dogs are treated as vermin and I would now like to dedicate the rest of this article to Cookie a beautiful, good natured black Labrador who prematurely died on Thursday 16th September 2010.
Whether you consider me sentimental or not I can not help feeling that Cookie's death could possibly have been prevented. Accepting that she had accidentally eaten rat poison (see dear diary page) and the swift action on our part to try and rectify this, was not enough to prevent mistakes being made.
We were to learn far too late that whilst we were taking responsibility for the care and welfare of Cookie and her sister Coco "the system" has a programme where poison is distributed amongst the dog population to rid the country of this perceived "pest". This truth only added to the tragic circumstances we found ourselves facing, as we were thrown into doubt and confusion as to whether the dog had been given a second dose of poison. As we were given no follow up advice or aftercare do's and don'ts either, this caused us to question our actions and those of the vet. Having returned to the vet several times because we were not happy with her condition we were still not given any advice or guidance. Little did we know at the time that these were to be Cookies last days with us, or that we were watching a dog we had come to accept as part of the family, slowly dying from internal bleeding due to poisoning. On Thursday 16th September 2010 Cookie lost her fight for life.
R.I.P. Cookie
