From the Pan of an Old Pickup Truck

November 21, 2012

Kayla Collins, AVC 2013, travelled to Hopedale as one of the student participants on the Chinook Project. As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of writing.

Driving to the clinic in Hopedale

Early every morning a local volunteer drove us to our mobile clinic.  We all excitedly piled into the back of her pick-up truck --  something we would never be allowed to do at home.  Although strange and exciting to us, it is considered the norm in Hopedale, and many of the locals do not even own what we might consider a conventional means of transportation. Instead, they drive around the community on all terrain vehicles: a sight, which although odd at first, was one to which we quickly became accustomed to throughout our stay.   These short morning truck rides were made more memorable because of  our long clinic hours.  As we had little spare time to explore the community, these trips were the lens through which we could see how the local dogs were both viewed and treated.  While looking around at the beautiful town, we would see dogs housed outside and tied to doghouses, and those with little or no shelter at all.  There were females who were after having many litters of puppies, whose future held no hope of changing. This was quite different from what we were used to at home.  Although quite surprising and different, this had to be treated with an open mind.  We aimed to provide care and education, so all judgments had to be put aside. And we grew to realize how much the people cared about their animals.  I will forever remember bouncing around in the pan of that old pick up truck.