Was woken up at dawn. Had to listen for a while before I knew what the noise was all about.

Dawn prayers.

At this point they were in the middle of a sermon. Was about to return to my sleep when I heard something amusing.

The preacher was talking about how we black people are not kind to animals, always seeing them as food, whereas white people were kind and nice to animals. The preacher said being kind to animals brought blessings to a person.

I pondered over his message.

We reared animals in our home for food. I never taught about kindness to animals. We didn’t maltreat or abuse the animals either.

But the preacher had a point. What was amusing for me was the fact that I was thinking about all the times my uncles slaughtered a dog, steaming the meat with special herbs that rendered the meat tender and sweet scented.

Those uncles of mine never cooked nor helped their wives in the kitchen. But when it came to roasting or steaming the meat of wild animals, they were experts.

Dogs in particular are nice pets. I wonder how we could bond with animals who become almost a  part of the family and still have the courage to kill and steam them, serving them hot on plates while rubbing our hands in excitement, and blessing God for providing hot manna steaming with spices.