Using Animal Care to Promote Empathy in Children

Rhino is a Jack Russell dog that belongs to Kathy, Vusumnotfo’s director. She is a well over 10 years old hence the jacket to stay warm in the winter weather.

On May 29, I and another staff member took Rhino to Mkhuzweni Preschool. Our objective was to show the children the careful way to handle a dog. Because of her short size, the children were so excited to see Rhino. The average dog in rural Swaziland tends to be tall and slim, so a very short Jack Russell was completely different. Plus Rhino’s jacket made them laugh as this is not a sight they had seen before.

Thulisile and Sibongiseni, Mkhuzweni preschool teachers, attend in-service training with Vusumnotfo (activity 1.2) so they are familiar with and supportive of the animal care message.

Two teachers handling 71 children is no joke yet they are amazing at how they go about it. They separated the children into groups of 5 so that all children could have a chance to pet Rhino. Some were happy to do so and others needed to be encouraged and guided by the teachers.

Children being children, they soon started sharing stories about their dogs at home; some happy stories, some not so happy stories, and one who has a dog named Obama.

This community spay clinic is related to Vusumnotfo's programme objective  "to increase participants' knowledge of early childhood development and learning, including factors that influence this". 

A negative factor is the lack of animal care that contributes to normalizing high rates of domestic violence children regularly witness and experience within their home environment. 

A positive factor is the healthy animals resulting from our annual spay clinic, which in turn results in the positive companionship that naturally arises between a healthy dog or cat and their home environment. 

With much appreciation for your continued support in helping make this happen.

Links:

• http://www.vusumnotfo.org