The Dogs of Peace

Last night as I was trying to sleep, something strange happened: a dog barked, and then another replied.  When I was in Liberia last year, just after the siege of Monrovia, I never heard or saw dogs.  At that time, the residents had been so poor and desperate that most of the dogs had been eaten.

Driving around yesterday, I also saw goats and chickens, lots of chickens (I awoke this morning to the call of a rooster). Another member of our team saw cows. This is a significant change from one year ago.  Farm animals require food, i.e. foregone current consumption.  Farm animals are the capital of pre-capitalist societies, they represent savings and property rights and are a sign that people have some hope for the future. 

The return of the dogs is a small beginning for a ravaged land but it is a beginning.