Shopping by Surname: Feeding the Dogs in Lockdown

In the first days of Covid, Mauritius shut down completely. For ten days nobody was supposed to leave home at all, not even for food.

That is when the dogs started turning up at our gates. With the beach empty and nothing left behind by visitors, they were hungry, really hungry. Nadja messaged the others: we have a problem, so many dogs are showing up, what do I do? Ella and the others had an answer straight away: let's make a group. The feeding began that week, with buckets.

When the shops opened again, it was by surname. Supermarkets let people in according to the first letter of their surname, A, B and C on one day, D, E and F on another. We all had different surnames, so between us we covered most of the week, and every trip included food for the dogs.

La Boutik by Loyeung, the same lovely people who still support us today, started delivering. Only medical staff, the police and shopkeepers were allowed to move around, and their deliveries kept the buckets full.

It was a strange and frightening time, and none of us really knew what was going on. But every evening the dogs were waiting, and so were we. The children helped too, dishing out rice and meat on the terrace while the dogs watched, and our smallest volunteer turned up to feeding time dressed as Superman.

These were the same dogs we later sterilised in a single day, still in lockdown. Read about the day Blue Bay fell asleep.