Bamnut & My Octopus Teacher Moment

I had a happy moment on my morning walk today.

For context, I’m currently n Tamale, northern Ghana, working to setup a 21st century, regenerative agriculture supply chain. I’ve been here just over a month and the work is going well. I’ve visited 25 communities in the last weeks to share information about our project and to invite the smallholder farmers there to consider our invitation to join. It looks as though more than 1,000 farmers, most of them women, might do so.

When I’m not in the field visiting communities, I like to head off on a morning walk. Every day I’ve been here, it’s pushed almost 40oC in the shade, so a good walk is best started around 6am before things get too heated.

A few weeks ago, on one of my walks, a mother dog came to me and showed that she wondered at being friends. She didn't come too close. Dogs get beaten here, so she was nervous. I got as low to the ground as my creaky knees would allow and reached out my hand for her to smell. Nope, she wasn't having any of that. There was a tail wag, and a somewhat happy face, but she was cautious and stayed a good 2 to 3 metres away from me. Just in case...

Over the coming days, each time I'd pass where she lives, she'd greet me again. Once, she managed to venture close enough to smell my outstretched fingers, but there was no patting or anything scary like that. She didn't trust me yet. Then, finally, on around the 4th or 5th day, I was walking along thinking of something completely different and suddenly, there she was jumping on the back of my legs, leaping up, licking. She was happy to see me! And I was happy to see her! That morning she did let me give her a good old pat amidst much tail and whole-body wagging, and a very happy face. I had passed muster and had been befriended.

The next few days it was the same and having greeted me, she'd walk a spell alongside, drifting in and out in a wide circle, saying g'day to other dogs, smelling this or that. She followed me all the way home one morning and as I got to my gate, she saved us an awkward moment by peeling away and heading back to her place.

The next morning, there she was as I headed out bright and early. She'd been waiting. I do a 5km circuit and it seemed that she was keen to join. I was worried that this would take her far from her territory and that, in foreign lands 'owned' by other dogs, she'd get attacked. What to do? I didn't want to scare her away by yelling or throwing things at her, that wouldn't have helped our nascent friendship, even if it was for her own good.

Off we walked and she trotted alongside, happy. I started to relax my worrying, but then, it happened. A few KMs in, other dogs approached, growling, and chased her. She bolted away, stopping to fend them off, snarling. She circled back and walked a bit further with me, but then she was gone, tail between her legs, looking over her shoulder for fear of being pursued again. I carried on, hoping she was fine. I figured she would be, they're smart, streetwise and know their way 'home' these dogs, but I was still worried for her.

For three days, I didn't see her. As I headed out each morning, and even some evenings, I'd look for her. She wasn't there, where I'd always met her. I started to worry, wondering if I'd caused her demise.

Day after day, nothing, no sign.

Until this morning. And there she was! Ears down, smiley face, whole body wagging, she came trotting toward me as I came to her home ground. She jumped and licked and let me pat her. It was a joyous moment of connection. She was leaping up so much I struggled to walk forward. After a good few minutes of rollicking welcome, she walked with me a spell but then turned back, and I was relieved. Best she stays in her place, I figure, and we can have a good old pat and play there rather than venturing too far from home.

For anyone who's seen the beautiful film, 'My Octopus Teacher,' the story will ring familiar. There was a moment when the octopus had been attacked by a shark and went missing a while. If you haven't yet seen it, I urge you to do so. It's very moving.

My new little friend and my worry for her shows just how important it is for us to feel connected to other souls and how that loss of connection, even one only so briefly established, can trouble us. It's a reminder to be open to wonder and to trust that the Universe will set things to right.

I shared the story with my work colleagues and one suggested we call her Bamnut, in reference to the Bambara groundnut they’re using in their planet-based products. It felt right, though I wonder at what she calls herself. I shall ask her tomorrow. My colleague also wondered if I might struggle to leave her behind when I leave.

I feel it will be OK. We come together in life with people and other beings, so often for the briefest of moments. My sense is that if we can be in that moment in a way that lets it shine, it stays with us. That's the gift. It's when we try to hold on, or to own it or worse, own the other, that we mess up. We’ve got to let it go.

I can’t wait to step out my gate tomorrow.