Rufus is playing!
Trip Start
Apr 15, 2009
1
7
8
Trip End
Ongoing
Guidan Roumdji,
Niger
Saturday, August 1, 2009
It has been a very "animal" week this week. On Monday there was a bit of a commotion in the village: a herd of goats was crossing the road and a lorry, going too fast, ran into them. Nine little goats died and it was not a pretty sight (I took pictures if anyone is interested!). It was the biggest thing to happen in the village since the opening of the hospital I think - there were crowds of people standing by watching. The goats couldn't be removed from the road until the police had registered the accident, and they took their time in coming. The driver offered to pay for the damage of half the goats. That's fair and I think he offered that because he didn't have any insurance.
When we arrived home after that we found a big bird in our garden. It had been sitting in our tree and some kids had aimed at it with a catapult and broken its wing. It fell into our garden and now it can't get out as it can't fly anymore. It is scared of us (and we of it - it has a large beak) but we don't want to see it starve so the guards are paying some little kids, hopefully the ones that shot it down in the first place, to collect grasshoppers for it to eat. Of which there are hundreds now. Thankfully I have got used to them now and don't jump up in alarm when one of them lands on my back, or the table, or on my book.
Speaking of birds, on one of our little walks outside the village we ran into a boy who was holding a beautiful bird in his hands, again he shot it with a catapult. He had cut its wings so it couldn't fly anymore. The bird kept on twisting round to bite the boy's hand but he didn't seem to mind. The boy then showed us all the birds he had caught that day, it was very impressive but a shame because they all had beautiful plumage.
At the hospital things are going well, I have "had" to go up there a lot of times this week for admin things, but really it's an excuse to see the little kids. Some of them are in a pitiful state with flies buzzing about their heads and open weeping sores everywhere. But when you go to Phase III which is the last phase before the kids leave the hospital, it's a different story. The kids are all well and eating their Plumpynut. A charity has donated toys to the kids, most of them being lorries and dolls. The dolls are wrapped in plastic and the lorries have a net around them. The kids play with the toys as they are and don't bother removing the net or the plastic. The mothers don't know that you have to remove the wrapping either...it's quite sad isn't it...
It's also quite funny to see the little kids' reactions to white people. I creep up behind them and when they see me I start counting. Normally I get to three before they start crying. But one little girl wasn't like that and even let me pick her up! I also followed a little guy on a walk round the hospital and took pictures when he wasn't looking, it is so cute.
Anyway I am off to see if I can read my mails, if you don't hear from me it's not for lack of trying!
Thinking of you all and I will hopefully be home for hols in September (in Lux).
Love from Emma
xxx
