Animal Planet

Entry via Letter

The fun thing about being a biology teacher in a rural school is the fact that everyone knows where you live. All of the students can cluster around your home and yell for you to wake up in the wee hours of the morning (until you chase them away with a stick) and still others can come bearing gifts, some with and some without biological significance. This week, 4 primary school students showed up at my door with a huge turtle. Originally I snapped a few shots thanked the boys and then closed the door to resume cooking my supper. Not even 2 minutes later the knock came again, a little more timid this time and there stood the boys, this time flanked with 2 mothers, both of whom were balancing buckets full of water on their heads while also bending to examine the turtle, who had not moved from my doorstep. One of the mothers smiled and patiently explained that the Turtle was a gift, and that I should take him inside before someone else takes him. I smiled again at the boys and the mother, saying there is nothing I would like more than to keep this Turtle in my home, and then, Turtle in tow, again shut my door. Now, Kobe (Kiswahili name for Turtle) wanders up and down the hallways of my home, watching out for both the cat and the chicken, which pounce on him with endless curiosity. When biology students fill my home to ask questions, they now have to dodge both the ankle-attaching cat and the exploring Turtle, all the while nervously keeping out of reach from both, and shaking their heads a the crazy mzungu who has welcomed forest creatures in to her home.