EMILY IN AFRICA: More Namibia

Sunday, July 17

Well, it's been a busy few days, interspersed with 11 hours of sleep a night. On Friday I learnt about food preparation which was actually really fun. We cut up veggies for the steenbok, Lily (a very small deer), as well as Sylvie, which is a larger variety of deer. We prepared and fed the baby baboons bottles, which is fun because they are greedy and you need three people to do it so you can feed all five at the same time. Otherwise whoever finishes first will fight the others for their bottles. We were a bit new at this and accidentally let them steal the nipples off the bottles. Unsure if they got them back yet. We also had to prepare meal pap for the baboons, big and small, which was kind of like playing with play dough. The Bush Men actually make the meal pap and we have to chop up and mix in vegetables and fruit as well as compost and then shape it into balls so the staff can throw it over the fence for them. Taking food into the junior or senior camps would be a bad idea. But Miguel and I took it into the baby camp, and I ended up with a baboon (Shauna I think) eating a carrot on my head and getting me quite dirty! But they are very cute. A girl from Texas, Sable, and I also threw meat to the two semi-tame cheetahs, Samera and Chiquita. They were both raised as pets and Chiquita only has four teeth because she was raised on cat food. So it takes a while to feed them. After that we were supposed to go feed all the other carnivores, but because yesterday was a big open house day and they were going to be eating a lot, they had to fast. Instead we prepared all the food for Saturday. In the afternoon we were supposed to take the baby baboons on a walk, but there were too many last minute things to do to get ready for open day. So Sable and I made ourselves as scare as possible to avoid having to rake. We did meet the horses who came out to get groomed for giving kids rides.

Open Day (Saturday) was not particularly fun, but was very important for raising awareness amongst Namibians as well as some money. It was really well organized and the food the had looked amazing. I was in charge of selling t-shirts, posters, and DVDs. Very boring because no one wanted them. And nowhere to sit down all day. But I think 500 people came in, and enjoyed themselves, so it was fine. I did not pick the best week to come though! But now that that is over next week should be good! Lst night was someone's birthday so we had a bit of a party and a huge cake....but even the birthday girl went to bed at 9pm!

Today I'm going into town for the day. It's a beautiful day so I am regretting it a bit, but it will be nice to get out of farmland for a few hours! Those that are staying behind will play soccer against the bushmen and enjoy dessert with lunch. But I will do that next Sunday!

Here is a picture of Sylvie as I am writing this: