I've officially been at CARE now for 10 days (is that all?) and it's been wonderful. And hot hot hot. Today is supposed to get up into the high 90s. All the people here are super cool also. There's about 15 of us here now, all but 1 are returning volunteers and are here for a long stay of months and months. I've even met a few before so it's been nice catching up. In the past, I've come in the summertime (northern hemisphere summer) when schools are on break and there are about 20-25 people here and most are only for one month. So this is a nice change of pace because these people will be around for my whole stay. But enough about the people...
Baboons at last! It's been delightful getting back to being with crazy monkeys and crazy monkey people. Two to three times a day we sit in with the babies in 1 hour shifts, two people per shift. There are 18 little guys and gals running around. We are there to make sure they're behaving basically. We pull them apart if they're fighting, scold the naughty ones, and comfort the victims. We also provide more jungle gym equipment and a nice lap on which to take a nap (and more often than not, pee during it). Suffice it to say that we are veeery dirty (and rather smelly) most of the time, but we only complain until it all dries. I've learned all of the baboons' names now and am starting to work out their personalities. Babies' names: Elton, Becks, Tromperton, Blake
, Miles, Colby, Toughie (a personal favorite already- he sleeps on me, bottle in mouth, all the time. Too cute.), Yappy, Remi, Carla, Bianca, Breezy, Gracie, Eli, Will, Alena, Amber, and Joshua. They are actually a pretty mellow group of kids compared to some I've been with in the past. I've jumped right back into lipsmacking (baboon for hello), play-facing, and grooming. It's been awesome. The rest of out days are spent making bottles of milk and food for the babies and some larger baboons. If anyone had ANY baboon questions, I know I got some before I left, no matter how silly, please let me know and I'll try to answer them!!
This week Africa decided to haze my return by wreaking some havoc on my digestive system. Without going into more detail, let's just say I had a couple of rough days. But they gave me some medicine and it seems to be helping out a great deal. I've been feeling a whole lot better today! I also saw my first (this time) giraffe today! It was kind of far across the river but still, it was pretty neat. It's fun living in the bush with wildlife!
I think that's it for now!
Baboons at last! It's been delightful getting back to being with crazy monkeys and crazy monkey people. Two to three times a day we sit in with the babies in 1 hour shifts, two people per shift. There are 18 little guys and gals running around. We are there to make sure they're behaving basically. We pull them apart if they're fighting, scold the naughty ones, and comfort the victims. We also provide more jungle gym equipment and a nice lap on which to take a nap (and more often than not, pee during it). Suffice it to say that we are veeery dirty (and rather smelly) most of the time, but we only complain until it all dries. I've learned all of the baboons' names now and am starting to work out their personalities. Babies' names: Elton, Becks, Tromperton, Blake
, Miles, Colby, Toughie (a personal favorite already- he sleeps on me, bottle in mouth, all the time. Too cute.), Yappy, Remi, Carla, Bianca, Breezy, Gracie, Eli, Will, Alena, Amber, and Joshua. They are actually a pretty mellow group of kids compared to some I've been with in the past. I've jumped right back into lipsmacking (baboon for hello), play-facing, and grooming. It's been awesome. The rest of out days are spent making bottles of milk and food for the babies and some larger baboons. If anyone had ANY baboon questions, I know I got some before I left, no matter how silly, please let me know and I'll try to answer them!!This week Africa decided to haze my return by wreaking some havoc on my digestive system. Without going into more detail, let's just say I had a couple of rough days. But they gave me some medicine and it seems to be helping out a great deal. I've been feeling a whole lot better today! I also saw my first (this time) giraffe today! It was kind of far across the river but still, it was pretty neat. It's fun living in the bush with wildlife!
I think that's it for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment