For those of you who know me well, you know that I’m an
animal person. More specifically, I’m a horse-person. As I mentioned in my
Christmas blog, I went out to one of the local equestrian centers and found a
horse to lease. At first, I was doing a full lease of Rokko, a white Spanish
warmblood. That meant that I was fully responsible for how much he was
exercised. I thought I’d be able to go out at least 4 times a week, but it ended
up being too much. My schedule at the university was constantly changing, so I
wasn’t able to go out as consistently as I wanted. Another problem was the fact
that it would take me between 30 and 90 minutes to even get out there on the
bus. Often the traffic was so bad that I could walk faster, and sometimes did
even though it’s quite far.
Because of that and my changing schedule, I went
down to a half-lease, which meant sharing him with someone else and only riding
3x a week, which was perfect. I rode him Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while a
15-year-old French girl rode him the other days of the week. I loved going out
on Mondays because the center is technically closed that day, so there aren’t
so many people around and I could just enjoy myself without having to worry
about people. I was also using Mondays to give my friend Faith beginner riding
lessons because I didn’t have to compete with other lessons.
Wednesdays I’d usually go out before I’d go to the US
Embassy for the conversation and film clubs, so earlier in the day. That was my
day to go out into the park and talk to all the kids. It seems that Wednesdays
are popular days for school outings, so sometimes there’d be hundreds of kids
in the park.
Rokko loves, loves, loves kids! We drew quite a bit of attention to
ourselves because of three factors: most horses aren’t ridden, but pull carts;
even as what we in the West would consider a mid-sized horse, Rokko is quite a
bit bigger than Senegalese horses; and both Rokko and I are white! He doesn’t
mind the attention, and I found it fun to answer the kids’ questions about him
while letting them come up one or two at a time and pet him. It was a lot of
fun! I ended my lease with him at the beginning of July because of my impending
departure, so that was a bit of a bummer. It was great to be able to ride so
much while I was in Senegal!
Tera
Day 1: Fuzzball @ 2 weeks old |
The other furry friend that I had was Tera, a kitten I
rescued off the street in mid-January. I was walking down the street in my
neighborhood and almost stepped on this little fuzzball in someone’s driveway.
She was so little, but looked to be in good health, with a clean, fluffy coat,
and clear, but barely open eyes. I asked the guard that was across from the
driveway and he said he’d seen the momma kitty that morning, but not since
about 7am. At that point it was about 4pm, so I knew she was hungry, but hadn’t
been that way for more than 8 hours or so. I decided she needed to be saved, so
I picked her up and brought her to my new apartment.
Then I spent some time
looking up how to make kitten formula from scratch, since that’s not something
that can be found in Senegal! There weren’t any baby kitten bottles available
either, so I had to get her to drink on her own. From what I could tell by
looking up what kittens look like at certain stages, she seemed to be about 2
weeks old. I was able to get her to drink out of a jar lid, and continued to
feed her every 2-3 hours, gradually increasing the time between feedings over
the next couple of weeks. At the beginning it was hard to get her to eat and I
was sincerely worried that she wouldn’t make it. Then I had a stroke of luck
and found some wet kitten food at one of the large grocery stores, so I started
mixing that with her formula, and then some dry kitten food until I finally got
her weaned.
It was a bit stressful, but she was such a nice companion to
have when I was all alone in my apartment. For the first couple of weeks, she
was too little to be up on my bed, which was pretty tall. I didn’t want her to
fall off and hurt herself. At about 4 weeks, she was big enough not to hurt
herself on too much, so she had free run off the place. At night, she would
come curl up on me, snuggle real close to my neck and fall asleep.
Once I was sure she would survive, I decided to stop just
calling her Fuzzball and give her a real name. My original plan was to take her
back to the US with me as my ultimate Senegalese souvenir, so I wanted her to
have a name connected to Senegal. I decided on Teranga, after the Senegalese
culture of hospitality: Tera for short. What a fun little thing she was to have
around, as kittens usually are. She was always happy to see me when I got home
and would come running to greet me as I walked in. Tera would sometimes earn
herself the title of “Tera the Terrible” with her kitten antics, but she was
cute and a lot of fun. Her playfulness often had her standing on her back legs
swiping at something with both front paws, coupled with her ferociousness she
earned the nickname “Pterodactyl” as well.
She loved to sit on my friend
Brenna’s shoulder when she came over for dinner, always wanting to be in the
thick of things. When I would work at my table, she would run around, bouncing
off the leather couches and causing general mayhem in my living room until I realized
that she just wanted to be able to hang out with me at the table, but there was
nowhere for her to go. I realized that if I just put her PillowPet up on the
table, she’d snuggle right down and watch whatever was going on. This worked
like a charm even when I had 3 people over for a French lesson… I’d forgotten
about her PillowPet , and she was being a bit crazy until my friends asked me
why she was so hyper. Then I remembered that she just wanted to be next to us,
so I put her PillowPet on the table and she snuggled down for the rest of the
2-hour lesson, not leaving her spot until everyone left! They were amazed!
I started questioning my plan to
take her home with me when I realized just how much travel that would entail,
especially without knowing exactly where I would actually end up. No matter
where I was going to be, I would have to drive my car long-distance to get
there, not to mention a 5-hour flight, followed by a 4-hour layover and then an
11.5-hour flight. For a 6-month old kitten, that would be asking a lot! So I
decided to try finding her a family that would keep her in Dakar and if I didn’t
I would make the best of it and take her back with me. I’d remembered that a
friend of a friend had mentioned wanting to get a cat for her two little boys,
maybe 5 and 7 years old. They’re an embassy family that still has 3 years left
at post in Dakar. I ran into her (Koki) one Sunday in May and asked if she was
still looking for a cat. I thought she’d be a perfect kitten for boys because
she’s super playful, but also fairly snuggly. Koki said they were very interested
and could they come that Wednesday to meet her.
Tera with her new family |
When they met her, they fell in
love with her (of course!) and asked if they could take her that weekend. I was
very happy to have found such a good family for her, but I was slightly devastated
to have to let her go so soon. I’m sure they would have let me keep her a
little longer, but I didn’t want something to happen that would change their
mind, so I let them take her that weekend. They really are the perfect family
for her, making being without her, alone in my apartment for the last two
months, worth it. I was able to visit her at her new home a couple of weeks
after she moved out and she seems to be very happy.
Such a good friend and blessing for a little while! |