Ami's Animals!

Noses twitching. Paws padding past. Hooves stamping. Stumbling babies. This post is all about amazing animals!

Last month we got a dog from our guard Thaddeus. We had a hard time understanding what his name was. We were told his name was “Kilin.” After a while dad asked what language the name came from. He said it is from English, “you know, kilin” But we didn’t think it sounded English at all. In the end, Joseph said  “you know the word … in Kiswahili, it is “Safi.”  (which means CLEAN) “Oh!  - clean!” dad realized. Joseph said back ‘ehe (Eh-hair) Kilin!’ He was called Clean, but we changed the name to Kili.

Kili

We named him Kili for several reasons. One because it sounds like Kilin. Also because we have been reading The Hobbit. In this book there are 12 dwarves and one of them is called Kili. We also thought that as we are living in Tanzania, we ought to have a dog named after Mt. Kilimanjaro.

He is very skinny and all beaten up because before coming here he lived with other guard dogs who teased him and always took all the food. He is always very scared and not a good guard dog at all, but I love him anyway! Mum says he is daft and I suppose  he is a little daft to sit on a fire. Last week he went and sat on the jiko (clay stove) and burnt his bum! We put blue spray on him, which he did NOT like!   

We also have rabbits now!! I am soooo happy. We have bought three babies, 2 for me and one Louisa because she doesn’t LOVE rabbits as I do, and I ended up feeding and caring for hers anyway. They are gorgeous and love to eat! Louisa’s is called Maisy, but I haven’t thought of nice names yet.  If you have any suggestions, please say so!

Mum and Dad, and our friends from Magozi (near Iringa), Mendriad and Hosea  have been teaching people how to make stoves. While they were having a little break, they saw twin goats just being born! The second one was struggling and I am really hoping she survived. Here is a video of them!

Baby Goats from Rachel Monger on Vimeo.


Baby Goat 2 from Rachel Monger on Vimeo.

 

More baby animals ... Last Sunday we went to Kayenze (ki-yen-zay) village. It took us 2 hours to get there and I felt sick afterwards. We sung for a bit and then Hosea preached.  After the service, I saw a donkey walk by. And then I saw her little baby following. It could hardly walk and it was so so so cute! Here are some pictures of him!