Recently as I drove home I witnessed a peculiar yet curiously refreshing site. As I headed towards the steep slope that beckons me home, I noticed a donkey cart stationery right at the brow of the hill, to my right. So I carefully manoeuvred to the left and, before I quite started the descent, another car approached from the opposite direction uphill. Unfortunately the other car was squarely in the path of the donkey and cart and I stopped to frantically request the cart driver to move and make way for the other car since the ascent is really no place for any car to stop and wait.
The cart driver didn’t seem to be responding to my pleas so I waited to hear why he was being so obviously uncooperative. “Now what am I supposed to do?” came his reply.
At that moment, just as I was about to remind him the brow of a hill was no place for him to park his cart, I noticed the donkey. The poor creature had his chin firmly planted on the ground, literally (even though it was standing upright!) and had decided it was not going anywhere. From the look on its face it was tired out of its wits, looked positively harassed and oppressed, and simply could take no more even if it tried. “Imekataa?” (Has it refused to move?) I asked the beleaguered man. “Eee,” (Yes) he replied.
I could do little for either the donkey and man, or the car now at a standstill on the hill, and I figured the best thing was to drive downhill then maybe the other driver could try and pass from that side.
Later when I told the story to my husband he said “the donkey must have been having a splitting headache,” which I thought was hilarious yet sad and very possibly true.
I sure hope the World Donkey Day will help put some sensitivity into man as far as the treatment of this animal (plus other ‘beasts of burden’) is concerned. I mean given it cannot speak and the closest it can come to telling the owner how it feels is to refuse to move, (among a few other things) we ought to use our senses and know when to give the poor animal a rest.
That reminds me of yet another incident where the donkey had decided if it must move against its will and despite all the weariness, then it would go backwards, not forwards. The owner spent a long time trying to get the donkey to move forward, but the animal was only doing reverse gear today, thank you very much!
You’ve got to hand it to the donkey. Often believed to be very stubborn (wouldn’t you be in its shoes?), the donkey simply seems to have developed effective ways of earning itself a few moments of rest if the care-givers are reluctant to provide it.
Now to a less stubborn creature whose lack of common sense make the results not much different. Along Ngong Road is a place called Embul Bul where sheep love to take a rest on the road, literally. Not on the roadside, no, ON THE ROAD. Mark you this is one of the busiest roads and the very spot they love to relax in is a Matatu (mini-bus) stop. Figure that!
I remember more than once finding the sheep in that interesting formation where they interlock their heads face down, while standing, making them look like they are saying a united prayer. It’s especially comical when they do it on a Sunday like they’ve decided to hold their prayer service right there on the road.
When these sheep decide to look for food in the middle of the road (even though there’s grass on the roadside!), or to say their prayers (or whatever it is they do in that position), they will move for no one or nothing. Not for the dangerous Matatus, the numerous cars, the huge trucks, or sneaky motorbikes.
Well, good luck teaching the sheep the road is not built for their leisure and relaxation. “What, aren’t we Kenyan too?” they seem to bah blah blah in chorus…
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