A short story from Kenya, Africa

Nugumbu woke up with a yawn, he was still sleepy, the commotion last night in the nursery had broken his beauty sleep. It was already 11 am, time to go out to the playground to feed and to frolic in the small pool of mud water with his new found family. This daily parade to the playground is mainly to meet the many visitors who have come to the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage to see the baby elephants and to learn of their plight. Hopefully, some kind souls would adopt some of them in the form of a small donation.

The commotion it turned out was a new baby elephant that was brought in from the Tsavo region. Nugumbu learned from his family that it was a female elephant, barely a year old, rescued by the rangers from a watering hole. She had accidentally fallen in, while running frantically with her mother and herd when they heard gun shots in the night; and she had hurt herself badly trying to scramble out.  "Poor child, she lost her mother just like me - to the cruel and brutal act of poachers", Nugumbu thought to himself as he looked around him. He has made many friends here, now they are his only family; most of them older than him, but all are orphans, with tragic stories of their own and how they were rescued and brought into this shelter. It will be  their temporary home until they are old enough to be released back into the wild, where they belong.  

Nugumbu remembered very vividly and with sadness how he lost his mother. He was only a year old when some men came in the middle of the night and shot his mother several times with those long ugly rifles. As his mother fell to her side, she whispered in her dying breath to Nugumbu to run as fast as he could to the bush to hide. He was trembling all night in the dark, behind that tall bush, wondering what was happening; and murmuring to himself several times, "mama, you must live, I need you!". Soon fatigue took over and he fell asleep. 

The sun was blazing its hot rays across the Masai Mara when he woke up wondering why he was alone. Then he remembered the terrible happening the night before, and he rushed out of the bush towards his mother, crying out, "mama! mama!". To his horror, he saw his mother lying in a pool of blood, her body limp and her two beautiful ivory tusks were gone, leaving two gashing holes on her mouth and defacing her! "Mama, mama", he cried, "what have they done to you? Wake up, mama!" he willed her to answer him. He used his little trunk to touch her head and body to try to stir her to life. Tears kept pouring out from his eyes as he saw his mother not responding. He went to her nipples to suckle, there was still some milk trickling down. He stayed beside his mother all day and all night, crying and calling out to her, "mama, mama, I need you!". 

That was how Nugumbu lost his mother - to the "poachers", he soon learned from his new family of brothers and sisters in the shelter;  and that was how he was rescued. Rangers found him, semi-conscious, dehydrated and emaciated, still standing beside the rotting flesh of his mother, now infested with flies and maggots. He remembered vaguely being hoisted into a truck, which took him to an airfield where he was flown to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi. 

For two weeks, he was delirious, hovering between life and death, with images of his mother flashing through his mind and his lips, murmuring, "mama, mama, I need you!" as the Vet and helpers tried their best to nurse him to life. That was 5 months ago, but Nugumbu never stopped yearning for his mother in his heart.

As the weeks passed, Nugumbu learned that the new comer, the female baby elephant had survived. She had fought hard for her life in the clinic, and to the surprise of her Vet and helpers, she had come out strong and healthy, and was given the name Cassia. Today, Nugumbu learned that she will be joining them in meeting the visitors. As she was being bottle-fed by her helper; Nugumbu walked shyly to her side and touched her softly with his trunk. She turned and looked at him and saw his tender eyes and felt his comforting touch, as he whispered softly into her ears, "Don't worry. I am Nugumbu, and I will look after you from now on and I will make sure no harm comes to you." Cassia smiled, and to reaffirm her friendship, she returned his touch by tenderly caressing his face with her trunk.

From that day on, Nugumbu and Cassia are inseparable...   

                      

                    
            
                                   From beasts we scorn as soulless 
                                   In forest, field and den
                                   The cry goes up to witness
                                   The soullessness of men.

                                              - M. Frida Hartley -