Josephine the Goat

Thursday afternoon, after a walk to see a house on construction, Lydia and Katie and I decided to visit the newly born goats. The goats are staying in a stable that also houses the donkeys. It is a bit of a hide-out. Along the front and left side of the King’s yard is a huge bush that serves almost like a fence. In the center is a small clearing that Lydia led us through. It’s small enough to need to bend to walk through. Then, after veering left, is the shelter. We passed the donkeys, and in an open stall was a huge basket turned upside down. John, who helps with the animals, lifted up the basket and there were three baby goats. Two of them had just been born the day before. They started to run and hop down onto the ground from the stall, but their little legs were so new that they just fell into splits. They are the dearest things. I could not stop laughing. They love to go into the donkey stalls, and it is the funniest looking pair- these tiny goats and big donkeys!
Most of the time in Rwanda, seeing a goat does not mean petting a goat. It pleases me more than I can say just getting to see them everywhere, and hearing them first thing in the morning. These newborn kids wandered around the stable without any regard to their surroundings, and so had little patches of poop on them. I thought I probably wouldn’t pick one up, but I couldn’t help myself. I picked up a little goat with grey and white and every color in between. It put its little mouth up to my chin and tried to nurse. It was so adorable. That little goat just kept nuzzling my chin with its little goat mouth and goat instinct. Then, it leaned its head against my neck and rested, completely relaxed. I kept staring at it and its head kept falling farther back and its eyes closed and it fell into a deep sleep. I named him Lionel. Then, Lionel was a girl. So, I named her Josephine, and she is quite the Josephine. I could barely leave her. For those of you that know me well, this was one of the kindest days I’ve been given.
(*Suzanne, I wish you could have been there with me. I feel sure the other would be asleep in your arms.)