Different World, Same Planet

Once I was sitting in my office which was near the entrance to the farm, I saw from my door a big and nice Mercedes stop in front of the office. A very well dressed lady came out of the car and walked to my office. She asked me about what we were doing and who we were. I answered and she told us, “You’re the only hope left for my baby.” I wasn’t aware of what she was talking about until she told me the story. She used to live in Africa and she had adopted a small baboon who had lost his mom. She brought it back with her to Lebanon. Her husband returned from Africa after a year of her living with this baboon and treating him like her baby. He told her that he wasn’t willing to live with this baboon and he wouldn’t come back to their house with it there. She was in despair over the baboon. She said she was willing to do anything that we wanted if we would accept to take care of her baby. My first response was no .For two reasons, first, because I had no idea on how to take care of a monkey and second, for me, it wasn’t a situation of life or death. The baboon had a home. My daughter who was in my office with us did not agree. She was saying nothing but I could see in her look how disappointed she was in me. It was the kind of look that I wasn’t able to handle. I kept talking with this lady who was trying to convince me. Finally, she said, just let me introduce my baby to you.I said okay so she brought it from the car. The first thing this baboon did was jump on my desk, slap my face, and jump on my daughter’s lap where she proceeded to hide her face from me against my daughter’s chest. The lady was apologetic and explained to me that the baboon didn’t like men. Her husband hadn’t treated the baboon well and because of this the baboon hated men. She explained that if we didn’t take the baboon then her husband was ready to throw the baboon out. My daughter stood up with the baboon in her arms, looked at me and said, “Okay, we’re keeping it. I’m going to feed it. It’s my monkey.” The only thing left for me to do was to discuss with this lady all what we should know about the baboon. How to care of it, what to feed it, and all of the essentials. We adopted the baboon under the name of Junglee because, to me, the baboon had jungle manners. This lady was an angel for us. By adopting her baby she adopted us. She was there for us so many times when we had no other avenues to go to. Unfortunately, a year later, she went back to Africa and we lost her patronage.