Hungry Donkey

Read More

This is one of the many stories my family tells about Nigeria. I picked this one in particular because I…

This is one of the many stories my family tells about Nigeria. I picked this one in particular because I think it is funny. You will see why after reading this. To get you some idea of my family my grandparents had four children the oldest my dad, then Bob, then Tom, then Kande. They moved to Nigeria because my grandpa was teaching Mechanical Engineering. They have lived there for a year or so now and everyone in the family has adapted pretty well by now. Everyone left their friends back home but everyone is content with the situation knowing they’re going back home soon.

When my dad was in high school he lived in Nigeria. In Nigeria the had a Donkey named Eeyore to help around the house with the crops, pulling wheel barrows, etc. Eeyore lived in a hut made out of straw and mud. The hut was about 10-12 feet in diameter, and had a layer of straw over the ground. He was always very hungry, and would be mopey all day if he was not fed, he got the name Eeyore he reminded them of the mopey donkey in Winnie the Pooh. The person who always fed Eeyore was my dad. My dad was always the one who would love to play with the animals in Nigeria. He was fascinated in the differences in the culture and environment in Nigeria compared to the United States. Especially the animals and the way people treated the differently. They were more respectful of their cattle than in the states.

One morning my grandpa went to work at the University, shortly after my grandma would leave to the hospital (she was a nurse). After this time it was my dad and Bob’s job to make sure Tom and Kande get to school on time. This day my dad was not worrying about feeding Eeyore or getting his younger siblings woken up and to school, he was thinking about the crane he saw. Cranes were odd to see in the part of Nigeria he was in and he was trying to figure out why it was here.

Since he was thinking about that he forgot something, to feed Eeyore. Eeyore was moping around by the time he woke up because he did not have food. But today he was not just moping. He actually started to think of a way to get food. He was a smart donkey and he knew his owners would not like him to destroy the crops. So instead he ate his hut. He ate the mud and straw like he has not seen food in days, and someone just gave him a delicious birthday carrot.

It was only an hour till the hut was gone. Later when my dad came back from school he made himself a snack. After about twenty minutes or so he decided to check on Eeyore and sure enough Eeyore’s hut was nowhere to be seen. My dad being a kid with parents, tried to cover it up. But how? He ate the hut, there was nothing to put back together. So when his parents returned my dad created diversions to keep them out of the backyard, but it only worked for about ten minutes. When they saw the backyard, they turned around and told my dad surprisingly calm, “Your problem, you’re gonna build a new one.”

The hut took about four hours of grueling work to rebuild. Eeyore helped with it by pulling a wheelbarrow full of the mud and straw. Eeyore and my dad bonded even more while rebuilding his hut, making their departure back home even harder than it was leaving home. Eeyore was not allowed back home so he was given to a friend of my grandma’s at the hospital that was in need of one. My dad and his family was sad that they had to leave behind Eeyore, “he was the best donkey I’ve ever had.” my dad would always say.

Submitted by Owen, Age 14

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Verified by MonsterInsights