Tears of Happiness

Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the senses

Lao Tzu

I seriously feel like a million years go by between posts. So much happens on any given day that I guess that makes sense. First of all (and probably most interesting): Nelio is doing incredibly. He amazes me every time I go see him and every day he makes stunning progress. Every day, I try and spend as much time with him as possible. I sit with him in his cage, give him toilet paper rolls filled with peanut butter and popcorn, and let him try to catch the flies that land on me. Today, he let me groom him and rub his back. We also played peekaboo, which for whatever reason was a huge hit. I don’t even have the words for how amazing those few minutes were. I stood there like a complete idiot, with a massive grin on my face and tears of happiness pouring down my cheeks, completely overwhelmed by gratitude and awe for this incredible, resilient, beautiful little being sitting in front of me. It was easily one of the happiest moments of my life. All the hours of sitting in his cage, handing him pieces of popcorn one by one, singing to him, spoon feeding him applesauce, and constant worry about him and whether he was doing ok and whether I was doing enough for him paid off in those incredibly special 15 minutes we had. This experience also left me with so much hope that Nelio will be ok. More than that, I know he can thrive as long as we give him the time and love that he needs and deserves. At this point I think I’m just gushing, but I really do feel so proud of how hard he has worked and how far he has come. And I also feel so privileged and grateful to have earned even a little bit of his trust. AND I am so excited to keep working with him and watching him grow.

On a less happy note, Sierra Leone now has three cases of COVID-19. As of tomorrow, Tacugama is going on lockdown, meaning no one is allowed to come and go. They made the call late afternoon today, so we all scrambled to do a last minute grocery shopping trip and move around to make room for staff to stay and sleep at the sanctuary. For now, the lockdown is only scheduled to last until Tuesday, but who knows how long it will actually go for. I’ve somewhat adjusted to the idea of not knowing how long I’ll be here, but I do still have a good amount of anxiety about that. It’s especially hard not knowing the next time I’ll see JoJo. I miss her every moment of every day and am already so jazzed about our reunion. I am so, so grateful to my parents for taking such good care of her and giving her so much love and attention. I do feel better knowing she’s in good hands, even if I’m not the one showering her in kisses and cuddles.

Other than that, it’s been pretty much business as usual around here. Nelio had his first health check yesterday, which went well. He is underweight and has some skin lesions, but his flu is way better. He had to be under anesthesia for his health check and I got to be with him and hold him as he woke up, which was off the charts special. He would wake up a little, climb out of my lap, start falling asleep standing up, let me pick him up, and crash in my lap again. It was so stinking cute and felt so incredible to finally be able to hold him and give him some physical comfort. It didn’t completely count, though, because he was drugged. Today, on the other hand, was very much the real thing. I have to stop myself from gushing more because I could go on and on about how much I love him and how amazing he is. Just know that he is the best and is working so, so hard to overcome his horrific start to life.

Since Nelio’s flu has been better, I’ve been able to start helping with some of the other babies in quarantine. They are also absolutely incredible and learning about each of them and seeing their different personalities come out has been so cool. First, of course, there is Nelio, who is timid and scared, but gaining his confidence. He loves swinging upside down and watching everything that happens. He’s a bit of a wallflower. Then you have Long Life, who is somewhat reserved, but not exactly afraid. She loves holding hands and trying to remove earrings. She is also pretty mercurial. She will steal fruit and throw a big fit if she doesn’t get everything she wants. And finally, there is Julius. Julius jumped right into Tacugama life. He likes being held and snuggled and bounces up and down whenever he is remotely excited (which is pretty often). He is amazing and makes me smile all the time. I am so grateful to get to know each one of these unique and special beings and love all of my time with them.

AND shameless plug: because Tacugama has had to close to visitors, most of the sanctuary’s income has stopped, but there are still massive costs associated with caring for 96 chimpanzees. So please, if you can, think about making a donation to help ensure that chimps like Nelio continue to get everything they need!

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/helpthechimps

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