Elephantine Adventures

By John Biggs

Good heavens. It’s been a wonderful couple of weeks. This weekend I went to Addo Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth, and we must have seen over 100 elephants, along with bushpig, warthog, red hartebeest, and zebra. It was beautiful to see these animals in their natural environment. The bush is very thick here - such a diversity of plant and animal life. It was a great backdrop, to have these images in thought during the drive back to the farm the next day, as we talked about the current (and possible future) state of affairs in South Africa politically, socially, and economically. At first glance, it seems like such a conflict between this beautiful country with its warm and diverse people, and the strife and tension and “looking after one’s own” that seems to permeate the atmosphere. It really got me thinking about how all-encompassing the fact of our one Father-Mother really is. This family of God’s reflection really can only demonstrate unity and good-will, and this country presents a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the family nature of man.

One opportunity to see this love for our fellow man has been volunteering for a program that teaches horseback riding to children with special needs, physical and mental. Once a week, about 5 or so children come to this little corral, and along with several helpers, they learn how to ride with balance and basic control of the horse. Now, these kids don’t seem overly sad when they arrive, but they sure look really happy when they ride these horses! Seeing these children under this broad blue sky, mountains behind them and clean air making the country visible for miles, makes it impossible to see them as anything less than majestic. Knowing they’re included in, and are a requisite part of, this perfection I see all around me helps me not be discouraged by the physical picture, but rather to witness and share in their joy and the progress they make every session. One though surrounding some of these kids is that their growth and muscle control is hampered by not being able to walk properly. Seeing them successfully ride and steer these horses, and treat them with care, against what common world belief would say these kids are capable of, is such a beautiful illustration that growth, beauty, and capability are not products of reactions against gravity (or anything). Rather, they are responses to God’s perfect Love. Considering how much love is in the air, from the volunteers, from the kids, and from the horses of course, it’s no wonder these children are breaking limits right and left!

It’s been a blessing to have this to look forwards to every Tuesday, but every day of the week is filled with opportunities to bless and be blessed. We had a huge rain storm this week and it’s so refreshing to see the countryside bloom and spring up. I went up a mountain with some of the farm staff the other day to find a herd sheep, to count them and check on them, and the views are amazing - peaks and valleys fading into the blue distance contrasting against sharp thorns and gentle little solitary flowers in front of me. In the course of my hikes I’ve seen vervet monkeys, baboons, mountain rhebuck, dassies (they look like fat prairie dogs, are most closely related to elephants) and some nice rock faces that I can do some very rudimentary climbing and bouldering on. It’s been such a pleasure to get to know my family better and to make new friends in the staff, and visitors to the farm. My cousin just got a month-old lab puppy who we named Texas. I play with her and the other two dogs, Brit and Jonty, every day, and sometimes the kids on the farm play frisbee with me, which always results in much laughter. We just had a huge rainstorm as well which was very welcomed on the farm. So much to be grateful for!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Travel Blogs, Happiness, Friendship, World Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.