Barbara Bennett - Soul of a Lion: One Womans Quest to Rescue Africas Wildlife Refugees  

by Marieta van der Merwe

I LIVE MY DREAM EVERY DAY.

One volunteer told me she wanted to be like me and asked me how she could do that, and I told her that it had to come from her heart; I couldnt tell her what to do because it had to come from inside her. I didnt start Harnas because I wanted to be famous, and if she wanted to be well known because of the animals, it just wouldnt work.

Taking care of animals was a choice for me, and when you make a choice like mine, you also make a choice not to be so involved in the world. You cant go to the cinema or out to dinner or to parties, because you might have a baby baboon with you, and they arent allowed to be there. You must make a choice when you go on holiday, because you must pick places where your animals can go, too.

But for me it was an easy choice.

If an animal needs something, I know that I will do whatever I can to help. If a baby baboon needs a bottle in the middle of the night, I wont say, Ill do that tomorrow. I do what the animals need, when they need it. If you dont believe the animal comes first, you will never be successful at this.

When I first started Harnas, I did all the work myself. I would get up at five oclock in the morning and set out all the bottles that needed to be filled, all the medicine that needed to be given, all the meat that needed to be fed to the animals. I had a big table where I would put all of these things, and then Id start with the babies that needed to be given bottles. Then Id feed animals that needed meat. Then Id give injections and pills that needed to be given. When I had finished, it would be time to prepare bottles again. And this would happen over and over the whole day, until it was night.

Life is easier now because I have so many volunteers and workers to help me. I also have more knowledge, knowledge that I got through my own reading, asking questions, and especially through experience. When I got my first volunteers, they started asking me questions, and when we received guests they also asked me questions, and I realized I had knowledge from working with animals every day. By watching animals, you learn how they act, what they do, and how they think.

Now other people call me about this animal or that animal. Its a good feeling when people ask me for the knowledge Ive gained through the years, because I can pass on what Ive learned.

Part of an old Chinese proverb states: If you want to be happy for a lifetime, love your work. There is a lot of value in this for me. It has become part of my entire existence. Reading this book, you will become aware of the beauty of this day-to-day way of living, but you should also notice the reality of a dream sometimes broken. Financial shortages, the increasing challenges of more orphans and problem animals within a limited pool of resources, and the loss of a beloved animal are parts and pieces of this ever-changing environment.

Sometimes I wonder why God gave this for me to do. With millions of people to do this one thing, why did he choose me? Maybe he knows that if I do thistaking care of the animalsI will never stop doing it and wont do it halfway. I am the happiest woman on Earth, not only because I can do what Ive always dreamed about but because I have the opportunity to share my dream with thousands of people in Namibia and around the world. I am privileged to be given the opportunity to play a vital role in taking care of Gods creations. For me, nothing could be better than this, being a caretaker of animals.

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL AFRICA MORNING, AND I LAY IN MY bed listening to the sounds of wild animals waking up outsidelions roaring their territory, baboons warning of intruders, and the general readjustment of life after a nights sleep. I heard what I thought was a cat jumping from a tree onto my roof. Heavy cat! I thought. Then I heard it: Uunnhh, uunnhh, uunnhh, the unmistakable call of a baboon, followed by another thud on the roof. I jumped out of bed and looked out the window.

About a dozen baboons were in my yard, having a blast. They swung from the trees, climbed on my banister and picnic table, chased each other around the yard, and examined every item in the outside garbage cannow overturned. It held peanut shells, orange peels, granola bar wrappers, an empty Diet Coke can, and used Kleenexes. All these artifacts were spread out on the ground so they could be examined more closely.

Then I heard a thunderous rrrreeeeeekkkkkk and looked up to see my corrugated tin roof being ripped back by a good-sized male baboon, creating a triangular opening to the sky, about the size of a dinner plate. Suddenly the animal thrust its black, hairy head through the hole and gazed down at menot threateningly but with curiosity. The intrusion was still unsettling, to say the least, and I grabbed the only weapon I hadmy bootand threw it at him, shouting NO! He let the roof go, and I heard his feet thudding overhead. Through my window I watched him jump to the ground. I stomped on the wooden floor and pounded on the wooden walls, making noise that scared away all of them but the big one who had peeled back my roof. Off the others went, looking for new adventures, a new party, new people to alarm, new garbage cans to explore.