Test post

Hello everyone,

I'm Hildegunn Johannesen and I'm a new volunteer at Lwiro. I'll hopfully be there in 3 weeks time, and hopefully I can give you lots of updates on what's happening at Lwiro then.

I thought I might aswell use this test-post for something usefull so if you happen to be norwegian you should go to www.dyreparken.com to buy one of these lovely paintings painted by the chimp Julius :) All money from the sales going to Lwiro. If you're not norwegian you can help Lwiro and Aware by donating on our website: www.aware-africa.org!

New Arrival

A new chimp has arrived, 5 years old called Clara from the local town, Bukavu. She has wounds from being in a small cage, but i have no idea how bad because i can't see her because i'm not there! Boo hoo!

Tess: Farewell....

Sorry it's been a while, things have been a bit hectic and not much time since a certain girl from Germnay deserted us! But now I've gone and done the same... Carmen is now all alone to cope by herself. I left 2 days ago, I'm staying in Bunia for 2 weeks with Piere the Little Fish before i return home in 3 WEEKS! i can't believe it. I am happy but sad, i miss Pablo peeing and cacking in my bed already...
And a bad time to leave it was... Carmen had been at a meeting in Kigali for a week, and with the doc off with the broken leg, it was down to Dr Tess and Dr Balume if anything went wrong! Only a few bruises and scrapes so all was well. Carmen returned on the monday i left... thank the lord. All hell flippin let loose! The red tails had a fight, 4 got bitten, a couple needing stitches, and then one of the buggers escaped! All before Carmen arrived, so she had a nice time of it as soon as she got back. After she stitched up 2 monkeys and was one her way to the 3rd, i had to leave in the taxi so all was a bit emtotional! Fingers crossed she is doing ok!
Anybody fancy going to the Congo for a while? The next volunteer isn't coming until end of August, i think Carmen might not survive until then!

Tess: So it wasn't Brad but we got some!

Got us some dollar we have! Thank you Chester Zoo, and thank you Bush Gardens. Given us a heap load a dollar they have! Enough to get all the monkeys out of their cack cages, a non-leaking, half transparent roof for the Goma corridor (a couple of them are going a little bald from the lack of sun!), and to start with electric fence in the forest! All is looking up!

Tess: Our Pablo

Pablo has made massive improvements since his arrival. He is no longer the colour of Casper the friendly ghost, he has sharply gained the oh so common buddah belly of the babies, and cacks like a trooper! The first day we saw him laugh was a day to remember and brought a lasting smile to all our faces. No longer clinging (quite as much) to mama Carmen, he is becoming used to his environment and opening up. He had his first adventure inside with the Goma group, with the protection of Balume of course! Think he was a little overwhelmed but when he finally joins I’m sure he’ll be grand! His eating is great, first his favourite was zinziber (red things that taste like ginger), then cabbage and now he’s on to tomatoes! He’s caused a few problems in the amount of washing powder we use with his expertise in nappy removal at night just before he cacks, his intense ability to suck the blood from your veins every time you turn over in your sleep, and his darn teeth when he sees Carmen but can’t get to her! He’s got a nasty little bite when he wants! At least he’ll be able to look after himself when he joins the others!His innate masculine ways are revealing themselves already…. The idea was our gentle, princess Kanibiro would become his adopted mother, as she has done with Muhungu. A trip to the forest with the pair revealed Pablo had other ideas…. Jiggy jiggy was his first response to contact with Kanibiro! And worryingly he has also begun the same with the petite Kidigo…. At least it’s better than him trying to eat her brains I guess!

Tess: Privacy at Last

No more people! No more staring! We finally have the wooden fence across the front of the premises, so we don’t have the locals sitting outside and causing unrest to us and the chimps all day long! It is relief long awaited. And the nursery for Kanibiro and Pablo is on it’s way to being completed, adjacent to the Goma corridor, giving Pablo full contact with mama/girlfriend Kanibiro and restricted contact with the other more rough and touble youngsters.

Tess: A couple more things

Other things i can vaguely remember happening....

Mama finally shook off her traditional Congolese attire and donned her well awaited overalls and wellies. She was oh so excited! And since Pablapito arrived, Mama Bea has been given the role of chimp mum during the day, and we have a new mama, Irene who does the cooking.

Our first meal in our lovely new house was lovely rost chicken! Even with apple sauce!

Finally after days without power at the end of April (due to a broken electricity wire) the old German guy that has lived in Lwiro for… ever I think, came back from Bukavu and paid for the repairs, so power returned directly!

Ozzie boys... you are both the proud name sakes of Balume's recently born son.... he's called him Simon! (wiz zi accent of zi French, Seemon!)