Patrick is one of the groundsman for the Karibu Centre. You might remember him from pictures Ian posted from his “road construction” project. Patrick is the smaller man with a beautiful smile. He is pretty quiet, laughs easily, and is a hard worker.
This week, in the afternoon when the kids were sleeping I heard an awful sound coming from outside the house. It sounded like a baby just wailing like crazy. Being the eavesdropper/noisey neighbor that I am (just ask my close friends how much I loved the positioning of my kitchen window at 1455 SW Huntington Ave), I went outside to investigate.
In the distance, at the bottom of the property, I saw that Patrick appeared to be carrying something by the legs. I thought to myself, “That is a strange way to carry a baby! That silly man. Whose baby might that be?” Then, as he came closer and the screeching got louder, I realized that it was not a baby, but a rabbit!
How in the world did Patrick catch a rabbit?
He was walking the perimeter and noticed that he had caught something under his foot. A sleeping rabbit. Who catches a sleeping rabbit under their foot when they are out walking? Patrick.
I insisted that they not let it go….that was good meat, and there were hungry people around. But, no, I wasn’t going to skin and cook that thing, were they crazy?? And they weren’t going to because they had never tasted rabbit. Anyhow, before the rabbit was transferred through the electric fence to the security man from the next property over to eat, we snapped this proud picture of Patrick. I think it would make an excellent picture for his SURVIVOR interview/application. What do you think? Course, most Kenyan’s haven’t heard of the show “SURVIVOR”, and are actually working pretty hard in their every day life to survive. I felt a little silly trying to explain the concept of the show to some of them.
And yes, this is his usual work outfit. Ian and I am contemplating the thought of dressing the guard and groundsmen in khaki pants and polo shirts. Like a golf club. No, not to humiliate them or tease them. We think they’d look “smart” as they say here, and welcoming too. But that is a project for another day.
I’m thankful it wasn’t a baby he was carrying.