rhino

SPIRIT OF THE RHINO
James Washer

Around the dense woody
vegetation is where I work to hunt
rhinos. I am sixteen years old now,
I just received this job as I left
school in year ten with a poor
family to support. I guess that’s life
around these parts of Africa. I
couldn’t get a better job nor could I
continue with school. I had to leave
because my family is in need and
had to earn money otherwise we
might starve, this is my only
choice.

I don’t enjoy this job. I go out
into the forest and stalk the
rhino which I shoot with a
tranquilizer dart then I take out a
chainsaw and saw the horn off
the rhino… this is known as
rhino poaching. Unfortunately,
the removal the horn leaves the
rhino to wake up and bleed to
death very painfully and slowly. I
think that the horns are used in
some sort of Chinese medicine
or maybe just as a display in
people’s houses. It seems a
waste of an amazing animal.

Basically, I live five-minutes by bike north of the forests where I hunt the rhinos. I
live in a shack with my Mum and my four brothers. I am the oldest brother. My
youngest brother, Sardi has always been small for his age and suffers from any
illness that comes into the village.

On the 29 th July, the day before my 17 th birthday, I finally
wanted to go tell my Mum that I don’t want to do this
anymore, leaving rhinos to die. I walked into the shack up to
mum who was feeding my four siblings, Sardi was suffering
from a fever, possibly malaria, I couldn’t ask Mum as my
brother was in trouble.

Later as my mother cleaned the dishes from the meal, I approached her hoping that
she would accept what I had to say. Sitting down next to her, unsure of what to say I
said, “Mum I am not happy with what I’m doing… I want to go back to school.”

I could tell by her eyes that she wasn’t happy with what I had mumbled, she
whispered “You know we need the extra money since your father passed away. I
can’t let you stop doing this work. I can’t find another job. You must continue.” This
is not what I wanted to hear, I thought about who I could possibly ask for assistance.
I thought of My Aunt.

My Aunt who is older than my Mum, lives
just out of town near where I work. As I
walked in I smelt the fresh air of cookies
being baked. Was she expecting me? She
was just sitting in her chair waiting for the
cookies to be ready. “Oh it’s so good to
finally see you again, you’ve been so busy“
she exclaimed.

“You look worried, please tell me what’s the matter”. “I’m just wondering if I should
carry on with poaching and leaving poor rhinos to die slowly?” “Well”, she paused.
“Leave it to your heart to tell you what you should do”. She smiled, then stood up
and walked to the stove and removed the cookies from the oven. “Do you want any
cookies?” She whispered excitedly. “Yes please!”

Walking out full of cookies, I decided to continue with
my work. There’s no weekends here, as I work every day.
Sneaking out to the vegetation in which the rhinos are,
with my tranquilizer and saw. I found my first victim.
Preparing to shoot lifting the gun… I stopped…
suddenly a small baby walked out, eating with its
mother. I couldn’t do it.

Walking back, not happy with myself, with no money. As I entered our shack, I saw
mother, she was weeping. ”Mother what’s wrong?” “Your brother” she sobbed sadly.
“He’s in hospital and very ill with malaria”. I immediately thought that we don’t have
the money to buy the medicine now.

Guilt drove me back to my aunties house. I needed to speak to someone who is wise
and old. She greeted me at the door and from her eyes I could tell that she knew
about my brother. “You told me to my leave it to my heart, I couldn’t kill the rhino
and now I don’t have the money to pay for my brothers medicine!”

Aunty reached out and grasped my shoulder,
surprisingly strong for her age. Calmness descended
through my body. She spoke softly but firmly. “You will
never be punished for being kind. This is a sign of
bravery.” “Thankyou for reassurance Aunty, I know I can
always count on you” I replied sadly. “No worries dear.
Any time.”

That night I went to sleep with my brain in turmoil and a heavy heart. I was just as
soon asleep when, shocked , a rhino charged full speed at me. It was the rhino that I
had spared that very day. She looked me straight in the eye. Her eyes were large and
full of joy and grateful. She huffed at me and nodded once then calmly walked back
into the forest . I woke up in a sweat, just a dream. I felt strangely reassured. I rushed
out of the shack to the hospital to check on my brother Sardi. Amazingly he was
sitting up in bed looking very well and he just smiled at me.