Galilee's first pet

Every day was exciting, and sometimes a little scary. Galilee was six now, and felt very grown up. Here, in this new place, instead of looking out for poison ivy, she had to look out for snakes. There was no lake,

and no snow in the winter. But, there was something different every day.

On her 6^th birthday she had been given a doll. The doll's body was white but the head was a chocolate brown.  Friends of her parents, had given it to her mom and dad, for her before they left America. Mom had saved it as a surprise present for her birthday. The funny thing was, that when they received the gift, the doll was all white.  Something happened while it was in shipping because  when they unpacked it in Africa the doll's head had changed color. 

Galilee loved it instantly and named it Ruthann, after the girl who gave it to her.  It's eyes opened and shut and when you bent her she cried.   This became her very favorite doll.  Because the head was a chocolate brown, all the children she now played with wanted to hold it too.

The kitchen that burnt down was never rebuilt. Rather, an addition was made on the back of the sleeping house.  Galilee liked being able to go to the kitchen without having to dress and go outside.

Some more new people came to live in their ‘station'. Galilee learned that the place they lived
was called a mission station and the people that arrived were called missionaries. Her parents, and the other families, had come to share the news about God’s love for them.

Her mom and dad were very busy. They were both studying K'lungu. Dad said it was a tonal language.
Many words were spelled the same, but the meaning depending on how you said it. Dad said it was inflection. Mary thought it was like music.

 

One day, a man brought a baby antelope to the door.  The mother had been killed for food. The men didn’t want to deal with the fawn and thought the people on the station might buy it. Galilee just loved that little one and named him Pokita.

One morning, when we went out to his pen to feed and play with him he was gone.

Galilee had never lost a pet before and was crying. Mom said he was a wild animal and shouldn't be kept in a pen.  Maybe he got away. 

But Galilee heard her brothers say probably  he'd been stolen for food.  She thought, "I never want another pet, only to lose it."



Soon, a new excitement helped Galilee to not be so sad. Her Dad and the other men decided they would make bricks so they could build stronger houses. The grass houses had some problems. 

 

One night all the men were gone from the station. They had to take all the guns to the Government offices in Dodoma, to be registered.

That night a Lion came and walked around and around and around the house. The people warned mom of  sighting of a lion in the hills so Mom had put boards up at the two entrances and pushed something heavy up against the boards, but there really was nothing to prevent the lion from pushing through the grass walls. No one slept much that night. Finally, the lion went away without getting in but no one knew, while he was padding around outside, if he would get in.  So, Galilee thought it would be better to live in a house not made of grass.  She just didn't know how long she would have to wait.