It’s Buddy and BB Grace! Sounds like a heavy weight boxing match coming up in Las Vegas …. yeah right! It’s Mozambique and I have again experienced something quite unique today. Barbara Wayner (Mercy Air – Mozambique) decided to adopt a small Duiker buck (BB Grace) after ‘she’ was caught in a snare set by illegal poachers. Seeing an animal in a snare is something you would rather abstain from. It is ugly. The small buck was a new born and barely a week old when she was caught. Without too much detail – the buck was traumatized (as we always find them here in the bush – they are always cruelly hunted!), badly injured around his neck. We all thought she would not make it – never mind barely survive.
But she did. Our other orphan buck is a Klipspringer and has just officially become a teenager with an attitude. BUT ……. to come back what I have experienced today. Buddy and BB are from different tribes altogether and would never mix in nature. Today though … Buddy officially adopted the little Duiker. The transformation (there I go again) was absolutely astonishing. BB who is still weak and are struggling to walk suddenly realized that he is not alone in life – his own ‘specie’ has found him. She started running and jumping in the air ….. and even started grazing!
I watched this with amazement from my office window in the house. And it was wonderful to see what “presence” could do …. even if it was only a buck taking care of another orphan! And I have realized how important a Gospel of Presence is in this world. It was a spiritual experience as I watched Buddy protecting and taking care of this “damaged” Duiker. And I was again reminded that GOD is in the business of touching hurt people. And I am so glad …. I was touched by HIM!