It's a boy!

Here on Lamu Island they have lots of donkeys. They call them the "Lamu taxi" because only one person on the island owns a car, the district commissioner. And he can only ride it up and down the one street along the seafront that is big enough for a car. Donkeys and boats remain the main methods of transportation.

One thing we noticed right away is that the donkeys here seem healthier than the ones where we live. They are fatter, gentler, more compliant and endure fewer whippings from their owners. There are probably several reasons for this...one being the relative abundance of food here and the other being a seafront donkey sanctuary! There, all sick donkeys get free treatment, donkey orphans are cared for, there is an annual competition for the best-cared-for donkey in Lamu, and twice a year they de-worm every donkey on the island.. Pretty cool.

We've stopped by several times to watch the donkeys. Today when we walked by the donkey keeper motioned us to come inside to watch a donkey giving birth! Sure enough...just the nose was already out and we got to watch the whole delivery! It was pretty cool. Then the donkey keeper showed us the operating room and stables inside. One had a donkey with a very distended stomach lying in it. Luke asked, "does he need an operation." The donkey man replied, "no, his life is done." We looked closer. Yep, he was dead. Then the donkey keeper asked us to give him money...not in the donation box but to him. And thus was life and death in the African donkey sanctuary. The End.

This is the organization's website. http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/