KIMO.

Another rainy day so we are still spending our time inside.
Kimo have had a bad stomach today, except from that he is doing well. He is eating well, drinking well andplaying aound alot.

Today a around 11 he took a 30 min nap.

Kimo was playing the whole morning today constantly, then at 10.55 he just passed out and slept for about 1 and a half hour.
When he woke up with alt of new energy, i was happy to have Stacey and her daughters around to play with him too. Its like having a 3 or 4 year old child (ive never had one but i can i,agine), doing anything to get your attention.

If they dont, they start throwing things around, slamming with all the toys, climbing places they no they are not allowed to climb and looking at you with those tricky eyes.

Today we went outside. We went to J.A.C.K in the morning to spend some time in the sun, in the shade and in the trees. But the day didnt wnt as good as both of us hoped.

Kimo was falling alot and he was bumping into trees and to my legs too much. Franck came and watched us and said that its maybe better to go back home; he maybe need some more rest.
When Kimo climbd my arms i noticed that he had a small cut on one of his tiny toes. Guess h stepped on a sharp stone or brunch or smething like that. But the big problem today was his way of moving around; almot no balance at all.

Oh, yes...and today when i was reading i wondered where Kimo went? An when i looked up i saw him outside the enclosure running away and looked back at me several times to check me if i noticed him.
Hmm, naughty boy, i wet after him and grabbed him -HAPANA. Thats NO in Swahili : )

The rest of the day we spended in the playroom.

Another day at home in the playroom.
Today Kimo had alot of visitors and alot of attention. Some of the veterinaries from the workshop J.A.C.K is in charge of came to check him out.
There were nothing wrong with his eyes or with his ears. He seem to have a problem with his balance or with the nervous system but they didnt know for sure. When he is walkig he is using the back of his hands and he is curling his toes abnormal while walking. They should be more stretched out, even the fingers.
Maybe he just have a lack of B-vitamins. We will start to give him that twice a day and see if he gets better. If he doesnt we have to look at other issues.
One of the vets are working with a chimp who have kind of the same problem but he is much worse. They dont really no the reason for his prblems eather but it have to be some kind of a trauma from the past. Dropped on his head, not fed normally or it ca also be side effects from aspirins. No one knows.
Let us hope that Kimo just have a lack of vitamin B.

This morning we dicided to stay at home in the playroom the whole day cause of the heavy rain. Too wet and too cold outside on J.A.C.K today.
I have been deling with a very naughty chim babie all day long. He have had more energy than usual and a bigger need for my attention than usual. Urinating all the time to make me stop reading and clean his pee so that he got my attention. He was refusing to eat the fruits i gave him but when he climbed the shelf himself and stole the fruits without e knowing they were suddenly much more tasty. ; / hmm. I offered him some colliflower but he didnt like it. He was just playing around with it, chewing it into thousands of pieces. It was all over the floor.
He have to learn eating vegtables too, for now he is only eating fruits. He accept bread sometimes but he still doesnt eat the local bukari (balls made of maizeflour and water). In Kenya its called ugali, but they are not making it into balls. Stacey was with us today as well, playing with Kimo.
He is very clumsy. He bumps his head everywhere and he run into things. When he is running he also suddenly fall. There is something wrong with maybe his eyes or an earinfection or something like that. His balance is not what it is suppose to be.

Today we were not happy at all to be out at J.A.C.K in the enclosure.
OKEY, the first hour out there was fun but then it all begun...
Kimo was eating on his orange and suddenly i saw a bee almost landing on one of his ears. Im allergic to those stings my self and there were no one else around who knew english who could have helped us if something would happen.
I took my writing book and tried to chase the bee away but it refused, it really wanted that orange in Kimos little hand. Kimo went into my arms, he was also afraid of the bee, then i ran out f the enclosure in panic, haha, imagine what a scene.
I have never felt him holding on so tight on me before as he id today and he refused to go back to the same place where we saw the bee.
We trew the oranges away and lucky as we were Rox came in half an hour to pick us up and brought us back home. Stacey (one of the local voloneers) came and kept us company in the playroom during the afternoon. About 1 hour after our arrival back home Kimo felt asleep. He slept for 50 min. That bee- hunt reallt took all our energy away ; )

At least we managed to have some cosy minutes together in thesun before the bee - attack : )

Another morning at J.A.C.K. Today kimo was more relaxed. We had some visitors coming today to play with us. Its was some other volonteers from around who wanted to see Kimo. He played around all day but not that ruff as yesterday. He found a white butterfly which was very interesting. He really likes looking at all these small insects he can find, eather in the air or at/in the ground ; )
He always trying to touch the flies, moving in slomotion towards them and stretching one of his small fingers out to touch. Not chase or eat them just for touching, haha thats so sweet when he do so.

At luchtime one of the workers came with some hot water in a pot to mix it with Kimos milk he climbed her arms to say "HI" but he looked at the pot very suspecious. When she moved it slowly towards him he hited it and trowned himself backwards in her arms, hmmm for some reason he didnt like that pot. Maybe something bad happened to him before he came here? He maybe got burned by a pot like that, who knows!

We spended the afternoon in the playroom. Eating, playing and urinating. No nap today.

This morning when Kimo climed my arms to say "Hello" he urinated all over me and on Roxanes floor ; ) Hehe, GOOD MORNING!
We went to J.A.C.K today as well. He just love being out there, climbing trees, listen to the other chimps talking to eachother and to all the other sounds out there like airplanes, birds, kids plying at the ZOOs playground etc.
Today i tried to give him a boiled sweet potatoe, mmm he loves it.
Roxanes daughter were with us in the enclosure today for about 1 hour. She played around with Kimo constantly. Its fun to watch them cause the chimps act different while they are playing with kids or when playing with grownups. When they are playng with kids it feels like they put more joy in their way of playing.

We spended the afternoon in the playroom. Today Kimo never took his nap.

Today when Kimo woke up he got his milkbottle as always and half a banana. Then we moved him from his sleeping cage into his transport cage and took him with us in the car.
The big day today - we were going to spend the half day outside at J.A.C.K in the big enclosure.
Its just a small distance from "home" to were the project is based and he did good getting there. When we arrived he took the big enclosure with storm. Ran around on the ground all over in the leaves  and climbed the small trees. But he made sure he wasnt too far away from mum. ; ) A 3 m distance was the farest he went away from where i were. If he accidently came further away he came runing and puted his arms and legs around one of my legs and held on very tight. Sweety. Around 10.00 he totally passed out sitting beside me and with his head leaning across my legs...haha....i will post a picture.
He was only down fr about 10 minutes then he was up again, playing around, eating soil, fighting with his transport cage and climbing every brunch he could find.
At around 13.00 we went back to home and he fell alseep for more than 1 hour, than we spended the rest f the day in the playroom.

Another day in our new playroom, mine and Kimos crib : )

...but today we brought alot of toys with us and guess if i had a happy chimp to deal with? Hehe.
So many different things that he couldnt choose wich ones he should give his attention to. He went around that room like crazy, playing with one toy then an other and so on...he never stopped.

In the end of the day he seemed to have some favourite toys after all. The both teddybears, one Rabbit and one Benjamin-cartoon insect, you know the one in this show on christmas eve? Anyway, he likes that one. The big bouncing ball and a small, blue, shiny plastic ball, the ones for the christmas trees. I think he likes it cause its shiny and cause he can see himself in it : ) HAHA.

We have had a good time today. Eating alot of different fruits and played around all day long. He gets very jelouse when i read so i better not read too much ; )

From tomorrow we will stay half days at the project and half days at home.

Today when i woke up at 06.00 i got dressed and went straight to Roxs place. Kimo spent the night in their place to give him what he needed if he needed anything durin night. They have done this before and know how to deal with a small babiechimp like him : )

We prepared a empty room in one of he corridors at the hotell (its Roxs hotel) brought some pillows to sit on and thats where me and Kimo have spent the whole day. Playing and wrestling and ive been reading and cleaning Kimo-pee all over the floor every 15 minutes. I forgot to write about that in yesterdays blogg, that he refuses to wear a nappy - thats really NOT his thing. So...without a nappy...it means...alot of cleaning.

Me and Kimo are supposed to stay togehter like this for some days to get to know eachother and make him trust me. And so far so good : )

Next day i was given a writing book and a pen and was told to stay close to Kimo the whole day, make friend with him, touch him and talk to him to make him feel safe. I should also write down everything he did, when he urinated and when he pooped, how the poop looked like and so on.

Kimo became safer and safer with the situation. He climbed the pipe in the top of the cage and had great fun. We started to wonder if he maybe was a chineese gymnast instead of a chimp, hehe : ) He really likes showing off infront of everyone who was watching.

We noticed he had some changes in his pigment under his feet, on one of the toes, inside of his lip and on his chin. So cute. Thats good ways of recognise him.

Today he was eating good and drinking good, no problems with that. He was given bread, papaya, banana and alot of other things. Yummie : )

In the end of the day when Roxane came back we were cleaning Kimos cage an put some new dry towels for the night. But while standing there looking at him we made the decission that he is too small to stay in the cuaranteen alone all nights and days, he needs somewhere warm and safe. Thats when i was asked if i thought i could take care of him having him at home, if i could be his new mum?



When we arrived at home we had to shower him, wash all that dirt away. Ha was doing good when we were bathing him, it was just a LITTLE bit scary. Rox dried him up with a towel and i went to my room to take a shower, its been a long day. When i came back Kimo stayed with me while Rox went outside for a while. For a while it worked out well bu then he didnt feel like sitting still anymore and i didnt want him to discover Roxs home without her permission ; )
Kimo got mad at me holding on too tight and bit my hand and my shoulder. Franckie helped me to put him inside his cage agan.
Its incredible how strong they are in an early age as 6 months, i couldnt almost hold him.
He refused to greet me again through the bars of the cage that night so i went to bed.
Good start ; )

About the chimpmum thing....
I meen i couldnt promise anything but ofcourse i wanted to give it a try, and here we are...
Spending every single day together. : )

This was the day when little Kimo only about 6 months old arrived to J.A.C.K.
He had travelled in car in about 1 hour with the people who broght him to us. He screamed and screamed until we took him out of the car carefully and put the cage where he was close to were we were standing. He was so afraid and he was full of shit, i think his odure could be smelled all over Lubumbashi town. A part from that he seemed to be a heathy chimp. Kimo came fro the president, the second chimp that is broght from the president to stay at J.A.C.K. Special case. Somzone told us that Kimo had stayed with a vet since july, maybe thats why he is fairly healthy.

We prepared a small cage for Kimo to stay in with some dry grass nd some towels to keep him warm. He moved into hat cage from the transport cage easily, we didnt hav to touch him at all. When he was inside his new home we greeted him through the bars and talked to him. It was the end of the day and darkness was on its way so we covered his cage and told the animal keepers on the project to keep an eye on him.

Im Josefine and im volounteering at an organisation/sanctuary called J.A.C.K who take care of orphan chimpanzees in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa.
These cimpanzees are being kidnapped from their families and forced to see their own family being killed and slaughtered by hunters.
The small chimpanzees orphans are kept alive to be sold at markets or at any street as pets.
J.A.C.K is one of many sanctuaries in Africa who are trying to stop this horrible trade with chimps.

I heard about J.A.C.K from my colleage and decided to ask them if they needed some assistance. Ofcourse they did. They told me that they have never had a international volounteer before but why couldnt i be the first one...
Im so thankfull for this opportunity and thats a big reason why im making this blogg, i want paople to know about organisations like J.A.C.K and understand the real situation of these horrible things going on with these fantastic animals - our closest relatives, the chimpanzees.

The day after my arrival another little fellow arrived in J.A.C.K. A 6 month old chimp babie. His name became KIMONO but we call him KIMO. The first night he slept in the cuaranteen at the project, but then we came across the decission that he is actually too small to be out there, he needs a mum, somewhere to feel safe and warm...
Roxane looked at me and told me she should ask me something very special...
GLURP. I swallowed my own saliva and said: YES?
Thats how it all begun.
Now we are spending each and every single day togehter and thats what im going to write about in this blogg.
Ill be trying to update the blogg with our adventures at laest once a week : )

Thanx for caring -
Kimo and Josefine.