Motoring...Circumnavigation of The Aviary

 Learning to walk is an interesting process. The Kid has figured out how to stand up and move around the house and garden while holding on to something. He's delighted to stagger around holding on someone's hand, but hands are not always free to hold small people. They are sometimes busy cleaning houses, preparing meals, or even writing for the net.  I'm sure that there are all sorts of fancy high tech toys and things available in Toys 'R Us, but here in the villages most of the toys are homemade. While I was in the US, someone brought an odd wooden sort of tricycle thing to the farm. There is a handle over the two wheels and a third wheel that sticks out in front. I wasn't sure how it worked until recently when The Kid's motor abilities had improved to the extent that he could begin to use it properly. He learned to haul himself up to hold the handle and propel his little machine around the patio. On concrete, it can go pretty fast, but in the garden it slows down.

 The grass provides a fair bit of resistance to the wheels which makes using the vehicle (I honestly don't know what to call it) somewhat safer. There are certain problems at this stage, however, steering being the most important one. The Kid hasn't figured out yet how to adjust his direction. Once he's aimed in a direction, he simply continues in a straight line until he comes to a stop and he did when he wedged himself between a palm garden chair and a flower bed. Somehow he had to move the direction to his left and this was a bit too difficult. Right after I took the photo, he asked for help by holding out his hand and guiding my hand to the handle of the push vehicle.

Once we sorted out the steering issue, he continued on his merry way accompanied by one of his faithful companion, Rocky. He ran into a new problem here...sand. Sand provides even more resistance and his tiny legs were really working hard to get the wooden wheels of the vehicle through the fairly deep sand.

 But sand doesn't just cause resistance. It is also unevenly resistant and makes a wooden tricycle tip over...albeit very slowly. Rocky watched as The Kid gradually tipped over on his side.

But a tricycle on its side is still a fascinating piece of equipment. The small wheels under the handle spin wonderfully when stroked by a small hand. The hole where it is attached by a nail is just slightly larger than the nail to provide the right amount of spin

Tipped back on the handle,  the single wheel that is usually in front can be spun as well, providing a few minutes of intriguing play under Mindy's watchful eye.

But spinning one's wheels gets  pretty old pretty fast and it's time again to tip the vehicle over onto the wheels and continue circumnavigating the aviary. The new obstacle was a recently planted area of lawn that is still in clumps as it spreads in front of the aviary. This was a tiring portion of the exploration. The wheels would catch on a clump of grass and then sink into the neighbouring patch of sand.

 Having struggled through the newly planted sod, The Kid found himself on some nice smooth grass and headed for the patio in front of the house. Notice his guardian still standing watch. I had to help keep him from knocking over my flower pots full of seedlings.

The patio was a piece of cake and I could hear his chuckles as he motored for the front door. Our ranking baladi dog, Ganja, oversaw this portion of his trip.

He managed to wake up Groucho, one of the older terriers as he blew through the living room on a clear vector for the door to the summer garden near where we'd started this journey...but this portion of his trip was fraught with danger. Immediately in front of him were three steps and going down them could be quite painful. I  pointed out the advisability of using the ramp just to the right of the stairs that had been installed for some of our creakier elderly dogs and people.

I couldn't take a picture of him going down the ramp because I was too busy holding the vehicle back to a toddler speed as he descended followed by Demon, another terrier.

 Back in the garden it was deep sand again to head back to the front patio and the nice flat patio. This portion of his trip took the longest and it was a very tired little boy who pushed his wooden tricycle up to the front of the house and asked to be picked up. He laid his head on my shoulder and just rested waiting for his mother to finish dressing to take him home. Someone is definitely sleeping well tonight.

copyright 2012 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

Both Spinning in Space and Standing Still

I have the serious sense of the world moving both too fast and too slowly these days, and to be frank, it makes me a bit dizzy. An unhappy motherboard on my laptop has left me with an iPad that can post but not photos, for the most part, and I won't really be able to intersperse my ideas with some lightening photos. So bear with me.

Where has our Egypt gone? In some ways it is still the same place and in others it has changed almost beyond recognition. Before the revolution the standard line of the government was that they were the only dike between stability and the chaos of Islamic tides. Governments believed this and so did many people. What we've found since the uprising in Jan/Feb has been that the Muslim Brothers, the Salafis, the Sufis, and many other Islamic groups have more than enough internal disputes that no one group is likely to be taking over from the previous government. What we've realized is that this entire propaganda campaign was a diversion from the reality that since the early 1950's Egypt has been a military dictatorship and that this, in fact, hasn't changed. There are many, myself among them, who have a strongly nagging suspicion that the protesters of winter did the military here a huge favour by insisting on the removal of Mubarak and, more importantly, his sons from the picture. There was a lot of debate about the question of whether the very powerful Egyptian army would accept Gamal Mubarak, who never even served in the armed forces, as a successor to his father, and I believe that we have a resounding "No!" as our answer. The military were delighted not to have to force a confrontation and to appear to do the will of the people. They didn't exactly come down that hard on the Mubaraks, allowing Gamal the freedom to come to Cairo from Sharm el Sheikh for months, and allowing Hosny's chief of staff access to the Presidential palace and all its shredding machines for months. After all, maybe the Mubaraks had the wherewithal to perform a resurgence. It's only been in the past few months when it's obvious that the Mubaraks are truly history that the Supreme Council, a ruling group of generals, have taken even half-hearted steps against the previous regime.

Instead, they have adopted the old ways of creating dissonance among Egyptians by ambushing Christian protesters and then claiming in the government controlled media that they were being attacked. This story has only worked among those who only read, listen to or watch only the government controlled media as everyone else has been broadcasting videos and eyewitness accounts of the reality of the situation. Unfortunately one of the aspects of the old Egypt that hasn't changed is the large number of people who do rely on the state media for information, an unsettling thought to say the least. The "government's" inability to handle the issues of seeing Egypt through this period have been publicly on show and privately indicated. The prime minister has attempted to resign many times and has been told, probably very forcefully, that his resignation will, on no account, be accepted. This is likely because the military know that it is the only facade that gives them the slightest shred of legitimacy and they can't afford to lose this. But it seems pretty clear to everyone that the main concern of the military council is the maintenance of their freedom of action without the inconvenience of civilian oversight. They get about $1 billion in military aid yearly from the US and one of their primary concerns is not threatening this lucrative source of income. There has been significantly less concern with reassuring the world that Egypt is still a safe tourism destination (which it is, by the way, unless you are unlucky enough to find yourself in front of a tank...which is an occurrence of very low probability), to look to the reorganization of our schools (which have basically been holding pens for the young and have utterly failed at education), to provide a reasonable standard of living for employees of the state like teachers and doctors (they could share out some of that military largesse?), or to provide any security for the citizens of Egypt who have been living since last January without any traffic or parking police for the most part. It's okay, we can live without the Central Security Forces, who unfortunately seem to have no problem working...usually NOT for us.

One of the things that has changed is the willingness to discuss our situation among people in general, and this is definitely a Good Thing. You hear discussions and arguments over current events in Egypt everywhere now, whereas before January they were generally carried out in low voices in closed rooms among close friends. As an Arabic speaking foreigner, I can hardly buy a coffee without discussing something. People are now willing to talk about, and go on strike for, things that they have long been vexed by. While the strikes are truly inconvenient for most of us (though we saw a nice decrease in traffic during the transit strike...no buses and fewer minibuses) it's totally understandable. Everyone was gagged for so many years with repression and the inability to speak out. The Maspero incident in which the army attacked the the Christian AND Muslim protesters left real scars and worried Christians here in Egypt. Rumours abounded immediately afterwards about army checkpoints that were stopping cars and rounding up Copts. I've found no confirmation of them, but the damage that they do to the national psyche is obvious. Out here in the villages, religion is still not an issue and we have Copts and Muslims living and working side by side. The idea of conflict over this is still considered ludicrous.

The list of things that haven't changed, however, is staggering. Whatever is passing for an Egyptian government is still almost utterly disengaged from the concerns and needs of the people. Election dates are postponed and changed at random, procedures for elections are totally unclear and are changed at random. This is enormously confusing and is leading to a real sense that nothing really has happened to change the essence of the Egyptian government. The schools have been a cause for serious concern for years, with crowded classrooms taught by untrained teachers who rely on rote learning turning out citizens with only rudimentary skills at the basics and virtually no ability to analyze a situation and make an informed decision. Essentially, they've been factories for an ignorant and compliant populace.

An additional serious problem that I have only really become aware of in the past 6 months is the issue of the education of families in maternal, prenatal, and postnatal nutrition. My housekeeper had a baby and returned to work after two weeks bringing the baby with her. While this may seem way too early, it's worth noting that she probably works much less in my home than in her own, she has a number of adults available to help with care for her son, and she has decent food here. I've had meals with farm families and noticed that the men generally eat first, with the children next and the women last. These means that women who are pregnant and nursing don't necessarily get the nutrition they need. Magda has had more children that she needs (let's not even open the topic of her husband who doesn't help to support the family and stands in the way of birth control in a really secure fashion.) Now she's on pills having tried a number of other unsuccessful forms of birth control but she has always been too tired and improperly fed to be able to nurse her babies properly. When this last son was born, I began buying the formula to supplement as one can is about 40 LE. To feed this child properly would take over half her monthly income...and she has more kids at home to feed. So basically we have taken on the job of feeding this baby, who is now beginning to eat and gets homemade baby food while he is here almost every day. I've begun noticing the other infants around me and most of them are small, thin, rather unresponsive, the victims of postnatal malnutrition. Their mothers are often exhausted working hard around the house...housework in the villages is no joke. Food is prepared absolutely from scratch, keeping a house clean next to the desert is a full time job, and there is little time to put one's feet up. Additionally there is almost no knowledge of proper nutrition or even the need of a nursing mother to drink sufficient fluids. We find ourselves raising children here who due to improper nutrition have a bad start in life and then compound it with the schools. While I'm definitely not an advocate of cradle to grave imposition of lifestyle, it is absolutely the role of government to provide education to its population whether children or adults. The government here really hasn't tried much.

One of the senses that many of us have these days is the sense of there being simply so much to do to put Egypt to rights. How is this going to be done? Will we get a government that responds to the needs of the people? Will we just get another one that milks the country for wealth? Every question is still in the air.




copyright 2011 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

Being A Mom

I followed a Global Voices link to a cool idea. A mother in Canada proposed asking women all over the world to write about what they like or don't like about being a mom. I need a life-affirming task right now and think I want to play. Granted, as a mom, I'm sort of a retiree, but only sort of. My kids are in their mid-twenties, have careers of their own and live on another continent, but that's my family and in fact it's been like that from Day One, though at first it was the kids and me on one continent and my husband on the other.

When I was in grad school I was buddies with a clinical grad student for a lot of departmental activities. Someone somewhere figured out that we could be counted on to help out with almost anything. Her nickname was Doc and mine was Mom. I was a few years older than most of the students, but unmarried and certainly not a mom. I did, however, really, really want to have kids someday and finally achieving a son and a daughter thrilled me to death. I was lucky enough to be able to afford to be a full-time mom since my husband traveled so much, but there were things that I loved and things that I definitely did not love.

Loves:

Watching my kids expand and explore their world, that light going on when they suddenly figure out a new idea and share it.

Bedtime stories. I got to read a lot of good literature over the years.

The odd sms appearing out of the blue on my phone to tell me that everything is fine and I'm loved.

Baking Christmas cookies that manage to get red, green and white frosting ALL over the kitchen.

The Muppet Show...it didn't count in their TV allotment when they were little because we all loved it.

The fact that you never really get to stop being a mom.




Not Loves:

Those late, late nights with a sick kid when all your eyes want to do is close.

Having to accept the fact that there are days when they just aren't going to like you.

Trying to get them to clean their own rooms...finally gave up and made a deal that I wouldn't criticise but I wouldn't help them find anything either.

Taking a deep breath and stilling the panic in the heart when something goes wrong...even when it's homework that was "forgotten" the night before. Sometimes it is their problem, not mine.

Not giving advice when I'd so like to do so but recognise that sometimes kids have to figure it out for themselves.

The fact that you never really get to stop being a mom.

copyright 2009 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

Very Bad Math

Following the news on Gaza has been disturbing. The Gazan death toll has been rising steadily but while there have been some reports of rocket attacks, reports of Israeli deaths have been lacking. The one report I could find regarding the Israeli deaths reported 12 deaths as of a week ago. One would imagine that the Israelis were suffering under heavy attack to justify the killing of so many in Gaza.
ًًً
This was passed to me by a friend and is from Al Jazeera's English edition:


"At least 300 children are among the more than 1,000 Palestinians who have died since Israel began to bombard the Gaza Strip on December 27.
Al Jazeera has obtained the names of 210 of the young victims, 44 of whom were under five years old. (The names are given and then the gender and the age.)

27/12/2008
Ibtihal Kechko Girl age 10
Ahmed Riad Mohammed Al-Sinwar Boy age 3
Ahmed Al-Homs Boy age 18
Ahmed Rasmi Abu Jazar Boy age 16
Ahmed Sameeh Al-Halabi Boy age 18
Tamer Hassan Al-Akhrass Boy age 5
Hassan Ali Al-Akhrass Boy age 3
Haneen Wael Mohammed Daban Girl age 15
Khaled Sami Al-Astal Boy age 15
Talaat Mokhless Bassal Boy age 18
Aaed Imad Kheera Boy age 14
Abdullah Al-Rayess Boy age 17
Odai Hakeem Al-Mansi Boy age 4
Allam Nehrou Idriss Boy age 18
Ali Marwan Abu Rabih Boy age 18
Anan Saber Atiyah Boy age 13
Camelia Al-Bardini Girl age 10
Lama Talal Hamdan Girl age 10
Mohammed Jaber Howeij Boy age 17
Nimr Mustafa Amoom Boy age 10

29/12/2008
Ismail Talal Hamdan Boy age 10
Ahmed Ziad Al-Absi Boy age 14
Ahmed Youssef Khello Boy age 18
Ikram Anwar Baaloosha Girl age 14
Tahrier Anwar Baaloosha Girl age 17
Jihad Saleh Ghobn Boy age 10
Jawaher Anwar Baaloosha Girl age 8
Dina Anwar Baaloosha Girl age 7
Samar Anwar Baaloosha Girl age 6
Shady Youssef Ghobn Boy age 12
Sudqi Ziad Al-Absi Boy age 3
Imad Nabeel Abou Khater Boy age 16
Lina Anwar Baaloosha Girl age 7
Mohammed Basseel Madi Boy age 17
Mohammed Jalal Abou Tair Boy age 18
Mohammed Ziad Al-Absi Boy age 14
Mahmoud Nabeel Ghabayen Boy age 15
Moaz Yasser Abou Tair Boy age 6
Wissam Akram Eid Girl age 14

30/12/2008
Haya Talal Hamdan Girl age 8

31/12/2008
Ahmed Kanouh Boy age 10
Ameen Al-Zarbatlee Boy age 10
Mohammed Nafez Mohaissen Boy age 10
Mustafa Abou Ghanimah Boy age 16
Yehya Awnee Mohaissen Boy age 10
Ossman Bin Zaid Nizar Rayyan Boy age 3
Assaad Nizar Rayyan Boy age 2
Moaz-Uldeen Allah Al-Nasla Boy age 5
Aya Nizar Rayyan Girl age 12
Halima Nizar Rayyan Girl age 5
Reem Nizar Rayyan Boy age 4
Aicha Nizar Rayyan Girl age 3
Abdul Rahman Nizar Rayyan Boy age 6
Abdul Qader Nizar Rayyan Boy age 12
Oyoon Jihad Al-Nasla Girl age 16
Mahmoud Mustafa Ashour Boy age 13
Maryam Nizar Rayyan Girl age 5

01/01/2009
Hamada Ibrahim Mousabbah Boy age 10
Zeinab Nizar Rayyan Girl age 12
Sujud Mahmoud Al-Derdesawi Girl age 10
Abdul Sattar Waleed Al-Astal Boy age 12
Abed Rabbo Iyyad Abed Rabbo Al-Astal Boy age 10
Ghassan Nizar Rayyan Boy age 15
Christine Wadih El-Turk Boy age 6
Mohammed Mousabbah Boy age 14
Mohammed Iyad Abed Rabbo Al-Astal Boy age 13
Mahmoud Samsoom Boy age 16
Ahmed Tobail Boy age 16
Ahmed Sameeh Al-Kafarneh Boy age 17
Hassan Hejjo Boy age 14
Rajeh Ziadeh Boy age 18
Shareef Abdul Mota Armeelat Boy age 15
Mohammed Moussa Al-Silawi Boy age 10
Mahmoud Majed Mahmoud Abou Nahel Boy age 16
Mohannad Al-Tatnaneeh Boy age 18
Hani Mohammed Al-Silawi Boy age 10

01/01/2009
Ahmed Al-Meshharawi Boy age 16
Ahmed Khodair Sobaih Boy age 17
Ahmed Sameeh Al-Kafarneh Boy age 18
Asraa Kossai Al-Habash Girl age 10
Assad Khaled Al-Meshharawi Boy age 17
Asmaa Ibrahim Afana Girl age 12
Ismail Abdullah Abou Sneima Boy age 4
Akram Ziad Al-Nemr Boy age 18
Aya Ziad Al-Nemr Girl age 8
Ahmed Mohammed Al-Adham Boy age 1
Akram Ziad Al-Nemr Boy age 13
Hamza Zuhair Tantish Boy age 12
Khalil Mohammed Mokdad Boy age 18
Ruba Mohammed Fadl Abou-Rass Girl age 13
Ziad Mohammed Salma Abou Sneima Boy age 9
Shaza Al-Abed Al-Habash Girl age 16
Abed Ziad Al-Nemr Boy age 12
Attia Rushdi Al-Khawli Boy age 16
Luay Yahya Abou Haleema Boy age 17
Mohammed Akram Abou Harbeed Boy age 18
Mohammed Abed Berbekh Boy age 18
Mohammed Faraj Hassouna Boy age 16
Mahmoud Khalil Al-Mashharawi Boy age 12
Mahmoud Zahir Tantish Boy age 17
Mahmoud Sami Assliya Boy age 3
Moussa Youssef Berbekh Boy age 16
Wi'am Jamal Al-Kafarneh Girl age 2
Wadih Ayman Omar Boy age 4
Youssef Abed Berbekh Boy age 10

05/01/2009
Ibrahim Rouhee Akl Boy age 17
Ibrahim Abdullah Merjan Boy age 13
Ahmed Attiyah Al-Semouni Boy age 4
Aya Youssef Al-Defdah Girl age 13
Aya Al-Sersawi Girl age 5
Ahmed Amer Abou Eisha Boy age 5
Ameen Attiyah Al-Semouni Boy age 4
Hazem Alewa Boy age 8
Khalil Mohammed Helless Boy age 12
Diana Mosbah Saad Girl age 17
Raya Al-Sersawi Girl age 5
Rahma Mohammed Al-Semouni Girl age 18
Ramadan Ali Felfel Boy age 14
Rahaf Ahmed Saeed Al-Azaar Girl age 4
Shahad Mohammed Hijjih Girl age 3
Arafat Mohammed Abdul Dayem Boy age 10
Omar Mahmoud Al-Baradei Boy age 12
Ghaydaa Amer Abou Eisha Girl age 6
Fathiyya Ayman Al-Dabari Girl age 4
Faraj Ammar Al-Helou Boy age 2
Moumen Alewah Boy age 9
Moumen Mahmoud Talal Alaw Boy age 10
Mohammed Amer Abu Eisha Boy age 8
Mahmoud Mohammed Abu Kamar Boy age 15
Marwan Hein Kodeih Girl age 6
Montasser Alewah Boy age 12
Naji Nidal Al-Hamlawi Boy age 16
Nada Redwan Mardi Girl age 5
Hanadi Bassem Khaleefa Girl age 13

06/01/2009
Ibrahim Ahmed Maarouf Boy age 14
Ahmed Shaher Khodeir Boy age 14
Ismail Adnan Hweilah Boy age 15
Aseel Moeen Deeb Boy age 17
Adam Mamoun Al-Kurdee Boy age 3
Alaa Iyad Al-Daya Girl age 8
Areej Mohammed Al-Daya Girl age 3 months
Amani Mohammed Al-Daya Girl age 4
Baraa Ramez Al-Daya Girl age 2
Bilal Hamza Obaid Boy age 15
Thaer Shaker Karmout Boy age 17
Hozaifa Jihad Al-Kahloot Boy age 17
Khitam Iyad Al-Daya Girl age 9
Rafik Abdul Basset Al-Khodari Boy age 15
Raneen Abdullah saleh Girl age 12
Zakariya Yahya Al-Taweel Boy age 5
Sahar Hatem Dawood Girl age 10
Salsabeel Ramez Al-Daya Girl age 6 months
Sharafuldeen Iyad Al-Daya Boy age 7
Doha Mohammed Al-Daya Girl age 5
Ahed Iyad Kodas Boy age 15
Abdullah Mohammed Abdullah Boy age 10
Issam Sameer Deeb Boy age 12
Alaa Ismail Ismail Boy age 18
Ali Iyad Al-Daya Boy age 10
Imad Abu Askar Boy age 18
Filasteen Al-Daya Girl age 5
Kamar Mohammed Al-Daya Boy age 3
Lina Abdul Menem Hassan Girl age 10
Unidentified Boy age 9
Unidentified Boy age 15
Mohammed Iyad Al-Daya Boy age 6
Mohammed Bassem Shakoura Boy age 10
Mohammed Bassem Eid Boy age 18
Mohammed Deeb Boy age 17
Mohammed Eid Boy age 18
Mustafa Moeen Deeb Boy age 12
Noor Moeen Deeb Boy age 2
Youssef Saad Al-Kahloot Boy age 17
Youssef Mohammed Al-Daya Boy age 1

07/01/2009
Ibrahim Kamal Awaja Boy age 9
Ahmed Jaber Howeij Boy age 7
Ahmed Fawzi Labad Boy age 18
Ayman Al-Bayed Boy age 16
Amal Khaled Abed Rabbo Girl age 3
Toufic Khaled Al-Khahloot Boy age 10
Habeeb Khaled Al-Khahloot Boy age 12
Houssam Raed Sobeh Boy age 12
Hassan Rateb Semaan Boy age 18
Hassan Ata Hassan Azzam Boy age 2
Redwan Mohammed Ashoor Boy age 10
Suad Khaled Abed Rabbo Girl age 6
Samar Khaled Abed Rabbo Girl age 2
Abdul Rahman Mohammmed Ashoor Boy age 12
Fareed Ata Hassan Azzam Boy age 13
Mohammed Khaled Al-Kahloot Boy age 15
Mohammed Samir Hijji Boy age 16
Mohammed Fareed Al-Maasawabi Boy age 16
Mohammed Moeen Deeb Boy age 17
Mohammed Nasseem Salama Saba Boy age 16
Mahmoud Hameed Boy age 17
Hamam Issa Boy age 1

08/01/2009
Anas Arif Abou Baraka Boy age 7
Ibrahim Akram Abou Dakkka Boy age 12
Ibrahim Moeen Jiha Boy age 15
Baraa Iyad Shalha Girl age 6
Basma Yasser Al-Jeblawi Girl age 5
Shahd Saad Abou Haleema Girl age 15
Azmi Diab Boy age 16
Mohammed Akram Abou Dakka Boy age 14
Mohammed Hikmat Abou Haleema Boy age 17
Ibrahim Moeen Jiha Boy age 15
Matar Saad Abou Haleema Boy age 17

09/01/2009
Ahmed Ibrahim Abou Kleik Boy age 17
Ismail Ayman Yasseen Boy age 18
Alaa Ahmed Jaber Girl age 11
Baha-Uldeen Fayez Salha Girl age 5
Rana Fayez Salha Girl age 12
Rola Fayez Salha Girl age 13
Diyaa-Uldeen Fayez Salah Boy age 14
Ghanima Sultan Halawa Girl age 11
Fatima Raed Jadullah Girl age 10
Mohammed Atef Abou Al-Hussna Boy age 15

It took me a few hours to get all of these names into a format for the blog.
These names are only some of the children who have died in Gaza through no fault of their own. At least do take the time to read them and recognise their lives.




copyright 2009 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

A Small Miracle

Last Saturday we had a small miracle happen at the farm. I've had two mares standing around becoming more and more rotund by the day. Everyone visiting had their own idea regarding whether Shabboura (Fog in English) or Lily (My Night in English) would deliver first. Well around 3 pm in front of the entire farm staff and about 5 visitors, Shabboura lay down in her paddock and proceeded to have a baby. Horses just don't do that. They like to have their babies in private as a rule. They wait until 3 am or some such horrible hour to foal. But not Shibs. No, she had to have an audience and plenty of attendants.

Foaling usually isn't a long drawn out process. For wild horses, it couldn't be because the mare and foal are at extreme risk during birth. True to form, it was only about 30 minutes from the first sign that she was having labour pains (puzzled looks at her stomach and flanks along with some sweating) to seeing the nose and front feet of the foal start to emerge. A couple of the grooms came to hold the foal's legs and then shoulders so that it didn't slide back during contractions. Once the foal was on the ground they helped to remove the placenta from the face, announce that we had a filly, and then move her to near the mother's head so that she could clean her up.

Shabboura's human audience were utterly enthralled by the birth. At some point I will have some photos from various real cameras, but I had to make do with my Nokia. Lily watched the birth very calmly from a corner and after the filly, who I decided to name Shams (Sun) had dried off Lula the mule and her buddy Jack leaned over the paddock fence to welcome her. When Diva had her filly about six months ago, Shabboura was the other mare in the paddock and Lula and Jack were just as interested.

We got the Shams to do the all-important early nursing that gives the foal immunities acquired by the mother, gave her an enema to move the meconium out of the filly and left mother and daughter together to get to know each other overnight in a quiet box. But the next morning it was apparent that all was not well. Shabboura was edgy, didn't want the filly near her, and there wasn't much available in the way of milk. We called a vet who came by later in the day, checked out Shabboura and told us that somehow she had a nasty infection in her udder and that the filly couldn't nurse from her mother. We'd started supplementing Shams' milk supply with goat milk, but most of the goats in the area are about to give birth and there isn't a huge supply. Some people will supplement with baby formula so we bought a few cans of a recommended brand and until we could get that out to the farm, we gave her some local skim milk from a baby bottle.

Shabboura was moved back to her paddock with Lily which is close to the grooms' room so that she could be monitored in terms of temperature and administration of some pretty hefty antibiotics. We felt that we could hardly lock poor Shams up alone in a box...since none of the adult horses are forced to live in them..so we constructed a small paddock right next to the boys' room. After creating a frame of rope, we moved in hay bales to build walls and then spread an thick layer of hay on the ground for a warm and comfortable place for the filly to sleep. The dogs very quickly decided that the hay was indeed a comfortable depth and moved in to help the filly sleep.

One of the hardest things about having a bottle fed baby is the frequency of feedings required to keep a small mammal alive. Shams needs about half a litre of milk every two hours or so, and I thank heaven for my grooms who are taking turns at doing it each night. They make up their bed on the mastaba bench that is next to Shams' hay paddock so that it's easy for them to get up to feed her the two bottles that are required. Waking up to feed her isn't that difficult. Shams can be pretty persuasive. She's figured out that humans are great because they provide food and that dogs can be both entertainment and warmth. This one is really going to be fun to raise.

Today we had some of the school kids in for a riding lesson and the grooms made sure that they had a bottle of milk to feed to Shams. She's not at all fussy who holds the bottle as long as they hold it. In a few weeks she's going to have to have another home, but it's possible that if the infection that Shabboura has clears up properly she will be able to go in with her mother and perhaps with Lily and her foal. We have a couple more paddocks under construction for this.

Shams is the sixth foal to be born here. All the others have been "normal" situations where the mare did most of the work for us. This is a new experience, because even if she should be able to return to her mother, Shams identifies very strongly with humans and dogs now, much more than the others ever did. I wonder what this is going to mean. Wadi, Fagr and Negma have grown up in the herd, while Nazeer and Nayzak were born in a boarding stable and lived with their mothers in boxes. Herd foals are much more socially adept, but the first two colts had a lot of paddock time with their mothers and the advantage of sharing an extra large box with both mares. This year's crop of foals is going to be something else.

copyright 2007 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

Population Explosion

One of the interesting things about a farm is that it's a place to grow things. Pretty basic, right? We grow corn, aubergine, cucumber, tomatoes, dates, all sorts of eating things. We also have chickens, turkeys, ducks and rabbits, not to mention a flock of highly fertile parakeets. My previous flock of chickens produced a fair number of eggs, but bird flu culling got them before we got any babies. This year has paid back for all the lack. Our first arrival was Negmat Sallamat on the evening of March 8 (see "New Arrivals" post). Then we had three of our goats give birth in fairly quick succession. I have one nanny, a red goat that I call Pippi due to her resemblance to Pippi Longstocking. The others belong to my driver and one of my grooms. Mohamed's were the first babies, two adorable black and white females, who quickly began running and bouncing all over the goat pen to the delight of us all. The next to arrive were Pippi's twins, Golda and Sharon. (I didn't name them. Don't blame me.) Golda was born with a twisted back leg, something that happened to her in utero, and despite my concerns she has turned into an active athletic kid. When Golda and Sharon were about a month old, Mohamed's other female gave birth to twins a few weeks early. The female was stillborn and the male was a bit weak. His mother wasn't the most willing caretaker and had to be held to nurse little Bush (again, I didn't do the naming). He's come along quite well and now there are five little popcorn balls flying around the paddock to the delight of visiting children. All of the goats have discovered that children are a brilliant source of treats and scratches...they donkeys got that sorted out months ago.
We started out with four rabbits last winter and now have three litters of babies with more to come. The first litter are almost as big as their parents and are sharing space with the chickens and turkeys to give the younger litters space. The chickens were a bit put out at first but they've figured out that bunnies don't bite birds, and life in that flight cage is pretty calm. The mid-sized bunnies are the favourites for cuddling. At about a month, they are hand-sized and cuddly. The older ones are better at twisting out of a lap, and the adults are not that thrilled with humans.
This morning I had a riding lesson for the daughters of some friends, and after the lesson we all went to the bird house to visit bunnies. The girls are five and eight, prime bunny age, and they played with furry things while I checked food and water for the parrots and other creatures. I went to check on Oprah, one of my turkey hens who has been very determinedly sitting on some chicken and duck eggs for the past few weeks. The turkeys don't have a male so their eggs get collected regularly for breakfasts. When I reached under her, Oprah's response was rather less than welcoming...a hen turkey pecks pretty hard...and we found a pair of baby Muscovy ducks. This is the first time I've had baby ducks that small and they are criminally cute. We moved them to the duck cage where Daphne, one of the female Muscovies was hiding another six nestlings under her wings.

A natural question is what we plan to do with all of these little creatures. Well, this is a farm and I do have staff to feed and people who are very interested in being able to buy clean fresh meat. Personally, I eat some poultry and fish with fruit and vegetables, so I can't see myself chowing down on Bush or Sharon. The male goats are castrated and raised for meat, while the females stick around for milk and breeding. I do like rabbit and find that adult rabbits seriously drop on the cute scale...but then I won't be doing the slaughtering of them though I will ensure that it is done quickly and cleanly. The ducks, being Muscovies, are the best for meat production and again get a lot less cute as they grow up. They will most probably be sold when they are about half grown to people who will feed them to slaughter weight. Maybe it seems a bit heartless, but who's to say that it's any worse than eating peaches?

copyright 2007 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

New Arrivals

As a horse owner you try hard to monitor a pregnant mare as she approaches her foaling date. When Diva, my young bay mare, came near her expected delivery date, we moved her and her best friend Shaboura, another young mare, to a paddock near the grooms' room so that they could watch her more closely. Just before foaling, there are usually signs that we were hoping to catch so that she would start spending nights in the box, which would be a safer place for her to give birth. Diva, however, had other ideas. The evening of March 8, one of a neighbour's grooms stopped by to give us the sad news that the stallion who had sired Diva's foal had died that evening just as one of my grooms was setting out to check the horses. I got an almost unintelligible phone call to say that Diva had given birth in the paddock.

Making sure that the dogs were securely stuck inside the house garden so that they couldn't run amok and terrify the new mother, I dashed outside with a flashlight. There in the middle paddock stood Diva over her soaking wet daughter. We gathered the baby up and walked the mare to the box at the end of the row of paddocks where clean dry straw was waiting. We carefully laid the filly on the straw and watched Diva as she nuzzled and cleaned the little creature. As we rubbed her with straw to dry her and stimulate circulation she began to struggle to stand. Organising four long legs under a tiny body isn't easy at all. We called the owner of the sire who lives just down the road and he came over to help us get her nursing properly and taking her first poop, both the essential tasks of birth. It all took until about 2 am, time well spent in assuaging the pain of the loss of the stallion. We named the filly Negmat Sallamat (Greetings' Star) as her father had been a very well bred Arabian stallion Sallamat.

The next morning, we put the mother and filly out in one of the paddocks in the sun to give her a chance to meet the world during the daylight. We had allowed the dogs out the night before once the horses were in the box and they had all lined up at the door to greet the new arrival, who wobbled over to sniff noses. Now they lined up at the paddock fence and waited for permission to enter to meet the filly. Sabah the Sloughi and her partner in crime Demon were the first ones in to greet. Mother stood quietly just watching as they approached. Negmat was interested at first but quickly decided that it was naptime and dogs just weren't interesting enough to keep her awake. At this point most of the dogs decided to come and have a good sniff while the filly slept. She was utterly fascinating. The other horses also watched carefully from the other paddocks nearby, Shaboura crying out every so often to Diva. She had been extremely upset the evening before when we moved Diva and her daughter to the box. When we'd arrived we found the donkey family, Shaboura, and the gelding Jack in the next paddock all standing along the fenceline watching intently.The horses and dogs have a very good relationship for some reason. The dogs occasionally go into the large paddock and bark to see which horses will run so that they can chase them. I don't understand why the horses don't kick the dogs, but they don't. They seem to tolerate the canine foolishness very well, much better than I do. Both Negmat and Fagr, Dorika's last foal who is now about four and a half have made friends with the dogs immediately on birth.A foal's first few weeks are very much a matter of nursing, sleeping, and a bit of play, with a great deal of time spent asleep. The soundness of the sleep of a baby anything is a wonder to behold. I couldn't have slept a wink with a dozen dogs nosing me, but she certainly managed to. After a short nap, however, Negmat decided that it was time to get up again.The next day we had yet another arrival when one of the goats who share the paddock with the donkey family had two daughters as well. Baby goats are tiny, about the size of a cat, and have to be some of the most adorable creatures in the world. Our new ones are both black with some white spots on the face, ears and legs. The grooms decided that the best solution for these tiny babies was to spend the nights in the room with the groom who would be sleeping over, to be sure that no one bothered the newborns and that they would be warm enough.So far all the new ones are doing very well. Negmat is proving to be an easy handler with all the cuddling that she's getting. She's gaining control of those long legs and promises to be much taller than her mother. She's also going to be grey eventually rather than the pale chestnut colour that she currently sports, but the process will take years and she will turn a new colour every time she sheds. I had a birthday barbecue yesterday evening, just a group of my neighbours and friends, and after dinner we all went trooping about to visit the babies. The kids were a big hit and the experience of holding a sleepy baby goat in your arms is unforgettable.

copyright 2007 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani