I recently was in Kenya and had the great fortune to visit The Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi. The babies were saved from certain death when their mothers were either poached or otherwise could not care for their babies.

When the program first started, the mortality rate was very high and no one knew why.

The babies were being fed regularly and the formula was nutritious and correct. But they would not drink the milk and died within a few days.

One day ( so the story goes) the laundry was drying on the lines on the compound and one of the babies wandered under the laundry and for some reason the keeper/caretaker followed the baby with the bottle and the baby drank it all! It seemed to be a miracle. Long story short, the caretakers surmised that the babies were not drinking because they did not feel protected because they would normally be covered by the mothers body and therefore felt safe.

From that day, the babies were covered with blankets when they were being fed and they began to thrive and grow and were successfully reintroduced into the wild at 2 years of age. The story is one of fortitude and passion that one woman felt for these majestic creatures.

This was but one of the miracles that I witnessed in Africa. Every day, the miracles were all around me:

How the Zebra could communicate to the wildebeests that it was “time” to embark on the Mara River crossing?  How did all the rest of the herd know that the first Zebra had decided it was “time” to make the journey?

How did the animals in the way back of the line know it was time to start running like crazy to make the journey?

How did the Zebra mom, who had made it all the way across, know that her baby was stuck on the other side and was brave enough to go back, find the baby and cross again! That mom, made 3 crossings. She knew no fear for her own safety when she KNEW that her baby was still on the other shore.

The miracle that the 2 large crocs in the water did not kill any of the animals on the crossing we saw.

What did I learn from Africa?

Life is meant to be lived every single day.

We only have the present, lets stop wishing it away. We cannot “fix” the past and the future is an illusion.

The animals were always present, they were not in “yesterdays’ lost opportunities” or “tomorrow’s buried treasure.”

I invite you to create some space in your hurried lives to experience the PRESENT, regardless of of the pain/enjoyment factor.

Make some miracles of your own

love and light

Indrani