Philippine Connection: Concerning Dan, a snake and goats

May 13

I got up thinking that the day would be just another normal day. I received a text from Ate Fe and so I went to talk to her at the office. She has been telling me lately of her dream to have some ducks in the lagoon and maybe even a few pigs to raise for butchering for the orphanage. The ducks would also be for eating and for the eggs that they produce. She is excited about involving the kids in taking care of the animals too. This would be a great way to teach them some responsibility and just a great activity for the older kids.

Well Ate Fe had just received news of a man who wanted to sell eight goats. One pregnant female, one male, two babies, and four other females. The male goat is a sibling to the babies and therefore, would need to be removed from the flock soon. The owner needed to sell the goats because his wife is in the hospital in Manila. He needed the money and needed to go to Manila for an extended time so he could not care for the goats.

So Ate Fe wanted to know what I thought about getting some goats for the orphanage. The man wanted 11,000 pesos and the "middle man" (actually a woman who had passed on the information) wanted 300 pesos. So it amounted to about $235 for what will soon become nine goats.

We decided that we should talk to Josh about it first. Although we both loved the idea, we needed to know if the goats would be in the way of the construction. Also we needed to know it the workers would mind being in charge of security for the goats until they closed up the property with the wall.

I brought Dan with us because he is always easy to take on a walk and he enjoys coming over to the construction. We had to walk on the side of the big trench that has more trees and grass that is not trampled. When we got to Josh and started talking about the prospect of goats I kind of forgot about Dan for a minute. When I did look back at him he had a worried look and was stepping from foot to foot in place. He was standing in grass and was concerned about the ants. We were standing right next to a pile of dirt excavated from the trench. I told him to move onto the pile so that he could at least see the ants coming when he was standing there.

I guided Dan onto the dirt and just as I was turning back to the goat discussion I saw the snake. It was only about 18 inches long and very thin. However, it was black with yellowish stripes on top. It was only about two feet from where I had put Dan. Safe from ants but a poor placement considering the snake. It was in the process of moving away from Dan.

I said "Snake, snake, snake, Josh, Josh, Josh, snake, snake, snake!" While I picked Dan up and swung him around behind me. (Not really a great motion for my back. I still am feeling it.) So Josh yelled to some of the workers. They came quickly with sticks. By that time the snake was hiding in the grass at the base of a tree. The workers were able to get it out of the grass and held it up on a stick for all to see. There were many phrases with "maganda" in them. Maganda means pretty or beautiful. That was the first brightly colored snake they had seen on this job. It was bright orange on the underside. The snake was still alive although, I am sure that it was injured. They put it in a cement sack and I am not sure what they did with it after that.

Later that day they found another snake that was just like Dan's snake. Josh got some pictures of that one

Now for the rest of the goat story. Everyone agreed that the goats would be a great investment. The kids would have a great experience caring for them, they are good to butcher and eat, and easy to sell. So we went to Tanay to the bank to get the cash to pay for the flock. Then back to the construction site to borrow a "truck". It really looks more like a small van with a small box in the back. I got to go along with Ate Fe, Kuya Sid (the driver) and Kuya Eric the grounds keeper. It was actually not very far to go to get them. The road was pretty rough but easily passable. When we got there the goat wrangling began.