My Name is Cindy

Being bullied is very bad even when you are a chimpanzee. My name is Cindy and I am a Chimpanzee that was once bullied. In the beginning it was very terrifying, facing the bully a lone was frightening, it was crippling just to walk out of the holding facility to the forest.

I feared eating when other older Chimpanzees stood next to me. Sometimes they would grab my food and eat it and other days they threw me out of the hammock at night just for a good days tease.

I was miserable, young and had no one to stand up for me so one day as the bully took my food, I was aided by the goddess of anger and I attacked Robbie with a force I had never experienced before.

Now Robbie at the time was no ordinary Chimpanzee, he was the Alpha Male, precisely the President of our community. I don’t know what got over me but when I attacked him, he surrendered and gave me back my jack fruit.

That’s how I managed to gain some respect in my community and made some friends of my own like Sally, Becky, Nagoti and Bahati. It felt so good that all of a sudden I had ultimately become one of the cool kids and as luck would have it, I was able to foster a baby Chimpanzee called Baluku.

Baluku arrived at Ngamba in 2001. That boy was a real joy. His presence in my life alone took me further in my rank because he became one extra person I had to protect at the Island.

I have loved him and he me. It just makes my life so full and complete. I have a son too; it makes me feel like a grandmother already.

Thinking about visiting Ngamba Island lately, I think now is the time to make that decision.

1000 Pant Hoots

Cindy