DAY TEN / #fortydayfloodoflove
Attacked by Baboons 
You’ll have to excuse the terrible selfie. But I promise there is a really good story behind it, which makes it worth posting.
Just an hour before this photo was taken my team and I were attacked by baboons.
IT WAS MORE THAN A SMALL MISUNDERSTANDING.
We had at least 15 LARGE baboons surround us with a premeditated attack of vengeance.
Some of you might have watched the video, but no one has heard the full story. Quite frankly, the video just doesn’t do it justice anyways.
AND coolest part about this story, is how God used it to bless us.
This blog is long and will entail the full story including photos
SO
incase you wanna keep it short:
You can read just about the baboon attack by scrolling to the title ” THE REAL ATTACK ”
-or-
Read about how God used it to bless us by scrolling to the title “Blessed by Baboons”
Now, lets begin.
Here on the World Race we like to practice something called ATL, which means “Ask The Lord”. We do this in order to give God the opportunity to direct our time before we fill it with man-made plans.
It doesn’t mean that you sit on a couch and wait for God to provide everything, unless of course that is what God tells you to do, but it does mean that sometimes you have to sacrifice your comforts in order to re-prioritize your focus.
We were ATL’ing when the baboons attacked us.
Logistically it meant that we didn’t have assigned ministry, provided housing, food, or transportation for two weeks.
And that is how my team and I ended up at Mole national park. We went there to camp in our tents for a few nights and spend some time alone with the Lord to get some direction.
(Also partly because we had a daily budget of just $5 for housing, and it was the closest thing we could find to being in budget.)
Beautiful right?
Yeah, well, turns out the scenic tent life wasn’t so smart.
because that is how we became personally victimized by the baboons of Africa.
They started off kinda cute the first night. I even snapped this picture thinking “oh look! A real life baboon in the wild, I’m practically Steve Irwin right now.
But then he wasn’t so cute when he did this:
and then we laughed at our naivety when this happened.
Thankfully, he only got away with some bug spray.
And, at this point there was only one baboon.
Plus, he ran away when we confronted him.
So it wasn’t a big deal…… for long.
A group of us left the campsite to buy food and water at a local village.
We left two people behind to guard our stuff. Just in case the baboon came back.
He did.
(p.s. we named him charles)
A park employee watched it unfold and whilst laughing, gave a piece of advice: “you need a stick! Like the one they beat Jesus with!”
Delaney’s response (in her own words) “why?! AM I GOING TO DIE TODAY?!”
They didn’t die.
But Charles was not nice.
He hid behind a pole and would play peekaboo while Delaney threw rocks at him.
He watched Nathan put food inside his tent, and waited until Nathan walked away before he RAN INTO NATHANS TENT for the food! Thankfully Nathan watched it happen and ran back to save our food.
Eventually Delany and Nathan ran Charles off.
What we learned from that encounter: the baboons were smart, and persistent.
(But we didn’t know just how mean they were.)
Here are some photos from our walk to the village:
The next day we had a Sabbath and spent time in prayer asking where God wanted us to go after Mole.
My friend Nathan got the name “Emmanuel” (which means God with us).
The baboons didn’t return at all to our campsite that day.
However, one of my teammates had a baboon try and steal her backpack while she was returning home from getting bread/eggs/water in the village.
All-in-all it was a peaceful day, and we had a safari scheduled for the next morning so we went to bed early.
Here is a photo from the sunset that evening:
THE REAL ATTACK
The next morning, we had to pack up camp so that our items could be stored while we went on the Safari. We were supposed to be ready to go by 7:15. So we woke up early to pack, but before we got anything done we noticed that baboons began to appear on the outskirts of our camp.
Within 10 minutes we were surrounded.
They flanked our campsite, and there was an obvious male leader who would signal to the other baboons where to go. There were at least 15+ baboons, and they began to charge at us.
One of them got into my tent.
Another one had a standoff with my friend John.
We couldn’t leave our stuff alone because they would take it, but we also couldn’t turn our backs on them because they would use that as an opportunity to attack. It was a real life planet of the ape’s scene, and we didn’t take any photos or videos because quite frankly… we were more concerned with making it out safely.
The only video we caught was when I was trying to chase one away from my tent, and it turned to charge me. But the video shuts off immediately because John (who was videoing) realized that it was actually attacking and had to run to help me.
Eventually we made it out. The safari was a blast, and we requested to see NO monkeys. We did see some elephants though.
Photos from safari:
After the safari we headed back to camp, and found the baboons STILL THERE.
WAITING FOR US.
They were sitting on our picnic table.
Shae had left a t-shirt drying on a bench, and they pooped on it.
I left some Para cord on a table, and they entwined it in the gazeebo roof.
They also pulled straw out of the gazeebo roof and threw it all over. They pooped numerous times in the gazeebo, and threw around some other items we left behind. It was obvious that they were angry and wanted us to know.
I don’t know what was scarier; the attack, or their revenge.
Blessed by Baboons
We were tired of the monkey business. So we left campsite and decided to get lunch at a local motel.
This is where we were blessed, in part because of the baboons.
While at lunch we met a man named Emmanuel, the man that Nathan had prayed the day prior. He was with an American woman named Valerie who was starting a non-profit and working at a special needs school.
It was through Emmanuel and Valerie that we found FREE housing and ministry for the next two weeks. We never would have met them if hadn’t of been for the baboons attacking us, staying at our campsite, and us changing our plans for lunch.
(the home that God provided for us to stay in)
We played with neighborhood kids every evening, hung out with Valerie and her Ghanaian friends, and volunteered at the special needs school during the next two weeks.
(photos from the special needs school)
(group photo with Valerie at our going away dinner)
Emmanuel also took us to an orphanage and jail in search of ministry.
It was incredible.
And although the baboons were not in our plans, it is one of the most memorable stories from my race. We also wouldn’t have met Emmanuel if it wasn’t for them.
All this to say: Sometimes you are inconvenienced, and plans are re-arranged, just so the Lord can bless you. I have no doubt that is what happened to us.
I hope you got a laugh out of this blog, and can look at whatever “attack” you are facing today with a new perspective. Maybe God is just wanting to redirect you to better things! (:
