Friday, July 18, 2008

• Snakes in the classroom?

  So one of the most frequent questions that I get when people come to visit or when we go home is,

  “Do you see a lot of snakes?” 

  I always chuckle a bit because really in the past 6 years of coming/living in Botswana I really haven’t had the honor of seeing very many! I don’t have very many snake stories, but I did spy a puff adder once and called Kev to come kill it!  Since having Andrew the new question turns a bit to, “Do you ever worry about Andrew and snakes?”  I always tell people that I don’t really worry, but just try to be wise about where I let him play and keep him away from where they could be.  Snakes usually don’t go looking for people and I am sure not going to go hunting for them so all total I’ve seen about 4 or 5 living snakes over the years.  I do see a lot of “headless” snakes because usually between Kev, Michael Walker, and Pastor Jerry they kill them and chop the head.  I always like to see them afterwards so that I know what they look like incase I have a run in with one I know which type it is. Secretly, I find them fascinating......from a good distance that is!
  

  A few days ago Kev had told me they found a snake in the Jr Dome at the school.  I didn’t think too much about it as that’s not the first snake that’s been around the school.  Then that evening I was talking with Kristen, one of our summer volunteers that works in the Jr. Dome and got a first hand account of the snake that entered the school…….
  

  Turns out one of the little boys (4 years) was going to the toilet.  She said he walked back into the room backwards and said to her, “Miss, there is a snake the hallway.” and then he calmly went back to playing like nothing.  Lucy and Kristen looked out and sure enough there was a snake, and it wasn’t exactly a small one!  Lucy called for help and Kristen grabbed her video camera!  She was telling me about how big it was and how its neck was all fanned out. I was like, “Really!  I’ve never seen a cobra actually fanned out before!”  Last night she showed me the video and I had to watch it twice I was so in awe of how big this snake was!!!
  

  Her video starts out with the snake pretty much coiled up against a wall and it’s head was raised and it’s neck was fanned out.  Not knowing a whole lot about snakes I know enough to know that when it’s raised up and fanned out…..it’s not a happy camper!  It was indeed a Mozambique Spitting Cobra, a pretty frequent “visitor” on the property.  When they feel threatened they spit their venom and often aim for the eyes.  It was over 6ft long and was pretty thick!  Kristen even managed to get the “big kill” on the video and it didn’t look as though it was easy to trap as it was hissing and spitting and fanning all over the place.  As I was watching it I was wincing each time it went to strike. I wish there was a way I could upload the video as it was pretty amazing and impressive.
  

  The scary thing was that it was IN the school and right next to the classrooms.  Nathan, the little boy was telling Jessie, “My daddy always said if I see a snake not to run, but to back up slowly and not turn my back to it.  He said never to scream either.”  Here this 4 year old remained calm and cool just like his dad said he should!  Praise the Lord that no one was hurt and that Nathan saw it an alerted the teachers before it made its way into a classroom full of small children!
  

  Over the past week or so I’ve heard of lots of snakes around and being killed.  I saw a small one crossing the road in front of our house the other day as I was driving to the Lackey’s house.  It’s cold so they are coming out to get warm in the sun.  I’ve told Nelisha to make sure she keeps an extra eye on Andrew in the yard.
  

  Guess that’s another “snake story” to add to the books……..”The Snake Goes to School”
  

  
  This is not the actual snake that was in the school, but a picture of the Mozambique Spitting Cobra that I grabbed off of google.  This is what is was doing, but it actually looked a bit bigger than this one. 
  

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