old goat

In semi-arid Makueni County in Kenya, where a devastating drought has stretched more than three years, 47-year old goat and sheep farmer John Gichuki said: “It is traumatizing to watch your livestock die of thirst and hunger.”

If invited to sit down to lunch with a group of young-buck carpenters, I’d be the old goat sitting on an empty, overturned drywall mud bucket who would say: “Back in my day, we didn’t have cordless tools. We got along just fine.”

If invited to sit down to lunch with a group of young-buck carpenters, I’d be the old goat who would say, “Back in my day, we didn’t have cordless tools. We got along just fine.”

“That old goat. Go on with your story.”

As the three of us walk back to the food court, Sara suddenly tells me, “If we’re going to be real friends, not just cooking partners, that means we stick up for each other. If someone from school tells me to go back where I came from or asks if I live in a tent, you don’t get to stand there with your mouth hanging open like an old goat. Tell them to shut up. And I’ll do the same for you.”