The Hero's Journey

Once there was a little stray wiener dog named Chilli. Chilli was sleeping in a cardboard box one night, waiting for his mom and dad to come home. He waited for five hours, and then they went to sleep. When he woke up in the morning, she still wasn't back. Chilli was worried, so he went out to look for his parents.  As he was walking across the street, A pigeon flew down from the telephone wire. "Are you looking for your parents?" the pigeon said. "I'm sorry to tell you, but the dog catchers took them to the pound yesterday. There is not much you can do for them now."
Chilli was young but he knew that the dog pound is a dog's worst nightmare. He ran into a corner and cried. He cried for a very long time.
"Hey, What are you crying about?" Someone was poking Chilli in the ribs. He looked up to see a mangy orange cat looking at him. "Who are you?" Chilli asked.
"My name's Joe. I live in that crate right there, and you're in my way." The cat was getting angry. Chilli stared blankly at the cat. "So get out my way or I'll scratch you!" Joe hissed.
Chilli scampered a few feet to the side, startled by the cat. Joe lay down in the crate and closed his eyes. When Chilli didn't leave, the cat mumbled "What is this dog's problem?"
Chilli told the cat about how his parents had been taken away. "Dude, My parents died when I was two. Stop crying. Man up." said Joe.
"They were taken to the pound. Can you show me where the pound is?"
At the mention of the pound, Joe perked up. "See this scar right here? A stupid dog bit me there when I was little. I heard he's at the pound. I promise that I'll help you find your parents if you let me have revenge on that dog."
Chilli agreed, because he was so desperate that he would do anything to to save his parents.
They set off across town. Suddenly, as Chilli looked up at the tall building, he regretted wanting to go on this journey. He immediately regretted it though, because he would die to save his parents if he had to.
They started to cross the road, but then a huge car zoomed by, almost running Chilli over. Joe and Chilli scampered back to the curb.
"How will we get across?" asked Chilli.
Joe looked up. "The telephone wires."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"I'm a dog! I can't just walk across a wire! And if I fall, I die. If you fall, you land on your feet and do it again until you make it across."
"I never said it would be easy."
"Okay, I'll go if it's the only way."
Chilli and Joe snuck into a building and climbed up the stairs. Chilli had noticed that he could not move as fast as Joe, because he had tiny legs. Joe was getting angry because Chilli could not keep up with him. as they rounded the next corner, they saw a man in a suit running towards them. There was an open window to the left, and Chilli and Joe raced towards it.
"Jump!" said Joe.
Are you crazy? thought Chilli, as he jumped onto the window sill. They were 5 stories up in the building. If Chilli missed the telephone pole he would be a furry pancake.
Joe Jumped off and landed gracefully on the pole.
The man was running towards Chilli with a broom. Just as the man reached out, Chilli jumped.
And missed.
He plummeted down, screaming. Suddenly, he felt a violent jerk upward. His paw had caught on a loose wire. Slowly, the wire started to swing across the road. Chilli saw his chance and jumped. He barely made it to the building opposite the one he had started at. Joe had already made it across, and he met Chilli at the other side of the road. "Man, I was really scared for you! you almost died."
Chilli was surprised at Joe's unusual concern for him. Maybe Joe was learning that he wasn't the only person that mattered in the world.
They continued down the road. All of a sudden, Chilli and Joe saw a big warehouse looming in the distance. They heard the sound of hundreds of dogs wailing in vain. They sprinted over to the doghouse, crawled under some barbed wire, and found themselves in a room full of kennels filled with howling dogs. It was like a torture chamber.
Chilli saw his parents locked up in a kennel. He ran over to them and stuck his little nose through the fencing. They looked up from where they were sleeping.
"Chilli! You came to rescue us!" They said. Chilli looked around for a key.
As he turned his head, a huge, menacing shadow appeared over his head. Chilli's parents screamed. As Chilli whirled around, he saw a huge man with a shovel in his hand. The man raised the shovel, and swung it at Chilli's head. Chilli ducked just in time to save himself. The shovel slammed into the concrete floor, and skidded out of the man's hands. He grabbed for Chilli, but Joe yelled "Run!"
Chilli and Joe ran across the warehouse. Joe had long legs and he easily outran the man, but Chilli had little wiener dog legs, and he couldn't run fast enough. The man was close behind ChillI. He reached out and grabbed Chilli and shoved him in a little cage. The last thing that Chilli saw was Joe running away to safety. Joe had sacrificed Chilli to save himself.
Chilli came to an hour later. His head really hurt. He looked around for his parents, and he suddenly saw them in a cage on the other side of the room. They whined back and forth to each other, but it was no use.
Chilli looked around the room, and he saw something that stopped his little wiener heart. Hanging on the wall was a sign that said "Dogs not adopted by January 29 will be put down"
TODAY was January 29. Chilli was so sad. He started crying and crying. After what seemed like hours the man came back to his cage. In his hand was a doctor's needle filled with fluid. Chilli whimpered and curled into a ball, but the man opened the door and cornered Chilli. Chilli closed his eyes, and he felt cold metal press against his skin. He whispered a goodbye to his parents as he felt a small prick in his skin. Just as he felt the poison enter his bloodstream, a loud scream interrupted his prayers. The needle fell out of his skin. Chilli looked up to see the man laying on the floor, screaming as something clawed at him. As Chilli got a better look, he realized that it was Joe!
Joe beat the man unconscious, and then took the key and gave them to Chilli. Chilli took the keys in his mouth, and, with the help of Joe, He unlocked all of the cages and set all of the dogs free.
As they approached the last cage, Chilli looked inside and saw an old dog with many scars lining his face. Joe saw him too, and his fur stood up on end. "This is the dog who bit me. This is the dog who I wanted revenge on."
 The dog sadly looked up from his cage and gave a deep, melancholy whine.
"Give me these," said Joe, snatching the keys from Chilli's mouth. Slowly, Joe opened the door. Chilli held his breath, expecting a huge fight to ensue. But instead, Joe opened the door and let the old dog out.
"Thank you" the old dog said in a sad, raspy voice and limed out of the warehouse.
"I thought you would kill him!" exclaimed Chilli.
"I would have before I met you, but you have showed me that being mean and tough isn't always the way to solve problems. Thank you."

Chilli introduced his new friend to his parents. His parents were a little skeptical of their kid befriending a cat, but when they got to know Joe, they couldn't think of a better person for their son to spend time with.
"We also have good news!" His parents said. "We are getting adopted! We won't have to sleep in the streets anymore!"
Chilli was so excited because he had never lived in a house before. The next day, some people came to take Chilli and his parents to the new house. Everybody got into a big cardboard box in the back of a truck and drove off. As they drove away, Chilli stuck his nose out of an air hole and yelled "Goodbye!" He knew that he might not ever see Joe again. He knew that Joe was the best friend that he would ever have. They kept waving to each other, as the car drove away. They kept waving until they were each a little speck in the distance. Then the car turned the corner and they disappeared from sight.




THE END




?

My Visit With Maruge in Kenya Day 7

Today I woke up early at 6:00, because I had to catch my plane. Maruge and I rode in the old van to the airport. When it was time for me to go, Maruge and I said goodbye, and I walked onto the plane. I waved goodbye through the window. I kept waving out the window as the plane lifted off. I kept waving as Maruge's figure grew smaller and smaller. I fingered the small pendant hanging around my neck. I would never forget my visit with Maruge and what he had taught me. 

My Visit With Maruge in Kenya Day 6

Today we woke up from the bright sunlight that was shining in through a crack in Maruge's wall. I could hear birds chirping in Maruge's garden.

Today was saturday, so Maruge didn't have school. He had a hike planned out for us today. I was really excited because the hike would be fun and we would see a lot of cool things.

We packed a small lunch and set off toward the jungle. The trail inclined steeply after a few minutes, and turned into a big hill. I thought that Maruge would be slowed by this, but he kept speeding ip the hill and I found myself racing to keep up with him. I guess all of those days walking to an from school had put Maruge in great shape! The trail had evened out by now, and we were walking under a huge canopy of giant trees. Maruge and I looked up and saw a whole other world above our heads. Neon colored birds flitted between branches. monies danced around, making baffling jumps between skinny limbs a hundred feet in the air. Millions of fluorescent, jewel-like bugs buzzed around our heads, but they were too cool to swat at, so Maruge and I let them be.

We kept walking a ways and then we ran into some trouble. A huge river lay ahead of us, one that was too wide to cross. And we couldn't wade through it either, because the river wasn't made out of water. It was made out of ants. Big, red, hairy ants. Ants that were each 2 inches long. They all had razor sharp jaws that looked strong enough to bite right through my finger. 

Maruge and I had to do some quick thinking, so we grabbed some branches from a fallen tree and stacked them across the ant river, like a bridge. We had to hop across really quick, because the ants figured out how to climb our bridge and in no time, they were swarming the logs.

aaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhh!

Once we were free from the ants, we arrived at a river. It was like a paradise, with fruit trees all around and monkeys and birds chirping in the trees. 

We relaxed and ate bananas while listening to the sounds of nature. Maruge told me that we had to be home before dark so that the lions and leopards wouldn't eat us, so we started walking back. Maruge took a different trail because he wanted to show me something. We trudged uphill, and Maruge had to take a machete out and chop our way through the underbrush. The trail had obviously not been used for a long time. we went on and on, through rivers, across farms, under a banana plantation, and then back into the jungle again. We were cutting trough a lot of vegetation, and I began to doubt that we were even on a real trail. At last, we burst through some tall grasses, into a peculiar place. We were in a clearing, but it had not been taken care of in a long time. The grass was overgrown and many of the trees were dead. In the center of the clearing, a tall white house rose. It must have belonged to a very rich person, because it was at least four times as big as any house I had seen in Kenya so far. But now no millionaire in his right mind would buy it; it had vine crawling up the sides, the windows were broken, the bricks were crumbling, the roof was caved in, and the whole thing looked as if it would collapse any moment. I recognized this place, I had seen it before. A long time ago.

Not in real life, but in a movie. I could picture the scene happening here exactly how it did in the movie, decades ago. The damage on the house was gone. The grass grew short and neat again. People were living there now. I saw rich white people, keeping black people as slaves and not giving them any freedom. Then I saw tribal men crouched in the tall grasses bordering the clearing. I noticed that one of them was a young Maruge. I looked at the older Maruge, still standing by my side, and he nodded towards the men, as if he saw the strange vision too. Suddenly, the men shouted and lunged out of the bushes. They stormed the house, screaming for freedom as they went. They broke down the door, and came out minutes later armed with guns. A white man followed them out, screaming with rage. He also had a gun. He started firing in the direction of the men. I tried to look away, but older Maruge pointed back to the scene. I watched in horror as the white man shot the man closest to me right in the chest. With a scream, the man went down.

 I couldn't watch this. I looked away and started crying.

The scene changed rapidly. The white people moved out. The grass grew longer. The trees died and fell over. The house crumbled with age and the roof caved in. All in about 5 seconds. I was back in my own time. I stumbled over to where the man had been shot. Laying in the grass was a small pendant carved out of wood on a length of leather cord. It showed a man's face. Maruge picked it up and draped it around my neck. "This is for you," he said. "I hope that you always remember to never stop fighting for what is right, even if it means sacrificing great things."

 

We walked back to Maruge's house in silence. When we got back, Maruge told me that he didn't show me that to make me sad. He showed it to me to inspire me do what is right. I liked it a lot more when he put it like that. I will now look at things and see what I can learn from them, instead of just feeling one way that doesn't help me at all. 

My Visit With Maruge in Kenya Day 5

Today, I woke up and went to my computer to blog my past 4 days with Maruge. My computer wasn't working correctly, because it wouldn't let me center my text like all of my other posts.
Maruge woke up and told me that he would take me on a tour of the town. We got dressed and brushed our teeth, then we set out. Maruge took me back to the marketplace, where we had lunch. We each got a big bowl of fruit, and we both sat there eating it and talking. I talked to Maruge about surfing, and how it feels to slide across a wave. He was very interested. I wanted to show him how fun it is to surf, but we were in the middle of kenya, so I obviously couldn't take him out surfing in the ocean. I saw a big wide plank of wood, and I had an idea.
 
Next to it, there was a short log, that could probably roll. I put the plank of wood on the log, and made my own homemade into board. I showed Maruge how to ride it by swinging his legs back and forth.

Maruge hopped on the board and almost fell off, but I caught him. I held him while he slowly warmed up on the into board. After a little while, he decided to try on his own again. He fell off a few times, but after a while, he got the hang of it. We took turns shredding the imaginary waves on our new toy. 

Next we went to go watch some people playing music in the market. We passed by some men playing a cool song, using an upside down trashcan and a weird guitar-like instrument. 

Maruge and I then heard a very interesting noise. We heard a band, with multiple guitar solos and baselines. We rounded the corner excitedly, but what we saw didn't match what we heard. 

A woman sat on the side of the road, with an old, cracked guitar in her lap. It was one of those guitars made for kids, with a short neck and little plastic strings. But she played it in the weirdest way I had ever seen a guitar played, sliding her callused old hands up and down the guitar's neck. I listened, and saw that she was playing the low strings for that deep base sound, and that she was playing the high strings in a separate pattern, creating the high pitched solo sound that I had heard earlier. It was so amazing. 

Maruge and I then went back to the food market to eat some dinner. Maruge and I shared a bowl filled with a lot of good foods, like beef, corn, and some salad. We just ate it with our hands, as was the custom in Kenya. It was really good. Then we went back to Maruge's and went to bed. 

My Visit With Maruge in Kenya Day 4

Today we woke up from a sputtering van going by the house. Today, I was  going to school again with Maruge. Today, we got to ride to in the van, which was nice because it was a long walk to the school from Maruge's house. When we got to school, he introduced me to the kid with the limp that I saw yesterday. He told me about his wishes to be a doctor when he grew up.
All of the kids wanted to know about America. I told them all about the houses, the schools, the people, but they mostly wanted to hear about the ocean. None of them had ever seen the ocean before, and they wanted to know everything about it. So I told them everything. I talked about the playful seals, the huge fish, the intelligent dolphins, the pinching crabs, the deadly sharks, the tasty lobsters, the elusive halibut, the nasty stingrays, the stinging jellyfishes and the humungous whales. I told them how the slimy kelp felt, how the salty water tasted, how the coastal air smelled and how the cold water chilled your bones. We talked for hours about the radiant sunsets, the big white clouds, and the effect on a coastal town when a storm comes. I informed them all about surfing, swimming, wake boarding, kayaking, SUPing (stand up paddling), fishing, waterskiing, jet skiing, and boogie boarding, and many other water sports. They thought that the ocean sounded like the coolest thing in the world. I was surprised that I had taken these things for granted my whole life and now I knew that it was a very special thing to live on the coast. I then told them about other places that I had been in the world. I told them about Central America, Hawaii, Wasington and Oregon, Canada, Nevada, Arizona, New York, and various places in California. They all wanted to know what snow was like. I told them all about skiing and snowboarding, and all about sledding, and even about making snowmen. They thought it was awesome.
Maruge and I went home and ate leftovers from the peanut chicken soup. Then we went to bed. 

My visit With Maruge in Kenya Day 3

Today, Maruge took me to his school. When class started, hundreds of kids ran out from the trees. More kids piled out of overcrowded vans like the one Maruge and I rode in. They all were laughing and having a good time.

 

I walked over to the schoolhouse with Maruge. In the classroom the teacher was showing the students how to write the alphabet. There wasn't enough room for me to sit in a chair, so I stood against the wall next to the teacher.

At recess, the teacher let us out to play. Maruge and some kids were dancing, so I joined in. It was like a goofy hula dance that they were doing.

I loved watching Maruge playing with the kids, because he was so wise and generous. A child with a limp walked over to Maruge, and instead of ignoring him like the other kids, Maruge went off to the side with the kid and started talking to him. Then they started laughing and playing around with each other like they were best friends. There was another kid sitting in the corner, an Maruge walked over and cheered him up.
The school in Kenya was unlike (in a good way) our school in many ways. I wondered if that was because  of Maruge.
When we got home, Maruge and I went into his garden and ate some cowpeas. Then we just sat there and watched the sun go down. It was really peaceful. We then went to bed.

My Visit With Maruge in Kenya Day 2

Today Maruge had school, so he had to leave very early in the morning to walk all of the way there and not be late. When he left, I decided to explore the town. I could smell things cooking from inside houses, and I could the little toddlers laughing and playing with a wood wheel. I walked down the bumpy dirt road, passing many mud huts surrounded by gardens and chicken coops and pens for goats and pigs. There were little boys, maybe 5 years old, working in the gardens, fetching eggs from the chickens, and milking goats. There were also little girls of the same age filling pots of water and carrying them on their heads back to their houses.





I then walked over to the edge of town, and saw a river. it was really beautiful, but there was a lot of trash in it. I thought that was too bad. It was a really cool river though so I stayed there for a while and watched  the monkeys in the trees while I listened to the water flowing.


I returned in time to meet Maruge. His school hours are a lot longer than mine, so there was only a few hours of daylight left. We went to the local market and bought things for dinner tonight. We bought a lot of ingredients for soup, including chicken and peanuts.
When we got home, Maruge and I started making the Chicken Peanut Soup. When we finished, the whole house smelled really good. Then we ate it. We ate until we were full, saving a little bit for tomorrow night.

My Visit With Maruge in Kenya Day 1

Today I flew from Duk County, Sudan, to Eldoret, Kenya I made the trip in a little puddle-jumper plane. I got to sit in the co-pilot seat, since I was the only passenger. It was great seeing Africa from above. We passed over busy cities, tiny villages, lush rain forests, and dry savannas. When we landed in the Eldoret International Airport, I got out thanked the pilot, and stepped out to meet Maruge. 

An old man stepped out of sputtering, rusty van. He was wearing a tattered school uniform and he had an old blanket draped around his shoulders. 

I walked over to him and shook his hand. He was extremely strong for a 85-year old man. He welcomed me to Kenya. 

We were driven back to his house in the old van. It was crowded with lots of people, chickens, and goats. Maruge showed me one of his goats, a brown one with black and white spots. He told me how important the goat is to him, because it provides him with milk.

When we got to Emmanuel's hut, it was already 8:30 at night, so we ate a dinner that Emmanuel made from vegetables in his garden. I was tired, so I got out my sleeping bag and spread it out on the floor, since there was only one bed. Maruge said "No, no" and he offered up his bed to me so that I could be more comfortable. I told him no but he insisted, so he slept on the floor while I slept in a bed. I felt really bad about this, but Maruge told me not to feel bad.

MY STOP IN ELDORET, KENYA

On my way home from South Sudan, I stopped in Kenya. I was invited to stay in the village of Eldoret.

View Larger Map

MY STOP IN ELDORET, KENYA

On my way back from South Sudan, I stopped in Kenya. I was invited to the village of Eldoret.



View Larger Map