Limba Is Dead – Christine Jordaan Honours Her

Limba Is Dead – Christine Jordaan Honours Her

Limba Is Dead – Christine Jordaan Honours Her. She was an Asian elephant confined to a life in Canada.  Her spirit is already back in Asia – free – youthful again -with her herd – close to her Mother. She came to the Bowmanville Zoo from Quebec in 1989. I don’t know how she came to Canada and it doesn’t really matter. Her life was stolen  – her fate sealed many years ago!

I have read that she was about 50 years old – so let’s assume that she was born around 1963. I don’t know her origins but from what I do know about “working” Asian elephants – she was probably ripped from her family as a baby and put through the “crush” – (the breaking of her spirit) – to teach her to fear and to obey her handlers.

She lived alone in The Bowmanville Zoo – she should have been released to a sanctuary. That is what a kind person would have done for her in her declining years. It was not to be. May her death serve as a stark reminder of the greed of humans as they use animals for their own selfish ends. She was made to perform at events and to kneel on cold concrete at the 2013 Remembrance Day Ceremony.

 

She was forced to march in the stupid Santa Clause Parade. Someone should explain to the kids in Bowmanville that Santa has reindeer – not elephants!

In the wild Limba might have enjoyed a long life – perhaps into her 70’s or even 80’s. She is gone now – free and young again – her lovely, gentle soul at peace. No more stools to stand on – sticks to watch out for and events to tolerate. The zoo claims that “she charmed millions of children” – did they ever stop to ask if she was happy?

The beautiful Christine Jordaan of South Africa wrote a haunting poem in 2002 while in London, England. She was suddenly overcome by a longing for Africa and she wrote these beautiful words. It Is Entitled Child Of Africa. Christine has kindly allowed me to use her magnificent poem in a dedication to Limba. It matters not that Limba was an Asian Elephant – the sentiment is the same.

This honours Limba and the life that was taken from her! Just as Christine had to return to her native Africa – Limba must have yearned for her home in Asia – an elephant never forgets!

Dedication to Limba – RIP – Child of Africa

For Limba … a tortured soul, enslaved for human entertainment in a zoo in faraway Canada

Who knew the cold snow of a foreign land – but never ever the hot sunlight of her Africa (Asia) which was her birthright – stolen from her!

Child of Africa

Snow is drifting gently down

but it’s the hot veldt air ruffling my hair

and I don’t feel the soft flakes on my upturned face

nor the whispering wind on my skin

for I raise my eyes to wide African skies

and this world around me goes dim;

 

As the roar of the traffic dulls my mind

I feel a hunger so strong, so deep

the pulse of the land that shaped me

calling to me in my sleep

I must go soon, my spirit is dying

longing for the majestic still

pacing this cage, my soul is crying

for the rolling green valleys and hills;

 

The meandering rivers, blood of the land

wending their way to the seas

from the rugged peaks through the desert sands

this rhythm of life is in me;

Before me stretch vast horizons

spirit untamed by human hand

speaking to me as it always has

born of the earth

one with the land;

 

Back to the glory, the savage beauty

beating always in my veins

this restless yearning, always burning

cooled only by soft summer rains;

 

Soaring through the silent space

the wild is waiting, alive and free

the hot desert sun is kissing my face

my mother, my home, welcoming me

I fall to the ground, the bare earth in tears,

 

She sees my pain

She knows my fears

cries with me,

tears soaking into the ground

I feel Her heart beating

one with mine

 

Thunder rumbles

I know his voice

I’ve roared with him many times before

The air is charged, lightening flickers

spirit awakes, the land answers my call

 

Rain lashes down

and I tear off the layers

stand naked before heaven

and scream out my pain

wind is tearing around me

chaos erupts inside me

thunder crashes his anger, lightening bursts into flame;

 

Tears mingle with the rain

washing me clean once again

raw and alive I am strong

storm eases off

wind calms her fury

exultant I stand proud to carry on;

 

When my body eventually stills

take me back to the rolling hills

lay me down to rest in my land of birth

on the gentle breast of Mother Earth

to the silent splendor where I used to roam

I’m a child of Africa, take me home

London, 2002

Christine Jordaan

Neytiri Tskaha and Mariana Fernandes… don’t cry for her death… it’s her life that must make humanity weep! Limba Is Dead – Christine Jordaan Honours Her. Rest well now sweet Limba – you are free!