Well, I had never fetched water using donkeys until I started serving as a Volunteer in Kitui County. Here, fetching water using donkeys is a lifestyle contrary to where I come from where we have water taps at home. One day, I decided to experience the joy of fetching water from the community’s shallow well. The task sounded simple until I got this couple of stubborn donkeys.

Yes, I was naïve. I didn’t know that these four-legged creatures had minds of their own. I didn’t know they sensed that I was not their owner. Maybe I was just too soft or didn’t hit them too hard. After we got to the water point and we had to line up as usual, the mischief from the donkeys began to manifest. They were looking for an escape, but they were not lucky as I hit them with the huge stick I was given. My turn came and I began the task of filling the water containers.

After I was done, I couldn’t find my assistants. Where did they go? What will I tell the owner? I panicked. They had mixed with other donkeys at the water point and I couldn’t differentiate them. The people with me helped me locate them and I tried to coax them to come closer. One donkey was becoming uncooperative and I was struggling to mount the water containers to its back. As I was instructed, I hit on the back and it immediately jolted away with the containers not well mounted. A few meters away the containers hit the ground and rolled back to where I was leaving me stranded.

After a frantic chase, I managed to wrangle the donkey back and mounted my containers well. The community members at the well gave me a share of laughs. I laughed with them as I tucked this experience into my long-term memory. We walked home but everyone kept staring at me as I had a trail of dust in my clothes. This experience taught me that some misadventures make life more entertaining.