Meet Tembo and Sheena

A story by Ashrafi Antia about love and loss, and the bond between elephant Tembo and his caregiver Sheena.

Tembo, the elephant, was an orphan. His mother had left him in the care of her friends at the elephant nursery one day and never returned home. Noone knew where she had gone or what had happened to her as she had wandered off all on her own that day.  Tembo kept hoping she’d return; often staring wistfully at the pathway she’d taken through the trees, wishing she would appear as suddenly as she had disappeared. His other relatives in the herd took good care of him though.

One day, while they were busy feeding on acacia leaves, gunshots rang through the air. Tembo felt a bullet whizz past his ear. The herd panicked and took to their heels — crashing through the trees in alarm, running helter-skelter with the hunters in hot pursuit. Frightened, little Tembo tried his best to follow them but couldn’t — his short legs struggled to keep pace with their swift strides.   

Lost and alone, Tembo plodded through the trees following a path where he could still see the herd’s imprints in the dust. The pathway ended abruptly and Tembo could see a village in the distance. Spirals of smoke were rising through the air carrying strange scents of food with them that tickled his long nose. Suddenly, Tembo felt hungry.  

Spying a corn field nearby, Tembo hid amongst its tall stalks and chomped on the delicious, ripe, yellow corn. Suddenly, the tall stalks of corn parted, and an angry farmer shouted, pointing a long stick at him. He raised the stick to strike Tembo who trembled in fear, but his young son pleaded with him, “He’s only a baby elephant, baba. Please don’t hit him! Look how scared he is! Let’s take him to the elephant orphanage nearby.” 

That’s how Tembo arrived at the elephant orphanage. There were lots of elephants there. Baby Tembo was assigned to a kind-hearted, gentle girl called Sheena.

Sheena took good care of Tembo. She fed him milk using a giant banana-shaped bottle and gave him jaggery balls mixed with coconut. She took him to bathe in the river daily. Bath-time was fun-time. Using his trunk like a shower, Tembo sprayed water on both himself and Sheena, who laughed and played with him. Sheena showered Tembo with affection — hugging and stroking him. She treated him like her own son. Soon he grew to love her like a mother.

Tembo started to feel at home in the elephant orphanage. Old matriarch, Nana, took him under her wing, protecting him from bigger bullies like angry Kalu who had a gaping hole in his ear where a bullet had gone through and grouchy Gola who walked with a limp. He made friends with the other baby elephants, many of whom were orphans like himself.  

That summer, there was an outbreak of a deadly virus. It didn’t affect the elephants but people were dropping like flies. One day, Sheena didn’t come to work. Two days passed, then three. Tembo started worrying. He felt he was being abandoned all over again. He heard the other caretakers whispering that Sheena was in the camp dispensary and was not doing well. She had slipped into a coma and they were thinking of airlifting her to a hospital in Nairobi. 

Tembo was terrified. He just wanted to see Sheena before they took her away. He hurriedly made his way to the dispensary and stood outside for hours, trumpeting away, every now and then. When someone came to lead him away, he planted his feet and refused to budge. Rosa, Sheena’s friend, said, “I think he wants to see Sheena.” Rosa gently led Tembo into the dispensary.  Luckily, Tembo was still small enough to just about squeeze through the door.

Tembo squatted on the floor near Sheena’s bed and stretched his trunk out to her. Gently, he lifted her blanket and found her hand which he nuzzled with his trunk. Suddenly, Sheena’s eyes fluttered open. She lifted her hand to stroke Tembo’s trunk. The doctors gathered around, watched in amazement, as Sheena stroked Tembo affectionately and he responded with soft rumbles of happiness. They had just witnessed the power of love do what their medicines could not — revive a patient from a coma. 

Sheena made a steady recovery and Tembo was allowed to visit her for an hour everyday as they found this gave Sheena the strength and will to recover.  Soon she was back on her feet again, one of the few survivors of the strange virus. Tembo was elated to be reunited with his second mum, Sheena. 

From then on, Sheena and Tembo were inseparable. Even when he grew into a full-grown male, Tembo was always very protective of Sheena and extremely gentle with her. They became the stars of the camp and the story of their bond became known far and wide. People visited the camp just to see Tembo, the elephant who cared so much for his caretaker that he brought her back from the brink of death.