I Have a Dream

I have a dream that one day humans and monkeys can live together in harmony.

Francis asked us to write down our dreams today in class. We were supposed to think about things in our community here and dream about ways that we can improve. The most common dream among the students was: peace with the monkeys.

We moved class outside for a bit and caught a glimpse of a monkey going into a chalet. A couple seconds later we heard glass break. It had gotten to our tea jar and broke it. A couple students ran in to chase it out and opened the doors to let it go outside, but the monkey freaked out and was jumping all around trying to find a way out.

Two days ago I saw a monkey stand in front of the door to my chalet while I was trying to get inside. I stared at it for a while but showed that I had no intention to charge at it or to hurt it so, after staring at me for a while, it decided I wasn't dangerous and slowly moved to the side so I could pass and go inside. Maybe if we tried a nonviolent approach to the monkeys, they would stop bothering us so much.

It's funny that they're so cute, yet so angry. If only we could make peace with them and just pet them or watch them swing from tree to tree without having to worry about them charging at us or slapping our legs, which did in fact happen to someone last week. If I had one rand for every time we had to stop class because a monkey was trying to get in, I would have 100 US dollars.