Joanna Goldberg sends communiqués from Kenya, where she’s living with her kid
I’ve been trying to raise Cameron as a lover of all life forms since day one. So far, I believe I’m succeeding. She’ll report to me if she sees kids purposely stepping on ants. She’s told off any number of class mates for poking the chickens in the school playground (this is Nairobi, remember) with sticks. She isn’t afraid of any insects apart from daddy long-legs and picks up everything from worms and spiders to moths and beetles. In fact, I caught her cuddling and – eek – kissing a worm before. We’re vegetarians, of course, and since she was old enough to talk she’s been declaring “We don’t eat meat. We be nice to animals!” But living in Kenya with Cameron has brought her appreciation of creatures big and small to a new level, enabling close encounters with everything from echinoderms to ungulates.
