Bomani Meerkat - The two jealous meerkats and other adventures by Christian Media Publishing

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Something terrible has happened in the Kalahari – the meerkats are fighting amongst themselves, and they are no longer one big happy family. What will Brave Bomani do to restore peace in the family? Join him for some new adventures. You will meet up with an old friend, Thandi, but also a new one, Makhaya Badger. Then there is the thieving Fork-tailed Drongo – read how Bomani deals with him.

BOMANI MEERKAT THE TWO JEALOUS MEERKATS AND OTHER ADVENTURES EWALD VAN RENSBURG

t wo The

t The

lous m a e j wo

eerkats an

d oth er a d

Ewald van Rensburg Illustrations by Tanja Joubert

ventures

t wo The

sm jealou

eerkats an

d oth er a d

ventures

Ewald van Rensburg Illustrations by Tanja Joubert

Bomani and the thieving Fork-tailed Drongo VALUES: goodness and kindness

he sun is slowly rising over the Kalahari, almost as slowly as the meerkat family wakens in the morning. Bomani, of course, is already up and on the go. He has been gathering the bugs and other insects that Thandi (the loving one) needs so that she can prepare the baby meerkats’ breakfast.

Then, out of the blue, the danger call sounds. Thandi and Bomani spin around to see what the problem is. Bomani also calls out to Dozey Meerkat, who has been on guard duty. “What’s wrong, Dozey, why are you warning us?” Dozey yells back, “It wasn’t me! I thought it was you!” Bomani shakes his head. He has no idea what is going on.

While Bomani is still standing there, trying to figure out what is going on he hears Thandi screaming, “He’s stealing all our food!” Bomani quickly turns around and catches a glimpse of the Fork-tailed Drongo flying off with the baby meerkat’s breakfast. Thandi shakes her head. “I cannot believe that anyone can be so mean! Why can’t he find his own food, instead of stealing ours?”

Bomani is furious at the Fork-tailed Drongo. He kicks up clouds of red dust as he angrily paces to and fro. After he calms down, he gains control of his temper, and he is brave Bomani once more, he calls the whole meerkat family together so that he can talk to them. They eagerly gather around Bomani.

Bomani takes a deep breath, “I was so angry at that mean, thieving bird. But when you become angry, first calm down, otherwise you might do something stupid that can get you and your family into trouble. Now that I am calm I want you to listen carefully to me.” Bomani pauses to make sure they are paying attention.

The meerkats all listen carefully to Bomani, their hero. “We will have to be extra careful now. The Forktailed Drongo has been watching us closely for quite a while. He is a real rascal! He imitates our danger signal so perfectly that even Dozey and I cannot tell the difference. Then, when we are distracted and looking around, he flies in and steals our food from under our noses! But don’t worry. I will think of a plan that will teach him a lesson!”

The Fork-tailed Drongo sits in a nearby tree but he doesn’t bother the meerkats again for rest of the day. Bomani keeps a watchful eye on him, but all the while he is busily making plans to teach the thieving old Drongo a jolly good lesson. That evening he shares his plan with his good friend Thandi. She laughingly says, “Bomani, there is no other meerkat in the world who is as clever or as brave as you are!”

The next morning Bomani walks around, whistling cheerfully. Thandi is proud of her friend. They follow the same routine as the previous day – the children play, Dozey keeps watch, Thandi cooks breakfast. They hear the danger signal! Everyone stops in their tracks, looking around them, but Bomani watches the food! When the Fork-tailed Drongo swoops down to grab the food, Bomani slings a rope around his foot and pulls it tight! The poor Drongo falls to the ground and is immediately surrounded by the meerkats! He stares up at Bomani with fear in his eyes!

Brave Bomani looks down at the Drongo, then says kindly, “You don’t have to come and steal this food because it is yours. We gathered it especially for you. Our food is over there!” Bomani points with his foot. If the Fork-tailed Drongo could blush, he would have turned bright red. And that is how Bomani teaches everyone that the best way to overcome evil is with good.

The best way to pay back people who have treated you unkindly, is to do good, kind things for them. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. ROMANS 12:20-21

prayer

Jesus, please help me to always overcome the bad and the ugly with the good and the kind. Amen

PICTURE ACTIVITY How do Bomani feel on page 5? Count the meerkats on pages 6 and 7? What did you learn from the story about how to treat people who treat you badly?

Bomani at the funeral of Makhaya Badger VALUES: joy and friendship

omani Meerkat has many friends in the Kalahari: Thandi Meerkat, Ethan Eagle, King Lion and, of course, Makhaya the Fearless Badger. Makhaya’s name means ‘to bring people together’, but instead, Makhaya drives them apart! Everyone knows that he fears nothing, so they keep out of his way.

But Brave Bomani and Makhaya the Fearless are great friends. They have shared many wonderful adventures. The snakes fear them, and when they hear Bomani and Makhaya coming, they shake, shiver and slither out of the way as fast as they can! As you know Bomani’s famous kick-routine makes snakes see stars. But Makhaya has no patience, so he storms straight at them, sometimes he even grabs the food out of their mouths, and if he’s still hungry, he will eat the snakes as well!

One day, as Brave Bomani and Fearless Makhaya are walking across the red sands of the Kalahari, they come upon a puff-adder. It is clear that the puff-adder has never heard of Bomani and his friend Makhaya, because he seems to be looking for a fight.

Bomani starts prancing around the snake so that he can reach him with one of his kicks, but Makhaya sighs, “O man, Bomani! I don’t have time for your kicking-routine today!”

As Makhaya rushes towards the puffadder, the snake strikes at him. This doesn’t put Makhaya off and he kills the snake. He cries, “Bomani, come and have some snake sushi…”

But before he can complete his sentence, he drops to the ground and lies there without moving. Bomani is convinced that it’s the snake’s poison that has killed Makhaya.

Bomani shakes Makhaya, but nothing happens. “Makhaya, Makhaya, wake up! Makhaya, can you hear me?” But Makhaya doesn’t move. He remains lying there on the red sand. The tears run down Bomani’s cheeks. One of his best friends is dead!

Bomani knows that he has to arrange a funeral to bury his friend. So he spreads the news of Makhaya’s death throughout the Kalahari. Then he asks Thandi Meerkat to prepare food for the people who will attend Makhaya’s funeral. Soon every living creature in the Kalahari arrives and they all gather around Makhaya’s body. They are all sad about their brave friend.

Bomani begins speaking. “My friends of the Kalahari, we are gathered here to say goodbye to our friend, Makhaya…” But suddenly Makhaya starts moving. He opens his eyes and says, “Bomani, what are you all doing here? Why are you standing around me? Wow, Thandi’s snacks are looking so good!”

All the animals start clapping their hands, and Bomani says with a broad smile, “My dear friend, we thought that the puff-adder’s poison had killed you. We were about to bury you!” Makhaya bursts out laughing. “A snake kill me? I’ve got a bit of a headache, but otherwise I’m fine… and very hungry!”

Later that evening as the stars shine and the moon hangs high up in the sky, Bomani says to Thandi, “I am so glad that Makhaya isn’t dead. It would have broken my heart. Now he and I will still be able to share some wonderful adventures.” Thandi replies, “Yes, we would all have missed him, because he shows us how great it is to be alive!”

Always remember to enjoy life – play, learn new things and love each other! I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ECCLESIAST ES 3:12. prayer

Jesus, thank you for friends and for life. Help me to enjoy each day. Amen PICTURE ACTIVITY How do the animals on page 17 feel and why? Has something ever made you feel this way? Name the things that make people unhappy. What does the story teach you?

Bomani and the two jealous meerkats VALUES: love and family

ne day something terrible happens in the Kalahari, and Bomani Meerkat has to think really hard about how he is going to sort out the problem. But let’s start at the beginning. Dozey Meerkat and Mpu Meerkat were great friends until they began quarrelling about who could run the fastest and who could catch the most insects. If the one did better at something, it made the other one jealous!

Dozey and Mpu called each other names and threw things at each other. Before long some of the other meerkats began taking sides. Some were on Dozey’s side, and others on Mpu’s side. It wasn’t long before the meerkats were no longer one big, happy family and they began being mean to each other. It was then that Brave Bomani decided to take the situation in hand.

So Bomani calls all the meerkats to a meeting and he says, “A very bad thing has been happening among us. You are fighting all the time, and it can’t go on like this. Hasn’t sticking together and loving one another always been what has made us a strong meerkat family?”

The meerkats hang their heads in shame. Bomani repeats, “I’m right, aren’t I?” “Yes”, they all agree. Then Bomani says sternly, “If we don’t stand together in love, we won’t be strong any more. Then we will be open to all kinds of dangers, and that will be the end of us. It is love that makes us strong and unites us.”

“Meerkats’ love for one another is warm like the Kalahari sun during the daylight and clear like the full moon’s light in the dark of the night.

Meerkats’ love for one another has no boundary, but stretches wider than the horizon of the Kalahari.

Meerkats’ love for one another is deeper than the deepest burrow that we can dig, and much higher than the highest Kalahari dune that we can climb.

Meerkats’ love for one another is as beautiful as the flowers in the veld. Yes, without love we are nothing. That is why we are as grateful as the veld after a shower of rain because God, has created us with so much love for each other.”

Bomani stopped speaking, and the meerkat family made peace with one another.

As the sun with its lovely shades of red began setting and everything in meerkat country was peaceful once again, Bomani whispered to Thandi, his little meerkat friend, “There’s nothing like being a meerkat is there? God, our Creator, is so good to us. Let us also be good to one another…” “…yes, by loving one another,” Thandi added with a smile.

Jealousy makes us nasty. God wants us to love one another. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” J OHN 13:35

prayer

Jesus, I want to love others like You do. Amen PICTURE ACTIVITY What is happening on pages 22 and 23, and what caused it? How do the meerkats feel on pages 24 and 25? Name all the colours on pages 28 and 29? What does the story teach you?

CMP Kids – an imprint of Christian Media Publishing PO Box 4502, Durbanville, 7551 www.christianmediapublishing.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means – electronically or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher. Reg no 2010/008573/07

Text: Ewald van Rensburg © 2015 Illustrations: Tanja Joubert © 2015 Design: Trinity Loubser Fry Layout: Pieter Traut Publishing Project Management: Noeline N Neumann Printed and bound in China First edition, first printing 2015 ISBN 9781920593162

sm jealou

eerkats an

d oth er a d

ventures

BOMANI MEERKAT THE TWO JEALOUS MEERKATS AND OTHER ADVENTURES EWALD VAN RENSBURG

t wo The

t The

lous m a e j wo

eerkats an

d oth er a d

Ewald van Rensburg Illustrations by Tanja Joubert

ventures