"Kids Time Friendship"
Children's Sermon Presented March 11, 2007
This story of friendship was written by a six-year-old girl. It's an unusual story of the friendship between a baby hippo named Owen and a 130 year-old giant tortoise named Mzee. Owen lived by a river in Kenya, Africa and when he was a year old and weighed about 600 lbs., a giant tsunami struck and he ended up stranded on a coral roof in the ocean. He was rescued and taken to a wildlife sanctuary, but the chief animal caretaker didn't want to put him with the other hippos, because she was afraid they might kill the baby hippo. So she put him in an enclosure with smaller, gentler animals. Among these animals was a grumpy 130 year-old male tortoise named Mzee.
No one could believe what happened next. Owen scrambled to Mzee and crouched down behind him. Mzee wasn't too happy about it so he moved away. Owen followed. The next morning, they were discovered snuggled together. Owen had been getting milk from his mother, and the people at the preserve were trying to get him to eat leaves. Mzee showed him how to eat and before long, Owen was eating the leaves.
The two shared meals, and slept and swam together. Owen licked Mzee's face and Mzee rested his head on Owen's belly. They need each other and are happy together. Even though Owen is now much bigger than Mzee, he still follows Mzee everywhere. They are friends for life!
We need friends too. But in order to have friends, we must be a friend and be kind to others like Mzee was kind to Owen.
