This was picture was taken sometime in the early 90’s at the Cairo Zoo in Egypt. My mum helping me feed a giraffe.
I can only imagine the shock and bewilderment that went through my little brain as I watched this bizarre looking alien creature wrap its enormous tongue around my carrot. We used to go to this zoo often during our time in Cairo to feed the giraffes and hippos. As we got older my dad would encourage my sister and I to feed them alone without the help of Mum or Dad.
This was like the Hetherington version of initiation into toddlerhood. As seen on shaky home videos shot by my Dad, my sister would courageously charge ahead playing tug of war with a bunch of grass against a hippo ten times her size (there was bar between the hippo and my sister).
The camera would then pan to the small child screaming and crying in horror (me) and my Dad ignoring my reaction in hopes of replacing it with excitement, “go on Kimberly, feed the hippo!” I cautiously inched towards to the hippo with intense fear, looking back at my mum for reassurance. I picked up the grass and threw it in the face of the hippo and then ran like hell into the safety of my Mum’s arms.
Art Therapy with Kimberly 