In 1990 I was a young boy who lived in a city called Luq. I used to go to school there. In the city there were so many things to do, like going to the river to swim, going to cinemas, playing soccer with friends and a lot of other things to do with the daily life that I had. But in 1990 the civil war had already started in the city where I lived. It was between the different tribes. After a week we had to move to where I had never lived before.

There was no house to live in and there were a lot of dangerous animals. We were very lucky compared to other people who ran away from the city to the bush, who had no relatives who lived there. We went to live with my cousins in the bush who had many different animals such as cows, camels and sheep. A long time before my dad had bought three cows and he asked my cousins if they could take care of them for us. He did this in case something happened in the city and we had to go to the bush.

That was a very smart idea, because what he was worried about happened. When we moved out there we already had animals to use as those three cows had become sixty five cows.

After I had been in the bush for a week I liked it very much. My cousin and I moved with about 150 cows from the family house to where nobody lived at that time. Not even our family could come with us because that place was very dangerous. It was the jungle and we went there because people said it was good for the cows and that was when I realised that the people who lived in the bush cared more about the animals than themselves.

One night my cousin left me and I was sleeping in a corner of the corral where the cows were, when suddenly I heard the laugh of the hyena. In one second the cows started running around the corral. That is when I knew that there was something wrong and then I got up and tried to stop the cows from hurting themselves. I was not scared for myself, but I was scared that the cows would run off into the jungle where there was a lot of danger with lions.

When I had protected the cows from the danger, I saw an animal coming towards me which I hit it with a stick. At that moment was when I became scared and realised the animal that I was facing was a hyena. Hyenas are known for being extremely sexually active.

Normally hyenas are not very dangerous animals, but when they are sexually active they are very dangerous and can attack. So when for the second time it was coming towards me, I remembered a story that my mum told me when I was a little boy. She said that when hyenas are sexually active they are crazy. They don't see anything and they are not scared of anything and all they care about is mating. After that I stopped protecting the cows and started protecting myself because I was so scared.

In my imagination I even thought the hyena could kill me or injure me. Luckily after the second time I hit it, it did not come back.

From this experience I realised how much the people who live in the bush care about their animals. Sometimes they will go as far as risking their own lives so they can protect the animals. This did not really turn out to be a good idea for me.

I think that when it comes to looking after animals you should always put yourself first. If you lose some cows, you can always get some more, but if you lose your life you are gone for good.