My name is Mali and I have been in captivity for almost as long as I’ve been alive. I was free once, when I was a baby in my mother’s arms just as my newborn daughter is now in mine. That was until those men came, invaded my home, and tore me from my mother’s arms.

When I woke up, I was under bright lights and surrounded by glass. On the other side were humans – men and women with clipboards. For days, months, and maybe even years, those men and women came and tested me using those things humans called a computer. They tested me on arithmetic, language, and other things as if they expect me to know what humans know, as if they want to make me into…them.

When I became too old for their tests, they put me to sleep. When I woke, I was no longer in a lab but outside. Where was I, I didn’t know, until a human approached me. “Hello, Mali, I am Lucy.” She said slowly. She wasn’t like those men and women from the lab. She was not wearing white coats. She was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and blue polo shirt. The shirt had yellow lettering and after all my time spent studying human languages, I recognized one word – zoo.

I’m in a damn zoo!

A few weeks ago, Lucy helped me give birth to my daughter. I haven’t let my daughter out of my sight since giving birth. A mother can sleep when her child is grown up and able to protect herself. Lucy tried to pry my daughter from arms but there’s no way I would be letting go. “I promise you will have her back in a minute!” Lucy said.

If I can speak human, I would’ve said, “I don’t give a damn about what you humans want, you are not taking my daughter from me, period!”

Whatdoyousee