RIP, Ekilame

Encounters with animals were on my list of fears for living in Uganda. However, my main interactions with other species have been rather nonthreatening, despite my reactions. For instance, returning to homestay from my first visit to site, I had not been in my room in nearly a week and when I entered the room, I found a dead mouse on the floor and its mate, quite alive, nestled under the pillow of my bed. I now have the habit of of bracing myself and checking under my pillow every night.
Since being at site, I’ve had the occasional ant bite and just a small field mouse that takes a nightly lap around my room- under the crack of my door, past a desk, my twin bed with a mosquito net, behind the bookshelf, then back out the door. However, there are little gecko lizards everywhere. I’m actually fortunate that these are my main animal infestation as they only cause a startle of unexpected movement, at times lose their footing and drop from the ceiling, and scutter away, usually leaving a turd or two behind. I especially realized how fortunate I was after visiting another volunteer who seemingly has 40 pound rats that conduct a nocturnal WWF match in her ceiling.
My lizards like to hang out on my windowsill, my desk, walls, and specifically my pit latrine. My pit latrine is about 30 feet from my house and as accustomed as I’ve become to squatting over a hole (although the female anatomy makes multi-tasking difficult) I still can’t get used to other inhabitants in there while I’m trying to take care of business. So I usually attempt to chase the lizards up the wall or out the door before I’m willing to drop trou. Everyday, it has been a showdown with me and a specific lizard that has no tail, I’ve come to nickname Ekilema (ech-ee-lay-mah)- which means an animal without an appendage. Ekilema scatters around my latrine while I make threatening advances, attempting to chase it out.
Today was no different- there sat the lizard in front of the hole, and there stood I with a full bladder. I took a step into the 5ft x 5ft room with the center hole and Ekilema took a step towards me, blocking my destination. I clapped- the creature blinked. I stomped, the lizard spun in a circle. I stomped again, the lizard stuck its tongue out at me. Frustrated, and with a full bladder, I banged the door. Ekilema spun again, then in one fatal mistake- perhaps related to the missing tale, ran straight at the hole, landing with a thud 20 feet down to the bottom of my latrine. RIP, Ekilame- Rest In Piss.