I Was Named After a Lion
- Geek in a Gi
- Aug 3, 2015
- 3 min read
I was named after an African Lioness rescued from the plains of Zimbabwe after being shot in the hip by illegal fur traders. She pretended to be shot down but then attacked when the hunters came too close. They left her bleeding in the desert.
She was rescued by a family who lived in the area, who took the bullet out and drove all the way to Zambia where the nearest exotic animal care center was. She almost died. After she was recovered from her injury, she was too slow to live in the wild without being attacked by other predators. So she was shipped over to Texas in the United States for proper care in a place called The International Exotic Animal Sanctuary. It was founded in 1988. In 1991, Jenna the Lion was one of their first female Lions in the facility. The family who had rescued her in Zimbabwe had a young boy of about five who had become attached to the lion and had called her the Swahili name “Jelani”, which means, “Full of Strength”, or “Mighty One”. In its traditional form, many people could not pronounce it, so the Veterinarians at the IEAS dumbed it down to Jenna-Lee.
At the time, my father lived in Texas and was majoring in Biomechanics and Physiology. He wanted to see muscle movements beyond the scope of the human and so he went to the IEAS to observe the animals there. Jenna the lion caught his attention. Her eyes were terrifying and stunning. When my Mother moved in with him, he took her to meet Jenna the Lion for their first real date in texas, since they were in a long-distance relationship before. Jenna’s Designated area in IEAS was mostly outdoors, but she also had an indoor portion where she was fed and sometimes taken care of by the veterinarians for her damaged hip. The outdoor portion was grassy and dry, just the Zimbabwe plains she had lived in before. Texas was a perfect fit. It was on their date in Texas that my Mother told my father that she really loved him. Jenna was outside in the grasses and was hard to see, but when my parents kissed, she walked into the indoor portion. My parents looked up after they kissed. Jenna’s huge paw was up against the glass as if to say, “Love.”
I was born some five year later, and I had a lot of hair on my head like a mane. So they named me Jennalee, though they had been planning on naming me Madeleine. I was a happy child. I had my moods as an adolescent, but those self-harm problems were decimals compared to the terror that was about to enter my life. When I was fourteen, I was raped repeatedly on a regular basis by someone I thought loved and respected me. This was the worst pain I have ever been in, both physically and emotionally.I was brainwashed and was soon convinced that I was property, meant to be owned and used at someone else’s dispense.
After eight months of fear, loss, apathy, I became aware. I became Lucid, like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on me that said, “You Are Being Treated Abusively. You Do Not Deserve This.” I was on a Navajo Reservation for a Service Project with the Unitarian Church. My eyes opened with the burn of the Arizona sand. They opened to the truth.
Telling people about the abuse was the scariest thing I have ever done, but I would do it a thousand times over if it could help ease the pain of another Abuse survivor. Some people in my life were too intimidated by this rapid change and dropped out of my life. It was very painful because I loved some of them very, very much; and I did not want them to leave me.
Time passed, the pain became more bearable. I pressed charges against my attacker. But, most importantly, I started Martial Arts. Some could interpret this as “Blaming the Victim,” but for me, Martial Arts is not Blaming the Victim, but rather, Empowering the Survivor. I became more like Jenna the Lion at the IEAS than I ever thought I could become. I was strong, brave, and I felt a fire igniting in my chest. This was Hope. I fought hard. I am still fighting. I am Jenna. I am a Lion.
Jenna the Lion died in 2009 while giving birth to her cub, Ember, who was a healthy female, released back into the wild in Kenya in 2012 as part of National Geographic’s Big Cat Initiative.
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