Elephant Fabric Basket

I bought this fabric basket at the same craft fair where I bought my duck tape pens. 

Unlike those pens, this basket was made by an adult, namely Nicole Tupesis of Nik J Designs.  The one she had on display in her booth was filled with baby diapers, which brought to mind baby elephants and bonding.

Ten years after her husband's death, Daphne Sheldrick, a fourth-generation Kenya-born woman, founded the Nairobi Elephant Nursery to care for orphaned elephants with the goal of eventually releasing them back to the wild.   Orphaned elephants come to the nursery traumatized by what happened to their elephant family, and many of them lack the will to live.  

At first, a three-week old orphan named Aisha thrived on a diet of the Sheldrick milk formula and Daphne's doting care.  Aisha formed an extremely strong bond with Daphne, following her everywhere and rarely letting her out of her sight.  

When Aisha was six months old, Daphne left her in the care of an assistant while she spent two weeks in Nairobi preparing for her daughter's wedding.  While Daphne was gone, Aisha stopped eating and died shortly after Daphne returned home, overcome by grief at losing a mother for the second time.

After this, they switched to a larger human "family", no longer having a single caretaker.  This more closely mimicked the social structure in the wild, and eliminated emotional dependence on just one person.