Sasaa,
We have taken somewhat of a break from humanitarian work for a while and have spent some time indulging in culture and spending time with the family. In this e-mail, I'd like to share some of the interesting things
we have done since Mombasa.
On Friday, November 30th, Ann's brother Kamau got married to Doris.
Well....they were actually already married and have two kids; but they
were tribally married. Here in Kenya, people have two weddings. The
first wedding is tribal and honors the traditions of each person's
tribe. For instance, if the tribe is Kikuyu, one of the traditions is to
have the bride and several other female friends/family members cover
themselves from head to toe. The groom must then pick which woman is his bride, paying a fine (and receiving years and years of torment) if he is wrong. These tribal weddings usually involve the exchange of dowries.
The second type of wedding (and the one that was held this day) was a
church wedding. It seemed like any other Catholic wedding, only I had no
idea what was being said, since the ceremony was in Swahili. One of the
interesting events following the ceremony was the arrival at the
reception. We had the privilege of spending a great deal of the day with
the wedding party, and thus got to bear witness to a tribal tradition.
As the train of cars pulled into the parking lot at the hotel, the
wedding party was greeted by 50 female Kikuyu family and friends who
sang and danced and ushered the whole party into the reception hall. It
was quite a sight to see. The remainder of the day was filled with food
and partying. At the buffet dinner, I got my first chance to eat grilled
and roasted goat meat (which is actually pretty good) and soup made from the goat's stomach and intestines (which is actually pretty terrible).
I'd like to insert an aside about eating goats. The highest honor a
person can receive is having a goat slaughtered for them (as will happen with Ann by her grandfather at the end of this month). Each person, depending on their societal status, has a designated part to eat. It varies from tribe to tribe a little, but from what I was told: the
uncircumcised boys and girls get the spine/back meat; the women get the kidneys, liver, intestines and other soft innards; the men get the legs, ribs and other prime parts. The head is taken and the hair is burned off, and it (eyes, tongue, brain and all) are boiled and made into a soup for the men. From what I am told, the head-soup is far better tasting than the gut-soup. We'll see in a couple weeks......
On the following Sunday, the household took a trip to the cultural
center Bomas of Kenya, which is on the outskirts of town near a national park. In the parking lot we saw very large, wild baboons setting off car alarms as they jumped on the hoods (which was hilarious, especially when June went chasing after them trying to snap a picture). On Saturdays and Sundays in the auditorium, Bomas has African drumming and dance from several tribes, which was incredible. Following that we walked around the grounds, where they have built mock tribal villages. We saw how each tribe traditionally builds their huts and lays out their plot of land.
The man has his own hut, as do the male children and each wife (yes,
polygamy is still in practice here, although not as common as it used to
be).
Following this fun afternoon, June and Stephanie graciously treated
everyone to dinner at a restaurant called Carnivore. Rated as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, it was an experience unto itself. For a set price, including appetizers, main courses and all-you-can-eat
desserts, this was a gluttonous experience. For any of you back home
that have been to Tucano's Brazilian grill, the layout of the meal was
similar. You start with appetizers and bread. Then the table is cleared,
a tray is brought out with a variety of salads and sauces for meats. On
top of the tray is a flag. As long as the flag is raised, men with
grilled meat on skewers will come around to your table, cutting off a
slice for whoever wants to try. The meats we consumed were: pork chops, pork sausage, beef, beef sausage, chicken, turkey, lamb chops and fillet, ostrich meatballs and fillet, and crocodile tail. The latter two
meats being by far the most exotic, were incredibly delicious. Crocodile tastes kind of like fish, and ostrich has a unique taste that can't really be compared to anything. With our tummy's stuffed to the brim with meat, we called it a night.
Following the weekend of fun, June did some work with the local Catholic center and reported back some very intriguing findings. This center has many programs, many of which are NOT funded by the Catholic church, but are instead funded by donations. There is a Voluntary Counseling and
Testing Center as well as a support group for HIV/AIDS. The sister in
charge of this program also visits homes of bed-ridden HIV/AIDS victims
to provide home support. There is an orphanage and a school. There is
also a refugee support group. A few of these programs were on hiatus for the holidays (the VCT center, home counseling and orphanage are not on hiatus). One afternoon, June was invited to see another special program which she said was horrifying. This program meets in the city every weekday and provides support to a group of street boys. One of the big problems with street boys in Nairobi is that almost every one of them sniffs glue-soaked rags. The boys in this program are fed a chunk of bread and given some juice (which provides the only food most of them get) and are taught to read and write. If any of them can stay off glue for 1 year, they can move into the orphanage, but many of them sniff glue right in front of the sister. I really want to spend some time
visiting each of these programs.
Last night, Stephanie and June left to return home. The night before, at their going-away party, they were able to convince the family to perform some traditional Kikuyu dances, in which we all partook. We also ate their favorite African foods and watched a slide show of our favorite pictures from the last 5 weeks (which I assembled). The house has been quiet since they left, though in 24 hours, Ann and Marica will arrive.
That's all for now. I hope everything is well, and I wish you all a
festive and happy holiday season. | 
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