(Please continue to pray for Mark's safety while in these unsetteling times in Africa. We feel he may not be fully aware of the situation as news media is not being allowed access to the area local news, to our knowledge. Thanks! Judy)
Hey everybody!
So besides the election and the consequential uproar, I've done some really fun and exciting things. For starters, a few days after Ann and Marica arrived, on December 15th, the Carnivore restaurant I mentioned in my last update) held Kikuyu night, featuring food, alcohol and music from the tribe. Since the family was Kikuyu, we hired a matatu for the night and all headed out for great fun. In addition to trying the tribes fermented honey drink (which is nothing like mead), I learned some tribal dances. We returned home around 4am. The following day, a 30-second video clip featuring Ann, Marica and I dancing ended up airing every hour on K24, Kenya's 24-hour news channel (like CNN). Hooray for 15 minutes of fame! If I can get a copy of the video from the station, I'll put it up on YouTube.
On Tuesday the 18th, I returned to Amani Children's home, this time with Ann and Marica. This trip was not nearly as traumatizing as the first visit. I even took time to make friends with Faith, the sweet, disabled little girl whose story I mentioned in Update 2.
The following Thursday we took a YWIDC trip to a small town called Isesini, which is in the Machakos district. A New Mexican named Dr. Angelo Tomedi, of the NGO Global Health Partnerships has supported a health center in this region. The health center is funded in part by a large group of women who weave baskets, handbags and place-mats and sell them at fair-trade prices. Our job was to evaluate how everything at the center was going and report back. Although the center is facing many complicated issues, the trip was fun and informative. It was fascinating to spend 2 days living in such an impoverished area, witnessing their way of life. This region of Kenya is semi-arid (just like most of New Mexico) and thus experiences a lot of drought and the resulting hardships.
On December 24th, we all traveled to Narok, for the holiday. Anns brother-in-law Kosen (who is Masai) is from this area. We were going to be staying at his family's shamba (farm-land) nestled up in a hilly area outside of the town of Narok. Kosen's father owns a great expanse of land. In addition to his large house and cattle-sheds, he has fields=of wheat and corn and a large fruit and vegetable garden. Out beyond these fields, there is a small forest with a seasonal river which runs through it. Beyond the forest there is a field of small rolling hills. All this land fell within the property lines. It was an unimaginably beautiful place. The forest was even inhabited by monkeys and baboons. On Christmas morning, I headed out to the forest with Ben to go watch monkeys in the trees. They swayed too far away to get pictures, but it was still exciting. Besides, what Christmas would be complete without monkeys? We did not, unfortunately, see any baboons.
Christmas in Kenya is really different from the Western world. They don't exchange gifts and the gathering of family is contingent upon on thing - animal slaughter! No roasted/grilled animal meat? No family get together...Usually a goat is slaughtered for special occasions, but the Masai require that a sheep is killed when in-laws visit.
The Masai also have special requirements for killing the animal. Two types of trees must be present and the animal must lay upon a certain type of leaves when it is killed, skinned and gutted. Preparation was made and a sheep was killed. The testicles were taken out and put into a tree near the fire, to be roasted later and given to the uncircumcised boys. As the carcass was being gutted, the kidneys were taken out and eaten raw. I was given a slice of raw kidney and ate it. Raw kidney amazingly tastes like chicken, and it was still warm from the body heat. As parts were removed from the sheep, they were either thrown on the grill or thrown to the dogs (for instance, I witnessed one dog enjoying a full sheep bladder). Throughout the day I was handed pieces of cooked meat to try - ribs, legs, esophagus (which is really crispy and not flavorful). The head was even roasted to be made into a soup (which was made the day after we left, so I had no chance to sample it).
As Christmas wore on, a second sheep was slaughtered, and there was so much roasted meat that it seemed overwhelming. In the evening, everyone gathered in the living room and we watched a movie called "Crazy Safari." The 1970's kung-fu-action-comedy is about an ancient Chinese vampire-mummy that gets lost by his modern ancestors in tribal Africa. Antics ensue. (Could I make something like this up?) I want to start a new Christmas tradition back home, where every year we watch "Crazy Safari!"
So as you can see, the holiday was drastically different, but was still fun. The 26th of December was Boxing Day. We ate a big lunch of more roasted meat and a couple chickens were slaughtered and given to Ann and her brother Kamau as gifts. After that, we returned home in a rainstorm, spotting a herd of giraffe along the muddy highway. The 27th was election day and by now, you all have hopefully read about how that turned out.
Our plan for New Year's was to visit Ann's grandfather and at a slaughtered goat, but unfortunately, due to election violence, we were forced to stay home. All of Ann's siblings gathered here, although Ann was stuck at her aunt's house outside of Nairobi. We had a New Years celebration, with music and impromptu noise makers (pots and spoons), and a punk-rock version of "Auld Lang Syne". I DJ'd all night from my MP3 player and we danced and drank beer and wine. New Year's was a blast, but not quite the same as it is back home.
So that brings us to the here and now. Marica and I have been planning a trip out to Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi to begin this weekend, but currently no bus lines are running because of violence in rural areas of Kenya We might have to re-work our schedule and go at a later time, but we're still playing it by ear.
I hope everyone had a fun and safe Holiday Season!
- Mark |
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