Jerry Fish & Grilled Goat

December 25th, 2008

Christmas Njema (Merry Christmas in Swahili) Today we got up early to have a party on the beach with the orphans from Umuma (the local orphanage here). Everyone had lots of fun. I brought bubbles from home which the kids loved, including the older kids. The bubbles ended up having a dual purpose when I saw all the kids with heads full of bubbles, they were using the bubbles as shampoo in the ocean. Some of the kids kept coming up to me with shells and saying, “chakula” which is food in Swahili, then one little girl proceeded to eat the entire shell! I realized they were eating the sea slugs and hermit crabs and some of them would just eat the entire shell. Around here everyone flip flops there r’s and l’s, so jelly fish are called, “jerry fish” and one of the unlucky volunteers got a terrible sting and had to go to the hospital today.

After the beach, we took all of the kids back to our house for roasted goat, veggies, grilled bananas and coca-cola which is a huge treat. I noticed after lunch all of the kids were wrapping up any leftover food in napkins, so we got them aluminum foil and gave them tons of leftovers. Normally, these poor kids only get ugali (a local staple which is like porridge, but has very little nutrients.) After lunch was dance party time and those kids could get down and they were loving the music. It was really fun.

So, last night I woke up to tons of smoke and an awful smell pouring through my mosquito net. There was a steady stream of smoke coming in my window right into my face and smelled like burning hair. I thought the place next door was on fire and went running outside. Well, there was Tumes the night security guard grilling a chicken (feathers and all) right outside my window. He exclaimed with a huge smile, “I cook kuku!” It was 3 in morning and he kindly offered me some black chicken. Anyway, I had to wait out the cooking before going back to bed…..