Baby Celebrations

Sorry, it's been a very long time. Our loads of free time for relaxing and visiting friends never happened. It got into exam writing time at school and we also got even more busy supporting the kids' home schooling. Home schooling has turned into a nightmare for me. Though the kids have been a lot happier this year because of it, books from the school have gone astray in the mail and I've had to spend hours at the internet finding the necessary info for them to compl ete their assignments. Maya is working like crazy to get her courses done in time. She'll have to write the grade ten exams in mid-August. Anyway, it's going to make returning to school in Cranbrook seem very easy.

Despite this, we're managing to enjoy our last month here and to enjoy time with our friends as the clock ticks down. People keep mentioning the fact that we'll be leaving soon so I've had to give up the strategy of not thinking about it. It makes me sad to think that I probably won't see o ur friends for a long time, if ever.

The plans for our trip home are pretty well set. We will go to Cairo on July 4th and spend 11 days touring around the country and visiting friends. Then we're off to Britain, where will stay with three different set s of VSO friends as well as staying a few nights with Cheyenne and Shannon, friends from Cranbrook, who are heading home after two years in London. Our flight to Vancouver is on July 29th. We'll spend a week or so with my family, then head to Cranbrook.

It's been baby celebration time the past few weeks. Today, Kim attended the name giving ceremony for Adem's week-old niece. They had lots of good food but it was a man-only affair. But Adem showed up here a little later with a big tray of taita, and goat, potato and rice dishes. It was really good.

Saba is still in the traditional 40 day period of doing little and being looked after completely. Her actual period of doing this lasted only a week. We helped her out a bit, as did other neighbours, bu t she has no family around, so after a week, it was time to get up and get back to daily life. It seemed like a bit of a strange tradition to me at first, but after thinking about it, it makes sense. Women work so hard most of their lives, beginning as young girls. It's nice that after giving birth, they have a short period of rest.

Saba had two of her three baby ceremonies already. The first was the ga:at ceremony (remember, the traditional porridge served with yogurt, rancid butter and chili pepper). This is supposed to be very nourishing for new moms. After a week, the local women come over to make the new mom ga'at. First they get her to carry all her dirty laundry to them and they wash it all up. Then they make the ga'at, sing some songs, eat, and have a coffee ceremony. I was at work for this but Maya got to participate. After work, we ate some ga'at with Saba and it was really nice. Lukas and Simon were furious that such a disgusting dish was chosen for this ceremony, so they chose to stay h ome.

The next ceremony took place on the baby's twelfth day, when he is supposedly ready to go outside for the first time. It was a great celebration. The neighbourhood women came over again and we had another coffee ceremony. Then, they put a funny basket/hat type thing on Saba's head. They lit some reeds on fire and placed them repeatedly on the floor for Saba to step over as she headed outside with the baby. Once outside, they put Kole pencil on one of the baby's eyebrows and drew a cross on his forehead. Then all the local kids who'd joined the celebration got Kole on their eyebrows, as did Saba and I. I was lots of fun.

The next ceremony will be the christening. For this, the family spends a fortune on a goat and loads of food to feed colleagues , friends and neighbours who show up in huge numbers for a feast. It's tons of work and very expensive, so Saba is hoping to find a way to tone it down a bit.

Today was the annual staff versus grade 11 boys soccer game at school. Of course, this is an all male thing, but the women and girls got to watch and got time off school at least. The staff played well, but couldn't keep up with the young, energetic boys, especially in the 37ish degree heat of the late morning. Kim played well and survived without any injuries this time. I'd hoped to organize a volleyball game between the girls and women teachers, but never got around to it. The girls do continue to enjoy the footballs/volleyballs and fight over who gets to use them each recess. The balls are also completely flat after a few months' use. I guess I'll have a good project next year, organizing for balls to be sent so that the girls can continue to enjoy sports at the school.

The intense heat has intensified and the rains have stopped. Water delivery is even less frequent than a month ago but Kim managed to get our cistern filled one night when the water finally arrived, so we should have enough until we leave. Hopefully the rain will come soon though or there won't be a good growing season.

Guess that's all the news for now.

Take care,

Barb