I got the privilege of hanging out with my neighbor all day last Saturday as she taught me how to prepare chébou jen; a local dish here. It is a dish served with either brown or red rice(rice that is cooked with tomato paste), fish and vegetables. We went to the market together from 9:30 till 10:15am. Then we walked to her house about a 15 minute walk away. We said hi to many of her friends and family along the way. When we got to her home she introduced me to her family and got me a change of clothes to work in. Her home was open in the middle with rooms to the right of an open courtyard. The kitchen was on the left of the courtyard. It was in a small cement building that had a storage closet and a stand pipe (for water) outside the building. The kitchen consisted of a broken fridge, a big cabinet and a stove with many wooden stools stacked in between the fridge and the cabinet. We sat down on wooden stools and started preparing the meal. It was fun to work along side of her and to learn how she did things. Because she doesn’t have sink in her kitchen we used basins that we put on the floor as we peeled and cut the vegetables. She made many trips to the pipe outside to get water in the basins to wash the food. The preparation took us all morning and afternoon. In between the different steps we watched our kids, she cleaned the house and we did dishes together.
Watching young kids included settling disputes over toys, keeping them entertained, and teaching my kids how to go potty on a squatty potty or in a bowl for the first time. Kids under 3 are not disciplined much here because they say that this will make them “hard ears”(stubborn or insolent) afterwards. After age 5 the kids here are so well behaved but until then we need to have patience with them. This was a little challenging when a little boy is trying to pull your kids off a play horse or hitting them. Or when he totally disobeys his mom and throws things at her. But I just need to remember it is only for a time. The older kids take great care of the younger kids and serve and obey their parents well.
When the meal was almost done she had her prayer time and so did the grandma of the house and the oldest boy (he was probably 8 years old). Grace asked him what he was singing. He said he wasn’t singing, he was praying. They then all took a bucket shower and changed their clothes before lunch. After the food was cooked she put it into several different bowls and platters for her family. She sent platters to her husband and brother in law at their boutiques. Other platters were for her aged mother in law, (she ate separately), one for Jacob and one for us. In her home, she cooks a few days a week and her sister in law cooks the other days of the week for their extended family. We then all sat around a mat and ate lunch together around one platter of food. After cleaning up and doing the dishes. We headed home. It was 4pm as we walked home. It was a great day of seeing how my friend lives, asking her questions about multiple topics, learning how to cook this meal and having our kids play together. Thank you God for the privilege of being here and for bringing me friends.
Nathan says
Louez le Seigneur! I am so glad to hear of how God is giving you guys good friendships there so that not only can you all be a blessing to the people there, but also you receive a blessing of companionship and further cultural learning opportunities. 🙂