Traditions

There have been many things that I have wanted to write about while they are still fresh in my memory and are still a new thing for me. Soon all the first times will become very normal and just apart of everyday life. I keep thinking that Righteous and Nevaeh will not know another way of life. Everything they see they will have nothing to compare to so the things of Kenya truly are their home.
Recently there was a 10th anniversary celebration for a school we help out with. For this big celebration Righteous and I were able to witness two cows being slaughtered. A Muslim man has to cut the throat in the direction of Mecca and right after the slice he has to say a prayer. Now all Muslims are able to eat the meat. We just bought some corned beef and on the outside of the can Halal- which means the cow was slaughtered in the way I just described. I did debate whether or not I would allow Righteous to see this because it seems quite gruesome to me bc the animal is still alive until all the blood is completely drained. The cow kept trying to get up and was making this horrible sound. There were children all around me watching this process so I decided this is something that just apart of the culture so Righteous lives here and I am not going to protect her from culture if I can help it. Later on the health inspector came to check to make sure all the organs were okay for eating so she explained what everything is inside. The next day I actually wasn’t able to eat any bc I had to put the girls down for nap right before they had lunch (they waiting to eat lunch until 2pm). Jason ate the stomach and said it wasn’t cleaned properly but he has eaten it before and usually it has a great taste.

As for two other traditions that we have started and are going to continue- deworming Righteous every six months is one. The liquid actually is sweet already but I just mix it in her juice cup and she drank all of it with no trouble at all. The picture on the box is pretty scary looking with a worm with long sharp teeth. Righteous is just true to her age, putting everything in her mouth- dirt bottles she finds on the ground etc. She will just have to get dewormed regularly because it is impossible to prevent her from keeping her away from these kind of things unless I make her stay inside.

The other tradition is we get our knives sharpened every month now for just 5 shillings. The guy has the process hooked up to his bicycle so when he petals it sharpens.
Lastly I wanted to show the traditional "honey moon suite" to the Somali tribe here. We got to inside and I was impressed how cool it was inside to get away from the hot sun. This little hut can be broken down to be carried on top of a camel. Now that is a very convenient peaceable bedroom!