CoD V.2.4- Happy Thanksgiving!

So it's Thanksgiving weekend! Lindsay actually reminded me, or else I'd probably have forgotten all about it, alas. But I didn't, so it being Thanksgiving, I took the opportunity to invite a few of my closest friends over for a brave attempt at a Canadian Thanksgiving meal. The meal didn't turn out too bad, but it certainly wasn't your typical meal- we had chicken instead of turkey- no turkey around, but chicken's rare enough, so everyone quite enjoyed it (people have chickens here, but they don't often eat them, they either use them for witchcraft, or save them to slaughter for special guests).
I tried to make some homemade stuffing as well, but this being their first time trying it, it didn't go over too well... I made some gravy too, but everyone thought it was porridge, and weren't too keen on it either. And I surprisingly found some peas and carrots in the market, so i opened a can of corn, and we had real peas, carrots and corn! And mashed potatoes to round it off, the vegetables and potatoes were a hit. No pumpkin pie though, was too lazy to make one this time around.
There's everyone digging in.

Food aside though, let me tell you a little about the people I invited, my closer friends here in Mzenga-
Mr Lucas I mentioned before, he's helping me translate the Biblical narrations, and between that and just general hangout time, i end up spending several hours everyday at his dukka (shop, he owns and runs a little shop), and we've become very good friends.
Dekke, Luca and I, quite full by this point. The hair is indeed large, and i haven't shaved the chin in a while either...

Don't think I mentioned Mr Dekke before- Dekke runs the restaurant next to Lucas' dukka. Well, when I say restaurant, it's really a tiny eatery that serves all kinds of drinks from pop to beer to some non-alcoholic malt drink called 'Guinness Malta', which is apparently packed full of vitamin B, but which I have not yet had the privilege of trying out. Anyways, besides the drinks, the only other thing on the menu is chips (french fries), which Dekke serves either plain (like a plate of fries), or in what is called 'chips-maiai' here, chips and eggs. Kinda like the love-child of a Spanish fritata and poutine Quebecois. Basically a frying pan full of fries and oil, into which a couple of beaten eggs are poured. It's usually topped with ketchup and hot sauce, and at 80 cents a plate, it's about the most expensive thing you can get at any local eatery. It's also become Jeremy's favourite meal - he's turned out to be Dekke's most regular customer, eats there several times a week. Anyways, Dekke's become a good friend, and named his first daughter, who was born around a month-and-a-half ago, Silvia, after my mother (again though, L's and R's are interchangeable, so it's fun hearing them pronounce Seerrvya! :P).
I had the opportunity to go visit Dekke's home village a few weeks ago, which was wonderful- we took this bus packed full of chickens, sacks of corn-flour, packages of all sizes, and human beings wherever they'd fit, and 8 hours later we were there. Old people from all over the village came by to check out the foreigner who spoke KiZaramo, 'twas great fun. They even gave me a chicken as a going-away gift, which is huge! (the gesture, not the chicken) My neighbour is raising it for me. I don't think i could kill and eat it, but just in case I haven't named it.There's Dekke, his wife Rose, and their daughter Silvia in Dekke's home village

Finally, I also invited Moi. Moi used to help me out with language last year, but being of the younger generation, his Kizaramo is pretty mixed with Kiswahili, so that didn't work out long-term. He went on to become a great friend though, and his family's kinda adopted me. A couple of weeks ago for Eid-al-Fatr, which marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan, i broke the fast (which I didn't keep) with Moi and his family (it's all good, they didn't keep it either). Sadly, Moi had to go to town again to help his brother in law, so he sent his wife Zaina with his little brother Rajabu as his proxy. Zaina's expecting their first child any day now too! 'Tis the season apparently...
I broke the fast with Moi (above), while Moi's mother, little sister, and sister-in-law ate together (below)

Interesting occurence while we were eating though, just as we began digging in, i heard what sounded like a woman screaming and crying. So Luca looks at Dekke, and they're like, it's an evil spirit, it's possessing someone. So I thought they were joking, while i've had several conversations about evil spirits, i'd never actually seen someone or even heard of someone in this village being possessed. But they were totally serious, apparently there's this girl who's pregnant, and they believe an evil spirit visits her every once in a while- she starts speaking in a strange voice, hitting herself (including her belly), and can pick up burning coal, but neither the hitting nor the coal does her any harm. So i wanted to go see the girl, who apparently lives a few houses down (she was screaming), but they wouldn't let me leave the house, and way before the meal was over the screaming stopped (she wasn't saying anything that made sense), so they're like, it's no use going now, go another time, the spirit's gone. So is this empty superstition that blinds them, or serious spiritual oppression that western minds are so sceptical of? I haven't seen it for myself yet, but either way, lots of need for prayer. Please pray!
Jeremy in the meanwhile was away from the village, he went with Tim to visit this other village to check out some wells and filters. Missed out!