Thanksgiving in Kenya

The past Sunday was our makeshift Thanksgiving dinner and it turned out really well. A group of volunteers appointed as the "Thanksgiving committee" went to Nairobi and purchased a lot of great stuff to make a Thanksgiving dinner. The spread was impressive with Mac n' Cheese, Green Bean Casserole, and even a Turkey with stuffing. We even started the morning with a game of American Football using a real life completely deflated football with a hole in it we found in storage at the pastoral center, so all in all it was a good day.

I definitely won't think about Thanksgiving the same again, especially because I came by the pastoral center early to check out the Turkey we bought only to find out that it was locked in a utility shed and still alive. As I opened the door to look at the Turkey it flapped its wings at me furiously. Anne, one of the only other volunteers around that early, was discouraged, because the turkey that we thought would be killed, prepared, and ready to cook, needed to be basting in an oven instead of flapping around in the storage shed. Therefore, in a courageous moment, we wrestled the Turkey down with a tarp, tied its legs together with a rope, and I sawed of its neck with a kitchen knife. It was about the most disturbing thing I've even had to do, and the knife, my hands, and my shoes were covered with blood, but I hope things were fairly quick and relatively painless for Tom turkey. Also, the turkey was fantastic, although I'll definitely appreciate buying a turkey that has been pre-slaughtered next time.

If the great Thanksgiving food wasn't enough our group went back to the Muslims house again for lunch and we were treated to Biriani, which is a Swahili dish I definitely need to learn how to cook. Afterwards we sat down and watched the Lion King. I hope to visit the Muslims again before I leave, I feel completely spoiled every time I'm there. Only a few minutes left so I need to be fast, but in less that a week I'll be sworn in as an official volunteer and soon after I'll be onsite. Training is coming to a close and I've got my Swahili exam coming up, where I am required to be at "Intermediate Low", which I don't think will be a problem since I can somewhat hold a conversation with my host family. Also, Kitui has become a nice place to be now that the rains are here and everything has changed from barren and dry to green, but the hard rains every night keep me awake, especially since I keep waking up with water dripping through the roof onto my head.

Oh, and the Chungwa (Orange) vote (no change to the current constitution) won. This is a good thing because it seems that the current draft was tailored more towards the president's preferences than the people, and I'm optimistic a new draft will be created that will be a better compromise. Also, with nothing really changing right now concerning the laws of the country I'm in a better position to be traveling and moving to a new site, which is almost 100% chungwa anyway.

I'll write more soon if the Internet continues to work, but need to get this posted before it disconnects me for the 5th time today. Happy Turkey Day to everyone back home!