skuku

This week there is another Eid skuku (or holiday), this is the one where every family slaughters a goat, chicken, cow, …..basically if it is alive it better watch out. We saw a pen of about 50 goats and I now truly get the phrase “being led to the slaughter.” I strategically “missed out” on the actually killing but we of course attended everyday we could of the celebration. Anni and I dressed in our party best (thanx again Gma Rho) as all the women and children wear fancy dresses that often match. I must say I do think it is a bit creepy that the little girls also wear makeup, a little too Jon Benet for me. The celebration was very similar to the celebration after Ramadan. This time we knew to bring our mat to sit on and we planned to eat the festival food for dinner. Annikah loves the meat sticks and fried potatoes and we all love the local pizzas that do not resemble pizza at all (they have dough, egg, veggies, mayo, meat, and hot sauce).

“yum, meat on a stick” a fav for both husband & child

Annikah’s main thrill in life was playing in the play area each time we went. Since there are no parks here we always make sure she gets at least 10 minutes to play. She absolutely loves it and I was struck that this time she pushed her way through the line and was running around with the other kids. Only a few months ago she was much more reserved and fearful, now she barrels her way through to stake a claim on the jumpy blow-up thing; hey, it is survival of the fittest with that many kids. We also visited some families to bring gifts this week and we found out that we were on the local TV channel. Some friends of the family we were living with recognized us being interviewed at the last event and said that the TV station replayed it over and over again so I guess we are local celebrities; how hilarious!

“Look, a rarely seen Mzungu in her natural habitat: a park”