Nomadic Chameleon: The Morning of the Big Day

In February of 2011 when we had suspended construction in Ilkiloret, it seemed we would never see this day. But on Feb. 9, 2012 we officially opened the Ilkiloret Adult Education Centre!

I was up early and had a brisk shower before hurrying off to the school. I started by cleaning the windows. The insides get dirty from the dust that plows in when we open the windows. The outside gets dirty from the school children who press their noses and fingers and foreheads against the glass when they pass by the building. I swept the floors and then went out to photograph some of the preparations.

On my way to check out the slaughtering of not one, not two, but five goats, I noticed there was some activity at my house. Some fundis has removed an end wall of our house!
Rebeka said, “We add room for you.”
“Sweet!” I said. “I’ll bring a bed.”
“Good,” she said.
Done deal.

Temporary housing means that repairs and additions can be made quickly!

I left for school a little before 8a.m., when I came home to investigate around 9:30 this is what I found.

My new room sans floor...hey, cement is a project in and of itself! No worries it will be ready before I arrive with my bed next Wednesday!

Then I headed over to check out the slaughtering of the goats. I’m a farm kid, but slaughtering has never been one of my favorite events on the farm. Adult learners Steven and Paul were doing the slaughtering when I arrived. Number one goat was history, already skinned even. His head was hanging in a tree! I saw his stomach contents emptied, some parts of him consumed alfresco, Number two’s throat was cut while I was there, then they drained it’s blood into a blue jug that I’m sure I’ve drunk porridge out of on occasion.

Goat number one had already met its demise when I arrived on the scene.

Goat number one was a rather handsome fellow don't you agree?

Paul and Stephen have some mad butchering skills... the Masai are so humane in their methods. I want to learn more about how they learn these skills and other traditions of the Masai.

I didn't actually see anybody drink this blood so I don't know exactly what was done with it...another question for Janet. I did see Stephen cut out a part of the goat and give it to another guy who popped it right in his mouth. Num?

Stephen extracted some part of the goat and smiled and started walking quickly toward me so I vacated the goat slaughtering area and made for the makeshift kitchen behind the school.

A bladder maybe...Stephen was pretty intent on me touching it..."soft" he said. I said no thank you. I'm brave. I really am.

This is much more my speed. Mashed potatoes, tea, and a boiling caldron of I don’t know what all supersized for the event.

Mashing the taters.

Not sure what was in here, but this is the closed real life example I think I've seen of a boiling caldron!

Chapati making in mass fascinates me. Ten packets of flour, oil and water and women up to their elbows mixing the ingredients. I’m convinced these women could do some amazing mass baking – maybe a charcoal oven is in their future. I have so many income generating ideas swimming around in my brain!

Chapati mixing and kneading at this level is a team full contact sport.

Actually it looks kind of fun.

By cooking team is made up of one person making the dough into balls another person rolling it out into a circle and the third frying it over a small three stone fire.

When Rebeka had finished mixing the chapo, she went to wash the floors in the class. Around 10:45 I went to wash some plastic chairs and coordinate getting them from the classroom to under the trees outside. We didn’t think everyone would fit into the classroom. We only use about a third of the chairs for class right now so most of them had not been moved since they came off the lorry. DIRTY!
We got them cleaned and out the door of the class just as the visitors arrived.

Everyone was in their finest attire. Including the White Masai. I had on Masai earrings, necklace, four bracelets and a belt that functioned and a place to carry my camera case. Janet gave me a string of beads that covered my torso like a web. It was awesome! I need one of my own. I think it probably costs a lot it was beautiful!