Well, the fasting is finally over! Today is the day for sharing food with friends and family. Nazo usually sends a portion of whatever his wife cooks to us. That is so very sweet! In the past it has always been rice balls with peanut butter soup. They over cook the rice on purpose and then stir it until it becomes thick enough to make a ball about the size of a baseball. Rice balls are not our favorite; it just seems wrong to have one big stiff ball of rice instead of individual flakes of rice but I am not complaining; we have never failed to eat whatever is sent. But today we were pleasantly surprised that she made Banku, my personal favorite! Banku is a fermented corn dough ball. Today she made peanut soup to go with it that had little bits of goat meat in it. It was delicious! The Banku was extra sour which I love! I think that it was extra sour because it has to be prepared several days ahead of time so it can ferment. Remember everyone was preparing for Ramadan to finish yesterday instead of today so I think that gave the corn an extra day of fermentation. Lucky Me! Traditionally the receiver of the gift is to send a gift back to the family that shared the food. We sent Amina, Nazo’s wife a monetary gift and we sent the kids a bag of chewing gum and a bag of mangos. We know the kids enjoyed the chewing gum and mangoes.
Steve had to replace one of the security lights; it is the one on the pole at the front gate. He had to make 2 trips to town to get the correct fixture. The bulb cannot be changed in the light; the whole thing has to be taken down and rewired. It is working now! Oh! Speaking of working! The new breaker Steve wired for the air conditioner yesterday seems to be working fine. We are happy that there was nothing wrong with the unit.
The termites have started swarming! These are the big edible termites. We expect that even more will swarm after the next big rain. They are a great source of protein for the people; especially the children. Some of the old ladies in the market roast and sell them. They are usually eaten as a snack but they can be ground and put into soup.
The town was bare this morning when we went for our walk because it was time for the morning prayers and since this is such a big holiday for the Muslims everyone was at the mosque. There were hundreds and hundreds of people at the mosque near the mission house but by the time we walked back to the house to get my camera, prayer time was over.
We spent almost the whole day working on the books, entering receipts and paying the workers taxes online. Things were actually a little easier for us today so maybe we are getting the hang of the system!
Please keep us in your prayers!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
