Africa……The coolest experience

While visiting with the ladies in the first village, we began to hear the drums.  We happened to be sitting very close to the area where we would have the musical extravaganza!  The men were warming up their drums, using fire to heat the skins, so they would be louder.  Penda informed us that we needed to go to the area where the drummers were gathering.  We walked over and they had brought us benches and chairs to sit in.  While we were sitting, listening, I was wondering where the rest of our group was at and if they were coming!  The group kept growing and growing and formed a circle.  More of our group kept coming and then we were informed that the dancers were coming up!

Jason was no where to be found.  He had the camera and the video, so I was hoping he would show up sooner than later!  He was sharing Jesus with a family in a hut, much farther from the group!  He showed up about 45 minutes after I did, so he missed a lot of the actions.

Back to the dancers!  They were actually men, dressed as women and one had a mask on.  Not really sure about the cultural significance of them dressing as women is, but I do know that many follow the traditional African folk religion, which includes a lot of superstition, voodoo, black magic, and the use of festishes.  A fetish is anything that the “fetisher” puts a special power on.  Many of the babies had a string tied loosely around their bellies.  This was a fetish that the mom’s used to ward off evil spirits, or so is thier belief.  Masks are often used in ceremonies and are often a fetish.  Sacrifice is still practiced in many villages, as well, usually of an animal.  D did tell me that she has heard of some child sacrfice still occurring in some places.  Mind blowing, isn’t it?

The drums were amazing, no doubt.  Then the two dancers started and it was one of those moments I will never forget.  I thought to myself, “I am in Africa, experiencing something purely African in nature.”  This was experiencing their culture, thier traditions and something that has been passed down for thousands of years.  Absolutely amazing.

I loved every minute of it, especially when they started getting our group up there to dance.  Scott when first and it was funny, to say the least.  They eventually got most of us up there, and our whiteness truly showed!  The villagers would clap, laugh and grin from ear to ear!

After they were done, our guys got up and played some worship songs using the guitar and ukele.  It was really cool, just thinking that praises to the Father were being lifted up in a place where that has probably never happened.  I loved it.  Then, Morey would translate what the song was about.

Next, we presented them with our gifts- soccer balls and machetes.  They were gratefully accepted.

One small section of people watching the musical extravaganza

The dancers, pure African style

The danced so hard, they wore out fast in the 95 degree weather.

One of the drummers.

Our group singing worship songs in the village. I loved hearing and singing praises to Jesus, in a place where that has probably never happened!

At this point, I thought it was time to go and after the emotional beating I had taken, I was okay with that.  But, that was not to be.

We headed back to the chief’s hut and met with him and the elders. We basically went through the whole greeting sequence again, but with goodbyes.  He informed us that he was having a meal prepared for us.  At this point, I started praying and taking deep breathes.

I will admit, I was terrified of getting sick.  Which would make Africa a weird choice for travel, huh?  I had prayed for weeks for health.  I am not normally a huge germaphobe, but in Africa, I really struggled.  I think there is a balance between being smart and taking precautions and letting the fear overwhelm you.  I was more on the fear side of the spectrum.

We waited about 30 more minutes for the food. All the while, my mind was racing, we had people pressed upon us, it was 95 degrees  and I was anxious about getting back to the bridge, of not being able to cross, is some child going to go hungry because I am eating their food, and the list goes on and on.  Basically, I was overwhelmed, panicky, and Satan was having a field day with me in the middle of an African village and I was letting him.  I finally got up and moved away from the group for a minute to get a breather.

We went to a different home for the meal.  They had prepared rice, a sauce and fish.  The Africa style is to eat out of a common bowl, using your hands.  We passed around the antibacterial wipes, Purell,  prayed and dug in.  Dug in might be a bit of an exaggeration for me, but I did take some bites of rice and sauce.  It was pretty good.

This is the group of elders and the chief

Waiting to eat....

MC and Penda added the sauce to the rice for us.. They gave us so much rice to eat. Very humbling. Just to prove I did eat some of the rice...