First thing this morning we went out to Kulkpeni to greet the family of one of the chief’s elders that died last year. He actually died while we were working on the wall. The custom with the Konkomba’s (Timothy Niligrini’s tribe) is that they bury the person as soon as they die, then on either the 3rd or 4th day depending upon whether it is a man or a woman, the family will have the first funeral. Later, the family will have the final funeral. This funeral is performed when the family has gathered enough funds to buy a pig, cow, sheep or goat depending upon the wealth of the family; they could kill several animals. The final funeral can be performed at any time; some families have to wait 4,5,6 years to be able to finance the final funeral. Many times, the village will have an annual celebration where many families will perform the final funeral during the same week. The funeral lasts for several days; the people drum and dance all night. People come from far and near. One of the days is the meat sharing day. The animals that are slaughtered are laid out on display; everyone that comes to the funeral will go from house to house to collect the raw meat. It is like trick or treat with meat! Mind you, there is no refrigeration! To keep the flies at bay the meat is placed on aluminum roofing sheets over a smoky fire. If the family runs out of meat, they will have to slaughter something else. We went to the funeral as early as possible this morning to beat the crowd. By dark tonight, there will be so many people in the village that you cannot move. Everyone wants to get their share of the meat! The funerals are killing these people! We paid our respects; left a monetary gift for the Chief, the elders, the man that led us to the chief, the family of the deceased, and the widows. We were able to get in and out before the crowd started gathering. The Chief told us that if we would just wait a little while he would give us some meat. We did not want the meat but we could not refuse. He told us that he would send it over to Timothy’s house. We liked that plan. We told Timothy that when the meat arrived that he could have it to share with his family. He was happy to get the meat.
This afternoon Steve got the truck ready for our long trip tomorrow. We will be taking the church a bench; Steve got it tied in the back of the truck. He has checked the truck for water, oil, made sure the spare tire is up, the jack and spare are in along with the tool bag and extra jerry can of water.
Steve spent part of the morning working on the monthly report. I did a little sewing. As promised, Mr. Oldman’s daughter brought the liquid soap to the mission house. Her sister has started selling meat pies; we are going to have to support her business too. When the workers all get back to work, we will call and order fresh meat pies for us to enjoy. It would be unfair to support one of the girls without supporting the other. The girls are in their 20’s and Mr. Oldman just had a new baby!
Take care and please keep us and the work in your prayers.
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Fried eggplant was on the menu for supper so I got to enjoy them raw and fried. I think that I prefer them fried! They are good raw and Mom did well by putting a little sprinkle of salt on mine; I guess she thought I could use a little extra salt because it was very hot here today. The high temperature was 102 degrees with a heat index of 106. I need more water than I do salt but it sure made the eggplant taste good!
Donkey came to work today even though he was not supposed to because today is his holiday for Good Friday. He said that he did not understand that he was not supposed to come to work; just between us, he does not have the sharpest mind! I think that he just wanted to come to work today so that he would get a little extra pocket money. I enjoyed him being here because Mom put me on my leash at the back of the house and I could watch him work. I like Donkey; I have known him for years but I don’t think he knows my name because he always calls me “Friend”!
Love, Friend-Skeeter
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