EnockTheeFirst
Lister
Those who grew up in the villages, in the 80s recall there was a ritual we performed before going to bed, every night. We'd go to the three stones fireplace to bury the embers in the ash
The following day, the first thing in the morning would be to exhume the ashes and check for anything red. We'd then add some tiny chopped sticks, kneel down to blow air on it, and there the flames brought life to the kitchen again
From there a liquid made of water, rumours of milk and rumours of sugar could be boiled to keep the stomach warm as the future hoof eater dashes to school, barefoot. The liquid was 99.99% water and the other ingredients share the remaining 0.001%
If the burial wasn't done expertly, you wake up to find the ashes as cold as the belly of a python, also called "ng'ielno ja dolre" in dholuo. That way you don't tell anyone, you simply bath your legs, below the knees and your face, and go to school. The other body parts can wait for Christmas or when the son of man will be rained on, whichever comes first, to come into contact with any water
When lunch time comes you sprint home to check what the three stones has for your stomach. At times you find the stones too cold, an indication that nothing has happened there
At that point the guava tree came in handy. You become a monkey for ten minutes, eat to your fill, carry some in your pocket, for your fellow starving schoolmates and then take off to school
The magical three stones defined life. They were known to bring back the brat who refused to bath and or to be canned and instead run away from home
Those were the good old days, when we never had any IT expert and the most sophisticated man in the village was the "hoctimus" specialist. This was the village name of a presure lamp, a gizmo of those days
The "hoctimus" operator,was the only man in the village who could light that pressure lamp. He would arrive like governor Oparanya arrives for a funeral, latter than everyone, latter than expected and with a group of clowns as bodyguards, protecting him from imaginary enemies
Those born after devolution have no clue what I am talking about. It will be hard for them to comprehend that we used a self made kerosene tin lamp, which was easy to switch off as all you had to do was to raise one leg up, and while the blanket goes down, so goes off the flame. That was the "bed switch".
Great night my fellow hoof-Earters!!!
The following day, the first thing in the morning would be to exhume the ashes and check for anything red. We'd then add some tiny chopped sticks, kneel down to blow air on it, and there the flames brought life to the kitchen again
From there a liquid made of water, rumours of milk and rumours of sugar could be boiled to keep the stomach warm as the future hoof eater dashes to school, barefoot. The liquid was 99.99% water and the other ingredients share the remaining 0.001%
If the burial wasn't done expertly, you wake up to find the ashes as cold as the belly of a python, also called "ng'ielno ja dolre" in dholuo. That way you don't tell anyone, you simply bath your legs, below the knees and your face, and go to school. The other body parts can wait for Christmas or when the son of man will be rained on, whichever comes first, to come into contact with any water
When lunch time comes you sprint home to check what the three stones has for your stomach. At times you find the stones too cold, an indication that nothing has happened there
At that point the guava tree came in handy. You become a monkey for ten minutes, eat to your fill, carry some in your pocket, for your fellow starving schoolmates and then take off to school
The magical three stones defined life. They were known to bring back the brat who refused to bath and or to be canned and instead run away from home
Those were the good old days, when we never had any IT expert and the most sophisticated man in the village was the "hoctimus" specialist. This was the village name of a presure lamp, a gizmo of those days
The "hoctimus" operator,was the only man in the village who could light that pressure lamp. He would arrive like governor Oparanya arrives for a funeral, latter than everyone, latter than expected and with a group of clowns as bodyguards, protecting him from imaginary enemies
Those born after devolution have no clue what I am talking about. It will be hard for them to comprehend that we used a self made kerosene tin lamp, which was easy to switch off as all you had to do was to raise one leg up, and while the blanket goes down, so goes off the flame. That was the "bed switch".
Great night my fellow hoof-Earters!!!
