I recently met a Kenyan girl who is the same age as me and lives in my village. We have started to form a friendship and I enjoy walking to her house to sit down for coffee and talk about culture. She is just as curious of my American traditions as I am of hers. One day she was walking me home and we could hear a thunderstorm in the distance. She asked me if I was afraid of the thunder. I said no, but asked her what there was to be afraid of. She went on to explain that the Luo tribe believes that thunder isn’t just a noise, but it takes the physical shape of a giant rooster the size of a house that can attack you or set your house on fire. She also worried about me as I walked the rest of the way home because I was wearing my ONLY rain jacket which ironically happens to be red. She told me that lightning would strike me if I was wearing red. Luckily I made it home safely without being struck by lightning or meeting the thunder along my way.
Another day we bought pears in the market and after washing them I started eating mine right away. My friend Julianne turned to me and asked if I was afraid someone would see me. Worried that I had mistakenly done something culturally inappropriate I asked her what was wrong with eating fruits or foods in general in public. She told me that some people are witches and if they see you eating they will curse your food, your stomach will start to swell and you could get very sick. Glad that I hadn’t outright offended anyone, I told her I didn’t believe in witches and finished my pear on the way back home. I haven’t been cursed yet…
Another day I was on my way to one of our youth group meetings with Sister Tina, which is always a terrifying experience. Sister Tina is a 5 foot nothing nun who can’t drive in reverse and who stalls the car at least twice each time we are out driving. Every Saturday we venture out to a different rural youth group which generally means me and Tina off-roading in the tiny car for at least 45 minutes on “roads” (or should I say hiking trails) that were not made for cars. At this particular youth group last week we were fielding questions about puberty when a small girl asked “is it ok for me to slaughter a chicken before my period is about to start?” How do you answer that question!?!? We asked one of the adults to explain and the belief is that if a girl or womans’ period is about to start in the next day or so, if she slaughters a chicken the blood will start to flow out of her lady parts like the blood flowing out of the slaughtered chicken’s neck. What a terrifying image!
Culture can be a funny thing and it definitely keeps my life interesting.
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