Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

My first thanksgiving in Kenya was truly an amazing experience and one I will never forget. One day where two cultures come together, people from two different countries, sitting at the same table, sharing one meal. I was in Machakos for the model school and we had just finished our two weeks of teaching and were heading home the day after thanksgiving. We decided to celebrate thanksgiving with the children, share with them a part of our history. We started cooking early, everyone helping. Some arranged the dinning hall while others helped slaughter the turkey and chickens for our feast. Yes, there were no safways or prepackaged turkeys so we had to slaughter our own. I actually stayed to watch since I had never seen it before. As they brought the birds out, I was the one to name them. They were brave birds as they faced their fate. We thanked them for their sacrifice and proceeded to chop their heads off. Back inside, the children were busy getting the dinning hall ready. They picked flowers, made vases, and decorated the table. It was fun to watch them take great care in what they were doing. Although they knew nothing about the holiday, they knew it was special. A volunteer made some apple pies with the children. They ended up putting too much salt and too little sugar. We were hopeful , however, that with a little ice cream, we might be able to fix it. During the day, cooking was spilt up with games of captures the flag( Well, we did tell them we would share everything about this holiday even if it meant football). Mary, one of the trainees, taught some belly dancing and the children and trainees practiced their dance routine and skits for the show that would accompany dinner. I decided for my first thanksgiving in Kenya I would braid my hair Kenyan style and asked one of the girls to do it for me. It started out as 2 girls braiding my hair but soon, one after another started showing up. Another trainee joined the braiding party and even more girls showed up. I felt like I was in a family of monkeys, picking bugs out of each others hair. By the end of the day, the turkey was to tough, the apple pies to salty and we ended up running out of stuffing but we had fun. It was an amazing day filled with sharing of cultures, traditions and laughs. And in the end, isn’t that what counts? Happy thanksgiving!