Night in the Bush

Last weekend I spent a night in the bush at a friend's house. He had invited me to stay at his house with his family. I enjoyed it very much. He has a solar panel that powers a battery so we listened to music and watched the kids dance for a while. They all love to dance and sing. I also helped him get the bricks we made earlier this summer ready to be burned. We piled firewood in the ovens. It was big work because it takes a lot of wood to fill those ovens.
That same weekend the local church was dedicating their new church building so as it was getting dark we walked to the church to see how preparations were going. The church is on a little hill and it was a beautiful view to watch the sun set. The ladies were all busy cooking that night in order to be ready for all the people the next day. Also the church was decorated beautifully.
His house is a little three- roomed house. It has a no lights, no running water, no plumbing, yet it was very comfortable. If one has to use the toilet, just wander off in the bush a little ways and take care of business. I stayed in the room with the plow, pig feed, and the mealie meal, but the bed itself was very nice and I slept nicely. I was served nshima, bread, eggs with tomatoes, and beef intestines. It was all pretty good; yet a little chewy.
Sunday morning we all woke up around 6 am. It was a little cool so we all sat around the fire that had been started by his wife, to try to warm up. We just sat and talked, played with the kids, and I even got to help feed the baby some “baby food.”
It was a great experience and I think I will try it again some time. One thing that really surprised me was the number of visitors that came by the house. They all would be invited in and treated very kindly. Even at 6 in the morning visitors were there and treated very warmly. It is different than what I am used to, and I enjoyed every second of it.