Fire!

Last Saturday night, the flat in our compound caught fire. We were out so the watchmen ran to the nearest neighbour to set off the alarm. From there the women in each boma set off a chain of loud ‘uuueee’ sounds from boma to boma. About 100 neighbours came running in with their buckets and formed a human chain from the pond to put out the fire.



But for them, the whole flat would have burnt out. In fact, no personal items were destroyed, no-one was hurt and we were overwhelmed by the care of our neighbours.

On Tuesday we went to market and bought a bull, 50 kilos of rice, tomatoes and onions, crates and crates of sodas and today we had a feast to say thank you.

A Muslim was invited in to slaughter the animal in order that neighbours of every faith could eat it, and then the Maasai took over.



The men arrived early to keep an eye on the meat!



Several women came in to help with the cooking.



And when the rice and ‘soupu’ (stew) was finished and the thank yous had been said, the roasted meat was brought out for the elders.



It seemed that this was the bit they had all been waiting for!



Everyone left happy, neighbourly relationships were cemented and our dogs are still licking their lips!