Caught in the Act

-Mahindi na Msalaba-

"The guest is taking pictures of the corn."

I heard this phrase in Swahili as I was crouched down in a courtyard of the Pastor's house in the village of Image - lining up camera, cross, and corn. I also heard the subsequent giggles of laughter and saw, out of the corner of my eye, a series of heads darting in and out of the kitchen door off on the left.

I wasn't sure how to respond. While pretty good, my Swahili skills aren't quite up to the level where I could explain that the photo I was trying to take could be an excellent tool to teach people at home things about village life in Iringa Region:

+ It illustrates that corn is one of the primary food crops and is a key component in the ubiquitous dish known as ugali -essentially a tasteless corn paste you mix with various veggies. Possibly even good with cucumbers.

+ The courtyard setting is a talking point for the way in which houses are arranged and used. Enclosed sitting and sleeping rooms are at the front where guests are received and entertained. Walking through that one comes to the heart of the house -the courtyard- where all sorts of activities take place: corn is dried, meals are cooked, and animals are sheltered at night [to which my friends Michelle and Kavita can both attest]. Surrounding the courtyard is the choo/bathroom [from which I was discretely coming], the jikoni/kitchen [in which the women were laughing], and a door to the outside [through which the picture is looking].

+ Furthermore, the cross in the background could be used in any number of deep and meaningful reflections or sermon illustrations for those so inclined. Even in an impoverished, subsistence economy, congregation members donate their valuable food-stuffs to the Church for its work in the World.

No. Rather than attempt to explain all of that, I squatted ignorantly

The butt of the joking and laughing.

Just another wacky mzungu.