Roast Goat & Campfires

If you are reading this and you have a leather belt within arms length, then I suggest that you take it in your mouth, bite a strip off and chew until it is palatable for you to swallow.

Have you done it yet?

If you have, then you will have some idea of how good it is to eat roast goat ribs.

The Boys Brigade group that are with us had set up their tents in the afternoon in preparation for a lovely evening of camping. The group had brought a number of extra tents, which meant that boys from Kibos and Mamboleo and some who have moved out and begun to make their own way in life could also enjoy an evening under canvas. This made for much excitement around the camp (and much discussion along the lines of “how many boys do you think we could fit in that large tent??”). There is, apparently, nothing quite like the smell of a campfire, the wind in your hair, an amazing starry sky and a sumptuous barbeque. Ok, well three out of four wasn’t bad.

I think some people enjoy it, but I have never got on with goat meat. It doesn’t matter how it is cooked it has a texture that feels like it is trying to the uttermost to blunt my teeth. On the plus side, it is one of the few foods that must require the expending of more calories than it gives you, such is the effort on ones jaws.

I hope this isn’t being ungrateful, because many people had spent a long time preparing the goat as a special celebration of the evenings camping. It was accompanied by Lorine’s lovely and Matt’s slightly misshapen chapattis and a fabulous salad of red onions, capsicum, tomato and coriander leaves.

We had enjoyed an entertaining morning of bartering for souvenirs at the Maasai Market (I am not sure which if the boys bought a spear, but I am hoping that it doesn’t see practical action during their safari at the end of the week) after which we headed down to Kibos for a (very hot) game of football in the mid afternoon sun.

We walked down to the church and the Boys Brigade pitched their tents with remarkable efficiency. “I will not pitch my tent until 5:30” Moses said to me, “because otherwise it will get too hot during the day. I will pitch it when the evening is cool”. Wise words as it transpired, though I wish he had suggested it to the boys brigade!

With tents up we had a walk around the land. The boys haven’t just come as observers, but they wanted to help in a practical way and from Monday to Wednesday they will be building a large greenhouse / poly tunnel (all of the equipment arrived from Nairobi yesterday and is lying ready for swift and efficient assembly!). They will also be putting in over 50 stems of bananas, each one of which requires a hole 3 feet in diameter x 3 feet deep. Not a task for the faint hearted, but the boys seem to be up for it (watch this space for Mondays update!!)

Paula, one of the group leaders, set up a brilliant parachute game and soon the field was full of the sounds of children laughing, running and shouting with joy (is there anything quite as good as the sound of children laughing?). The games must have lasted hours, but the children never seemed to get tired of running around and running under the large, colourful circle of cloth. The team have been a pleasure to have here and the children have loved their company.

In the makeshift camp kitchen the goat was slowly roasting, chapattis were being fried and the evening light quickly made way for the dark.

As so often happens the clear night sky, punctuated with just a few clouds, revealed a hundred thousand stars, each with their place in the scheme of the universe. Under these same stars, over thousands of years, our ancestors have made camp, built fires and roasted meat.

Some of them may still be chewing.