Part Dos

When we showed up to the village the second day, it seemed as though the population had doubled or tripled. There were kids everywhere, and the longer Amos gave out hats, the more that kept coming. It was a pretty incredible to watch them coming from distant houses that we couldn't see. Even though we only experienced a small portion of the village the day before, this day was introducing us to the people who were living at all the other houses we passed on the way in. I guess when you roll up in a bus with a dozen white folks, you're bound to make a scene! As soon as we got out, I just jumped right in with the camera rolling. I haven't got to that tape yet, but it should be interesting. Since I was there the day before, one of the men remembered me and we immediately got to chatting in the little English that he knew. We walked around to the backside of the house where the men hang out and play mancala, but I couldn't stay long cause I knew there would be so much going on with the kids and the food. So I was pretty shocked to come back around the house and see the women and children of the village standing there facing the people of our group. Apparently everyone else wasn't integrating so smoothly. It struck me as odd, but it didn't take long for everyone to start mingling freely. As it would turn out, some of the people in our group were so overwhelmed by the sight of the kids in dirty clothes, no shoes, and in an obvious state of malnutrition, that they were sort of in shock. I can't blame them one bit. But the longer we stayed the easier it was on both sides. Upholding Nigerian tradition, our group had to eat before any of the villagers would take a bite...visitors first, even though we brought the food. I was too busy filming and talking to eat, so I neglected the custom and no one seemed to notice. We ended up only feeding the kids, I think that was a village decision. So 4-5 kids would gather around one plate and eat with their hands. The strange thing was that they were picking around the carrots! Amos would later point out that they aren't used to eating them, because even though they're easily accessible and fairly inexpensive, they probably never ate them. In fact, we saw some of the women carrying melons and other veggies away from the village, apparently to sell, on our way out. It's not uncommon for people to sell the foods they grow that are rich in nutrients, to buy yams, which are cheaper and go farther. So after the kids had all gotten there fill, they started opening up the pastries that Russ had bought from a local bakery. As with the veggies, the kids were unfamiliar with plastic wrapped food, so even though they were given the sweet rolls as soon as we got there, they didn't really understand that they could eat them. Or they were just saving them. At any rate, Mary Jo got a surprise birthday cake which she shared with the villagers. One by one they came up with their hand outstretched and got a big handful or cake and butter-cream icing. Yum. She was thrilled and even got the traditional "Happy Birthday" song, and at her request, a Nigerian song. Okay, I have to go, but I'll go ahead and post this in case some one checks in. I'll wrap it up later! Thanks for reading!