Beating Flowers and Beeping Bugs

I think I should explain the beeping bugs part...it is much needed comedy of sorts. There is this strange bug which I have yet to see though it keeps me up at night. It beeps like an alarm clock continually...like all night. It is a high pitched fast beep that is absolutely ear piercing. That is one bug that could go extinct and I wouldn't care! Secondly, we have nocturnal monkeys...they run around on our tin roofs and throw fruit. Why are they nocturnal? Day time would much improve their aim in hitting things instead of my roof!


On to beating flowers...a strange occupation. Before the flowers, how we ended up smacking seeds and dying our hands purple. Part of our orientation is to visit a maize and bean farmer. This year he added sunflowers to the rotation. They are grown for the seeds which are pressed into oil after they are dried.


We start our journey to the farm. It is about 35 or 40 minutes from where we are staying. As always the village is down a long, dusty, rutted road. My seat has yet to forgive me. As we pull into the driveway of the farmer we are to visit, his wife and sister-in-law come running down the drive to meet us cheering and showering the car with flower petals. They were through them in the windows and of us as we got out of the car. I have never seen anyone so happy to meet strangers. When we got out of the vehicle Mama was nearly in tears. She insisted that we come in the house before we started out lecture outside. She said that having guests in her house was a blessing. She opened with a prayer before we did introductions. Mama Martha was praying in Kiswahili and I could only pick out a few words, yet I knew God was there. After introductions, we headed outside for chai and Q & A with the family. Next, it was on to the fields. First, we had to water the tomato garden by hand after drawing the water. The well was a hole in the ground surrounded by a tractor tire to keep people from falling in. We hoisted up the water from 30 or 40 feet and filled 5 gallon buckets to dump on the plants. It took several trips to make this happen. Then was the sunflowers. Mama cut the stalks of the ones that needed the flowers cut off. The flower needed to be dried up or the seeds weren't ready. Half of the group had knives to remove the flower heads from the stalk and the rest of us gathered them up to put in a donkey pulled cart. We cleared probably half an acre in a little over an hour.



After the clearing, came the beating. We walk to the place where it is to be done, surrounded by livestock of course, and a host of small children that heard that Wazungu (white people) were here working. The cart was done and we began the deed. Smack the flower as hard as necessary with the stump of a stick until the seeds all fall out. This took forever and my arms are still not speaking to me. It's going to take quite a bit of washing for the purple stains to come off of my hands.


Finally all of the flowers were done and I was a bit crispy, then we spread them out to dry. Back to the house we headed for colas and leaving for a village tour. At the end of the day we all were invited back and the family was happy to share their home and life with us.


This entire experience was quite moving. The amount of hospitality was amazing. There really are no words to describe how humbling it was to get the greeting and farewell we did.