Little House on the Savannah on FIRE

I read all the Little House on the Prairie books, but I wish I'd paid more attention to some parts of it. Such as...

Being sick
I am been a little sick the last week. I tend to get sick when the weather changes, sore throat, runny nose and upset stomach. So I have not been feeling well, and the normal things I take in the states are not working quite as well.

Cooking
It's harder than you think to come up with things to cook when you only have a braiser to use. I miss bread. I dream of eating sandwiches, something I never liked at home. Mom sent me ketchup, because I was craving it. It was horrible, I'm now used to Zambian ketchup and hated the taste of the old standby Hunts.

Building
I am not crafty, I really need my Mom here! I have trouble figuring out ways to build and make something out of nothing.  Mom can explain most things over the phone, so I can try.

Animals
I don't know much about chickens or goats, but thanks to Mom and Dad, for putting how to books on my Kindle, I'm learning.

Fires
I wish I remembered what they did to combat prairie fires. It would have been very help today. My sister Rhoda asked me to go to church with her, it is one that starts a little later, so I said yes. About 8am I smelled smoke looked out and saw the savannah was burning again.

I found out that they burn the savannah to flush out the rats to catch and eat them.  If someone starts a fire, and it burns fields, the person that started it has to pay the farmers, so you rarely find out who starts them.

As for the rats, I know it's rats, but they are as big as ground hogs. I have not been able to bring myself to eat them yet, even though my American family keeps reminding me that I ate squirrels and they are rats too, but I just can't do it yet.

So anyway, the savannah by my house is burning, about 9am I see my brother Fumpa with Maureen strapped to his back standing in my yard watching the fire as it comes closer. A few minutes later, I see Rhoda, with her son Joseph strapped to her back, come running from their yard to mine, with a handful of brush on fire, and she starts setting the grass around my house on fire.

I go outside to see the fire just meters away. My Bamama, brothers and sisters and I are running around putting out fires and it is getting hot, smokey, loud and closer.

The people in the church across the road come out and head to my house to help. The men are putting out embers that are landing on my roof. As others start helping me carry stuff out of my house. My bike is the first thing they yell for me to grab. Remember, when that is your most expensive item as well as your only mode of transportation, it's very important. I hate biking and am thinking, just let it burn! I am grabbing my electronics and bug-out bag and Krona my cat. It's all about your priorities.

Krona jumps down, is scared and heads straight into the fire, I yell for her and for the boys to grab her, which actually scares her more, I'm devastated, but keep working on putting out fires.

I watch as my baff, bathhouse, goes up in flames.

I am a little worried about people clearing things out of my house, one PCV worker had a fire and the villagers that took things out of her house, stole them. I can't worry about it now.

The smoke is awful, tears running down all our faces, everyone covered in soot and the fire is moving towards my family's compound. Krona comes running out of the fire straight to me, I pick her up and she is a little singed. My brother Popo brings over a cup of water and starts brushing it over her fur. I've said before that everyone including my family thinks it strange I have a pet cat, but they were all looking out for her and even the men from the church tried to catch her for me. Popo said he was worried about her. They know how important she is to me. She hid up under my skirt and tucked in to my leggings.

My house in now in the clear and we are all working our way to my family's compound. They are having more trouble putting out the fire on their roof and have lost bits of it here and there.I help carry thing out of their house, then Mama and I head to her silo to keep it from catching on fire. She is throwing water on it and yelling "ena, ena", which means "no, no"! We were able to save her silo, but she lost all her fields. Most of them only had a little harvest left in them, and they are not dependent on farming for their income, so they will be alright.

After things settled down the kids went to the fields and only came back with a few handfuls of what was left.

Nothing was stolen from my house, I live in a wonderful village with great people that have become friends. And the people at the church know me, as I do attend there every few Sundays.

My Mama kept asking me if I was alright, I told her I was. She was distressed that my baff was gone, but I can't tell her it's okay, as I something bath in my house, they think that is very dirty, so I told her, I could use theirs and that made her feel better. I also ate with lunch with them. I tried to take a small piece of chicken, but Mama yelled at me (the first time) and took the small piece and gave me a big one, and made me eat 2 lumps of nshima, because she knew I had been sick.

My sore throat is now worse from the smoke and I can hardly talk. But I hate to say I think the nshima helped my stomach and I do feel a little better.

I sure hope the rest of the week will be much quieter, I could use it.