Shirazi!

For ten days out of the past two weeks, I was living in a rural village on the Southern coast called Shirazi. It was quite the adventure of a lifetime. Although some people didn’t enjoy their time there roughin’ it, I absolutely fell in love. It was a beautiful place full of some of the most selfless people I’ve ever met. On top of that, their daily pace was very relaxing and free. Besides taking Kiswahili every morning and playing dress-up with my mama’s clothes, I went on adventures every afternoon. I saw boys climb coconut trees, drank coconut water/milk, went to mamba (crocodile) land, learned how to cook a little bit, and visited some farms and surrounding villages.

My House in Shirazi

The side view/back yard

I lived with another host family there, who spoke very minimal English. However, I was astounded by how close you can become to a group of people through nonverbal communication. I had a mama, grandmas, dad, aunts, uncles, 4 sisters, and 3 brothers. The majority of the town is Muslim, so a lot of my family besides the people listed above were related to me because my dad had four fives. No big deal. Apparently that’s allowed. I had a ‘twin’ sister, Umi, who was also twenty. I spent a lot of my free time with her. She is an incredible person. She has a 9-year-old son, Alli, and even though she is only twenty, she was one of the most attentive and caring mothers I have ever seen. I couldn’t believe that she devoted so much of her life to her baby yet seemed to always be in a good mood. 

Umi carrying her baby Alli on her back in a khanga. I love that people carry their kids this way.

Most of the fam with henna!

My mama and me in one of my really hot outfits.

One of my favorite things to do with my family was hang out with them at night. For one, I would shower at night…and by shower, I mean stand outside with my bucket. I didn’t really mind it since I do it sometimes in Nairobi too, but it was really nice to stand outside and look up to see the stars in the sky while bathing. After that, I would wrap up in one of my khangas. Khangas are very common pieces of clothing that are made of beautiful fabrics. They usually have a phrase at the bottom, but I’m not completely sure what mine mean. Apparently some of them are offensive or dirty in some way, so hopefully that’s not the case.

Then, I would try to help cook dinner over a fire. When it was ready, we would all gather in the small living room on mats around one plate with all the food on it, wash our right hands, and eat. In case you’re looking for a challenge, eating really hot rice with one hand is really difficult. My family also is able to touch incredibly hot things, so they would have no problem grabbing steaming food while I thought I was going to burn my hand off most of the time. Regardless, I’m pretty glad I’m not a complete germaphobe because I may not have survived Shirazi.

Dinner by lantern. P.S.-There is no electricity there at all.

Best pilau ever!

I could probably go on about this for a long time, but moral of the story: it was incredible. I never wanted to leave, and if you ever get the chance to have such an experience, you should go for it.