I was happy to do the workers a favor to cook for them while they worked for my uncle at the farm. Yes I've always been happy to cook especially when it means satisfying someone else who'd be happy to eat the food.
So yes, I had to gather the firewoods, fetch water from the nearby river, lit the fire, and carefully washed the beans and rice that I had to cook as well as all other ingredients and quickly began to cook it.
Cooking with firewood requires attention. You have to make sure the wood pieces are burning properly, and that they’re close enough to keep the fire steady. Sometimes the wind shifts or one log burns out faster, and you have to adjust things. That was what I kept doing: stirring the food, checking the fire, adjusting the logs, occasionally using my hands or blowing air to keep the flames alive.
While cooking I was also interacting with the workers while they do their work and everyone was happy and everything was going smoothly.
Ok, till it was time to check the woods again and the food. This is where everything changed for me, my emotions, the joy I initially started with faded. Something strange and confusing happened. By then it was almost time to bring the food down as it was almost done but needed a little more fire, so I quickly used my leg to adjust one of the woods, to shift it closer to the rest so it can catch fire and keep burning. That was when one of the workers got really furious at me, I was confused!
"Why do you have to use your leg to set the woods for cooking, don't you know you're cooking for your elders?"
She screamed that in her native language but I understood what she said but not the reason she was saying that.
"Aunty I didn't use my leg to set the fire o, the food is almost done I only one wood closer to the fire"
She was still upset and said I had disrespected the whole meal by letting my leg on the wood.
It's not that I made mistake in the cooking or didn't wash any of my ingredients, why would she be so upset over a minor issue. And the other workers too didn't see anything wrong with what I did, but I was still so confused and upset why the lady will act like that. Even her husband who was also working with her refused to eat the food too after it was served!
I felt really bad that they'd reject my food after all the efforts I put in making it, I was so upset that even the other people that complimented me didn't make me happy, I was really confused. And those two worked the hardest so they deserved to eat!
My mom went on to find out why they wouldn't eat the food and they explained it to her.
"Mummy what's the reason?"
She explained that it's their culture, the man gave himself to a deity and there's a god protecting him and there are terms and conditions he had to live by if the god is to keep protecting him. And my mom was listing all this little meaningless stuffs, their head must not be touched, you can't use knife in their meal, you can't use leg to touch the wood used for cooking their food...and the list kept on going...
Hmmm at this point I felt like a lot hat was stupid and very uncivilized. But it's their belief so I respect it. But I'd never cook for them again so I don't break any of the rules. I told my mom that it's better to let the wife alone cook for him since she understands all the rules so someone else doesn't make any mistake and they may not even see it.
Well, I understood the issue so I continued serving the other workers, served my mom too, then for my sister and I in one plate and we enjoyed the meal, and since the other people didn't eat there was room for extra so I added some extra to the people that still needed it, I was no longer upset and I was happily eating and gisting with my sister.
I guess I was only upset because I didn't know the reason they rejected my food like that but now I understand.
As is customary in our village, it’s either you feed those working for you or give them money to buy the food. Since they refused the food, we weren’t obligated to do more, but my mom, in her usual kindhearted way, still gave them money.
There are so many customs and traditions in Africa especially in these villages where there haven't been much civilization so I try to respect everyone's belief even the ones I think are stupid to me. So even though the woman didn't pass the message to me nicely, I decided to to let it go and still show her the respect she deserves!
Images are mine
