SoMacha.com

Koster, our yardman, needed to inform his extended family of the death of a relative. He was planning to travel by bicycle, a 5 hour trip each way. We offerred to drive him there with our car to save him time and energy. The car trip took an hour and one-quarter to reach his family. In typical African/Tonga culture, a visit like this is not just to infom. Greeting villagers, looking at homes and general visiting takes place. The total adventure (estimated to take about 3 hours) actually expanded to a total of 8 hours including driving thru the bush in the dark on footpaths in order to reach the home of the deceased.
We had a chance to meet Koster's parents and sisters. We met some of the people of the village while they were busy shelling "groundnuts", or as we would call them, "peanuts".







Some of the boys of the village were playing with home-made cars. The children are very creative in making cars and trucks and other playthings. Scrap plastic bottles work well for car bodies. And wheels come in all types - shoe-polish can size and dried mudball size.



When we were ready to leave with Koster, his Mom and three sisters, we had an added passenger, a live tied-up chicken occupied the rear of the car.