Nkolbikon - Part 3

Here's Nathan with Sufaio, our VIP (see his hat?), who helped Nathan with the Likano times. We told Sufaio what a VIP was and ask him if that was him, and he said, "Oh no, that's my cousin" and pointed to one of the girls about his age. ??? Maybe we didn't explain well. Anyway, Sufaio did a lot to make us feel welcome, and introduced us to all of his extended family. It was actually his step-mom's family that we were staying with this week, and they who fed us lots of plantains and cooked greens. On the last Likano (Oral Storying) night, Sufaio actually led the meeting. Nathan introduced the story, and afterward, Sufaio wrapped it up with questions and restating the main points. It was encouraging.

One of the cool things Nandry and I noticed right away in the village was a heart-shaped tree. It stood out really well against the sky, especially at night when all the stars were out. Oh, a side note, this was the first time I ever saw (and realized what I was seeing) the Milky Way. In our area, where we live, there are so many trees around it's hard to see much of the sky at night but this village was a fairly open area in the middle of the forest.

These kids were loving the camera and thinking of all kinds of poses and places where I could take their picture...in front of a door, next to the plum tree, wearing a basket on their head...but for some reason, I thought the most random was this one: "take our picture in front of the corn we planted".

We had a great time. When Nathan asked Sufiao what everyone thought of us, he replied, "They are surprised that you eat Baka food, but I told them we (the Baka) eat it all the time and it hasn't killed us yet!" :)