A couple weeks ago, I was walking to a friends (Austine's) house on a Saturday morning. Recently, now that I have gotten to know the area better, I have started taking a shortcut through the neighboring maize fields to get to school, since the road is not very direct. Since Austine's house is up past the school, I was taking this new rout. On this rout, there is an older women (I would guess she is in her 70's) who comes to "home church" at our house on some Sundays, so I already knew her a bit from there. So, when I am walking to or from school, we will briefly greet each other if she is outside.
When I was walking past on this Saturday, she was sitting outside eating omena (little fingerling fish) and apoth (a vegetable cooked in a traditional way) and ugali. I greeted her, and she then said "Karibu", meaning welcome. At this point, I had already told Austine that I was on the way, so I initially responded, "sorry, but I need to go to a friend's house". She then asked, "You don't eat omena?" (In my experience, all Kenyans seem to assume that Whites don't eat omena, which is strange, since it is delicious. The only reason I can think of is they may think we are scared to eat it, since you just pop the whole fish in your mouth, instead of picking the meat off the bones.) Anyway, at this point, I realized that I was not in America, and therefore, being "on my way" could mean I would start getting ready to leave my house in ten minutes. Also, it meant that not stopping, once I had been invited, would probably be rude. So, I said that I do eat omena, and she then lead me inside. We sat down at her table and started eating. I don't think she knows much English if any, so all our conversations had too be in Kiswahili. This meant we didn't talk too much. (The one thing I remember trying to say while we ate, was that her cat looks like the one at our house.) I felt bad eating a lot, because there wasn't much to begin with, and I don't think she has much money, so I ate slowly. After a little bit, I explained that I was full, since I had recently eaten breakfast at home. She said that was ok, and told me to come again.
Upon leaving, what struck me most was the spontaneity of the whole visit and her generosity. As I said, there wasn't much food, but she didn't hesitate an instant to invite me in and seemed very excited to have me there. It was very characteristic of the culture here, and is definitely an experience I won't soon forget.
