Friday is an intense day of prayer for the Muslim people, and the streets of Mombasa were alive with people going back and forth to the mosques. In this way, it felt a little similar to the Black Friday atmosphere at home…busy and overwhelming. I worked on my research paper most of the morning to avoid the throngs of people.
For lunch, however, I was forced to venture out into the streets. The SIT academic director, Jamal, lives in Mombasa and invited us to his house for an afternoon meal. We walked across town under the brutal sun and finally reached Jamal’s home.
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| Jamal with one of the twins |
His wife is so welcoming and his kids are adorable. And the food…wow. The Swahili people know how to cook. We had fragrantly spiced chicken and fried fish, seasoned veggies, salad, rice, awesome naan, ripe mangoes, and fresh tamarind juice. Such an needed break from paper writing.
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| The girls' mat |
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| And the boys' mat |
After lunch, Jamal had to run errands, but we stuck around for a while to chat with his wife. She’s young (only 32), and they have 5 kids. She was only 18 when they were married, and we had fun hearing her opinion on early marriage (she actually advised against it; she hopes her daughters wait until after they have been educated). We think of Jamal as our professor; hearing about his culture and strong Muslim faith was fascinating. He barely knew his wife when they were married, but they seem very happy.
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