Community Barbeque

We have been settling in at Galmi for a few weeks and, unfortunately, most of that time one or more of us has been sick. I guess that comes with the territory. Tab had a full week of work last week and I did a day or so, but, unfortunately, we keep getting interrupted by our kids vomiting on stuff. We have been taking prophylactic anti-malaria medicine for several weeks now but that did not stop one of our kids from getting malaria. We also had some sort of food contamination issue the other day. I was lucky enough not to eat any of the offending food and, therefore, I got to be the one that ran around with buckets and rags cleaning up while everyone else was sick. Thankfully, everyone seems to be on the mend and we should be back to our regularly scheduled programs soon. 

One of the more interesting activities we have participated in lately is a community barbeque. One of our friends has a herd of sheep and one of the lambs got the bloat. There is no vet here and they tried several things, but nothing worked to cure the problem. It was clear the animal was going to die, and the only real option was to euthanize it. 

Typically, the customs here do not allow for eating animals that are dying. In fact, there are quite a few things one must do before butchering an animal for it to be acceptable to eat. There are some good reasons not to eat an animal that is sick especially if you don't know why it is dying. However, in this case, it was just an animal eating the wrong thing or too much of it. I don't think that poses a danger to our health. So, our friend set up a butcher to come cut it up and take it to a man who would cook it. It was all a very interesting process. 

One of the more interesting processes is the cooking part. Back home, there is barbeque culture where people use charcoal or propane or smokers to cook and finish meat. Often people have very strong opinions of what is the best way to cook a hamburger or steak or brisket on a barbeque or a smoker or what-have-you.  

Here, there is also a serious meat cooking culture. They set up a fire very spread out on the ground and put sticks and rods through the carcass making it flat. sometimes they have a grate or grill to lay it on.  They spend hours and hours roasting it next to the fire adding spices and oil quite frequently. Then, when it is done, they wrap it in a paper bag and deliver it to the feast. It doesn't always look great, but I can assure you that it has the tenderness and flavors that everyone can love. 

After the meat was delivered, my friend took the meat off of the bones and onto a serving tray, and since there was so much meat that is best served hot, everyone here was invited to come and bring a side dish. It reminded me of a 4th of July barbeque, with kids running everywhere with food and sugary drinks. It was one of the better meals I have ever had in Niger, not just because of the meat, but also because of the community that was a part of it.