Bee Killing or Keeping and Spending the Night with the People of the Forest

Cam comes to visit for a few days... We do some work, borrowing my older brother's bike and riding to a near-by school. We help them Itt a really late start on their tree nursery and I'm so impressed by the students- they've brought in seeds from all kinds of bush trees and are falling over each other to get them planted... the two teachers helping keep it organized and write down exact numbers and varities.
Then we lend the people of Jamagen moral support by drinking attaya in the garden while they attempt to goat-proof the garden fence. The once-lush garden is mostly empty now, with the cabbage and onions all harvested and sold at the market and new garden beds being put off until the rains. But the few peppers and sorrel that were still growing have been relieved of their leaves by all the small ruminants that would brave the barbed wire... and also, my garden, which was late in starting because I got to Jamagen in January, has sadly been ravaged. I got 3 tomatos and 1 nice eggplant, tho! It's so dry here, there's not a bit of green for the goats and cows to eat so really I feel OK about feeding them my eggplant leaves.
That night, we drink my first attempt at cashew apple wine- not too bad. I never knew you could just throw yeast and sugar in water with some fruit for flavor and have something that passes as wine-ish. Maybe I shouldn't go so far as to compare it to wine, but at least it's alcoholic. (:
The next day we bike to a market in a near-by village I've been wanting to try... we buy 30 cashew fruits for our next batch of wine. Nice bike ride, cool market, only a few "toubab!" squawks pointed in our direction. That night we go "swim" in the creek, which is pretty low right now but nice and cool. Then, we do something ground breaking. We spend the night in the forest. We grab the tent another volunteer gave me, buy some firewood and pack a few things to cook. When I tell me host mom and dad where we're going they smile and nod... pause... ask me again what we're doing, then smile and nod again, saying "Ok, until tomorrow morning..." A little puzzled but not the out right shock I was expecting! The next morning when we return tho, everyone we meet all day asks me where I went last night. And for the rest of the week. My host sister greets us with her huge laugh and a "How are the forest people?" instead of "How are the home people?" They ask me if we saw hyenas, which were a problem up to about ten years ago, when finally the forest was depleted enough to run them off for good. I must admit tho, I dreamt about hippos and snakes... Anyway, the forest quiet and lingering smell of campfire smoke was nice.

The next evening, Cam has left. A man from onw of my favorite compounds comes to my door just after sun-down... it's time. I put on my one long sleeve shirt and jeans, two pairs of socks and my tennies, my rubber gloves from my med kit and rush out to meet him. He is wearing flip flops and a tank top, but is grateful when I hand him one of my bee suits. It's my first village honey harvest!
We go not to one of his actual "Kenyan top-bar" hives, the kind that you can harvest and leave in-tact to make more honey, but to a good old log hive, set way up in a tree. As I stand pondering the lack of duct-tape around the openings on my wrists and ankles, Mustafa is up the tree, flashlight under his chin, tying a rope around the log. Then the log is on the ground and the hum of the bees is awesome. He lights dry grass on fire near-by and sets to work, first removing the cover from one end of the log. A piece of wood from the top comes off too and he is grabbing combs and, wiping bees off and throwning them in the bucket- with his bare hands! And he's barefoot! He's quick and gentle with the bees, if unsentimental about raiding this bee-village, taking most of the food they've worked so hard to store up for their up-coming hungry season. He points out the queen cell to me, as I feebly stand by holding my headlamp for him. In minutes he is replaceing the cover, re-tying the robe, shimmying back up the tree and replacing the log. Alright then! My first harvest. The pool of bees left on ground, drowsy from the smoke, have made a cool amoeba-like pattern. There's enough honey and wax left in the hive for many of them to live on, I think, and start over. But man that's got to be frustrating!
We eat beautiful golden honeycomb as we walk back to village and Mustafa laughs at me when I ask how many stings he thinks he got. Lots! Nonnie, my host mom, helps me squish all the honey cells through a strainer, which is great fun. The next day I try honey in cocoa instead of sugar and it's so good! The fam. balks at first when I bring out the honey for our rice porridge (replacing the normal half-kilo of sugar) but they like it. Uuum honey. I will harvest again soon with my host dad.