Sunday, May 28, 2006

Fishing Day in K-town

Just before the rains come and the whole place gets flooded, the locals here take a few days to go and clear out the last of the fish caught in a certain part of the river nearby. So we decided to join them on the adventure and see what fishing in Africa was all about. They have no need for boats, so the people simply carry individual sized nets on poles or special baskets as they wade out into the water and try to scoop up whatever fish might be innocently swimming nearby.
We attempted the basket method ourselves, but it didn’t seem particularly efficient simply pushing the thing down into the water and hoping a fish got caught underneath. I think I would prefer a line and some bait any day, but that’s just me. The nets seemed to work much better, as they could be used in the deeper water, and we were able to get a look at some of the catches they brought back to shore. Of course, once on shore, the lucky fishermen get busy smacking the fish with mallet-like clubs to put them out of their misery (it’s all a very brutal process, and kinda amusing at the same time).
For the special event the normal dress code was set aside and many of the women could be seen with their wrap skirts pulled up to their mid thighs or even wearing the ever scandalous pants and shorts. But our favorite of the day had to be one woman we spotted in the water wearing neon blue spandex…
Not willing myself to get out into the chest-high water in my broom skirt, I spent most of the day just watching them and enjoying the sun. At least that is until the flood came. Yes, the day we ventured out of town close to the river in our truck, what seemed to be the very first of the heavy rains came and turned the road between the fishing spot and our house immediately into an almost continuous shallow rapids… At least that’s what it looked like to me and Reaiah who had to drive the thing home through the swiftly moving water (oh, I wish I had taken a picture of it…), while our friends with us were not concerned at all for the truck’s ability to drive through it (none of them know how to drive, or seem to have a clue what flood water can do). But we made it, with much intense prayer from inside the truck, and were grateful, once again, for the promise “when you pass through the rivers, I will be with you. And when you pass through the waters, they will not sweep over you.” Still, I don’t think we’ll be trying that again anytime soon.

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