Moi Day BBQ Disaster

Today is Moi Day, a holiday in honor of Kenya's former pseudo-elected president of more than 20 years. Although Kenya has been independent for over forty years, it has had only 3 presidents. To my understanding Moi himself created the holiday, and he was not well-liked during or after his time in office. Under the proposed constitution, to be voted upon on November 21st, the holiday will be eliminated.

With possibly our last and only chance to celebrate this newly beloved holiday, we did what any American would do: We had a barbeque. After taking a matatu and walking over a kilometer, we (Will, Andrea and I) found the supermarket and bought the ground beef , corn-on-the-cob and condiments. (Point of Clarification for NC Folk: Pork just isn't the same here and the closest thing to bbq sauce is something called "Peptang." Just so you know what I was working with.) I had suggested we get some lighter fluid, since really, you can't go wrong without it (right guys?), but Andrea (repeating what she'd been told) assured me all we needed was food. We returned to her place to find the grill filled with old burnt wood- aka Kenyan charcoal. After about half an hour and with the help of some dry grass, the day's newspaper and Rhino matches, I finally got the coals to light. Stepping back, hands blackened and eyes smoke-teared, I admired my handiwork.

That's about the time it started to rain. Now, just so you appreciate the irony of the situation, we've had beautiful weather every day here in Kenya. We're talking 73 degrees and sunny, no lie. So you can imagine my surprise when the first few drops fell. Incredulous, I figured it wouldn't last very long and continued blowing on the embers. At that point the clouds unleashed, water pouring down and rushing into my eyes, nose and mouth, lungs collapsing as they filled with charred, smokey water (to be a bit melodramatic). Plans dashed, we too retreated inside and watched our little fire that could slowly whimper out under the torrential onslaught. Grudgingly, I sat defeated on the couch as Will and Andrea prepared a meal. Of course, the beef was so lean it didn't stay together and the corn here just doesn't cook in the microwave. My word to describe today: meager.

Like many things in Kenya, it just wasn't the same.