Friday we presented our workplans for the rest of the ten weeks. The scope of what everyone is trying to accomplish is humbling, ambitious, and extremely exciting! I managed to use clip art and colored arrows to present my timeline. I felt pretty proud of my attempt at graphics, considering I am working with people who are extremely talented with design softwares. Hopefully, someone will teach me how to use a snazzy program like Illustrator or InDesign.
After we presented our work programs, we celebrated! The fellows were thoughtful enough to bring palm wine and kola nuts with them in the morning, so we experienced the kola nut and palm wine ceremony with all its pomp and circumstance. The ceremony is a welcoming of guests, acknowledging that they are welcome any time. After the presentation of the kola nut and money from the male head of household to the guest, there is a five part call and response. One of the fellows translated everything from Igbo, the local dialect, to English so that we got the full effect.
Then the kola nut was broken and passed around. The bitter pink fruit is supposed to be extremely stimulating. One of the fellows said that students will use it to stay up for days. He also said that women will drink it to promote lactation. Then, he warned us not to eat more than a quarter of the fruit's flesh in this sitting.
Once we all had our kola nut, the palm wine was generously poured from a blue plastic gallon container that probably held some sort of fuel or oil prior to palm wine. Someone promised me it had been washed out. The palm wine tasted like a cross between coconut water mixed with pure fermentation. I helped myself to two generous glasses, which contributed to some extreme post-imbibing gastrointestinal bubbling. Someone told me that there was more alcohol in the palm wine than in a guinness. I doubt it. But it was delicious. And it was fun to just sit around and laugh together sharing in this tradition.
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