"Marry Me" 😂

Mama Z sat cutting the leaves in her hand into fine strips. We would use them to make the Matapa for lunch, my requested Kimwani lesson for the week. Her twin sons came with their English notebooks, hoping I'd help them before I started cooking with their mom.

New words like kick, catch, and fry filled the air. They wrote down the words they wanted to remember. A giggling girl interrupted, asking the one boy if he would be ready to leave for school on time. He closed his notebook and got up. His brother started to follow but turned back to me.

"One more," he said, "Marry me."

I started laughing. I couldn't help it. He said it with such innocence and had no idea what he had said. I've never laughed at their English questions before and he looked confused. Curbing my laughter, I managed to tell him what it meant and his mom joined me in laughing.

He mumbled something about learning it from a song and needing to be more careful. I nodded my head in agreement. Finding my voice again I told him he's always welcome to ask me what something means before he tries saying it to anyone else.

The road going out to Mama Z's place

Later, after helping me cook the Matapa and coconut rice over a charcoal fire, Mama Z and I had deep conversations about life. We covered topics like atheists, traditional healers, diviners, and more. I felt our hearts knit together as we talked until I remembered that we don't agree on the most fundamental thing: Jesus.

"Oh, I found a new film about Jesus. I'm trying to download it," I told her. 

"If you get it downloaded, I want to see it," she replied.

I promised her that I would bring it to show her as soon as I could. Before I left, everyone thanked me for cooking. They seemed to enjoy the treat just as much as I had.