Gambella Block part 2

I'm really enjoying the new phase of research. I spent the morning in the Gambella block again, constructing walls out of dirt, sand, and water. I really enjoy this neighborhood - if I had to move here, I would certainly live with the Gambella.ns The people are quite sensible and have a sense of style. Their tea is laced with cardamom and coffee is served with a smoking dish of incense. The food isn't bad - although you can imagine refugee rations to be rather bland.  I respect reasonable approach the Gambellans have toward life decisions. Although they believe marriage is very important, they believe that one should be financially prepared before getting married, and afterward one should only have as many children as can be afforded. Furthermore,  they believe that children should be spaced apart by four years each to make sure that each child receives full parental attention to his or her needs. This is a great contrast to the Somali family structure. Yesterday I met a woman who has 12 children, the oldest of which is 24 years old. She told me that her husband was resettled to the USA about 2 or 3 years ago, and if he was still home, she would have had 2 more children by this time!

In addition to family planning, great coffee, and clean streets (as I had mentioned about Sanitation Day within the last entry), the Gambellans also carry out their daily duties in a systematic fashion. Instead of the mothers having to cook all of the meals for her family every day, families take turns and cook for each other on a three or four day cycle. On Monday you might prepare lunch and dinner for three families -including your own- and then store the food in a common area so that each family may drop by at their own convenience to serve themselves. Afterward you will not need to do any cooking until Thursday, as you will visit the homes of the other families for your meals. I rather like this approach as I believe cooking more food twice a week is much less laborious than cooking dinner everyday. The best part is that you not only avoid cooking dinner everyday, but with self service, you don't even have to see the people you are cooking for!