Preparations were underway at the library for a large community dinner that had been planned for today evening. I was sitting in the library completely oblivious to the plans, until Nicolas came along and asked me if I could help in moving a pot in the kitchen. That sounded easy enough, until I came face-to-face with the said pot. It was MASSIVE - probably large enough to accommodate both Nicolas & me inside with room to spare. And… it was full of chicken!

Pot full of chicken

Our task was to take it off the stove and set it down. But it was so heavy that we couldn’t even move it an inch. I had a brainwave just then (that must seem unbelievable to you, dear reader, but yes, it happens sometimes). I dragged a nearby table next to the stove, and we slowly slid the pot from the stove and onto the table. Mission partly accomplished, as the stove could now be used to cook something else.

My mouth was practically dripping with the sight of all that chicken, but I hadn’t yet been officially invited to feast on it. I simply had to get myself invited for the dinner, but I had no idea how. What followed was a ridiculous (and in hindsight absolutely embarrassing) way of self-inviting oneself, which involved loudly exclaiming how delicious the chicken looked, multiple times, until they finally got the hint :)

Once I had secured the dinner invitation, I went back to the library to chill. Nicolas returned about an hour later, saying they needed help with the pot again. The food was ready, and the ladies were moving the various pots and pans to the theatre room of the library. But they couldn’t move the giant pot of chicken and so they needed two strong boys, namely Nicolas & I, to do it.

Our attempts at even taking the pot off the table and placing it on the ground were utterly hopeless, let alone moving it all the way to the library. At that time, I had a second brainwave (twice in one evening… this time I’m sure you think I’m making this up). I asked them to bring me another large vessel, and slowly we transferred portions of the cooked chicken into the other vessel. Once the large pot had been sufficiently emptied, it could be moved. It still took us a good fifteen minutes of back-breaking effort to slowly move it, one step at a time, to the library.

Moving the pot

Finally in the theatre room

Dinner was served in one of the rooms of the library, with Robert, Nicolas & me being the only non-Salasacans. I was told that the gathering would generally be very noisy, but our presence caused the proceedings to be a little less boisterous.

The non-Salasacans

At first, everyone sitting at the tables was given plates and a small polythene bag. When the food began to arrive, people would hold open their polythene bags so the food could be served directly into it. This looked incredibly weird to me and I wasn’t sure if I was also supposed to hold my bag open. Luckily for me, Robert was sitting next to me and explained that the food in the bags was meant either for relatives at home who couldn’t come for the dinner or to have the next day. We knew that most people in the community were not very well off, and organizing such a large feast required contributions from everyone, often more than they could really afford. So we chose to keep our polythene bags empty and just be content with full stomachs.