Back at work this week, after returning from Wa, I took a trip out 'in the field' with some colleagues, and I noticed lots of little black crosses painted carefully on all of the houses in one particular community. When I asked Abbie and Dominic the Driver about it, they both started laughing and saying that actually they didn't know either but that they would also like to find out.

So off we went to one of the local schools, where they asked one of the teachers in an attempt to discover the meaning of these little symbols that had taken over the village. At the mention of it they were met with laughter and a few awkward looks of embarrassment. Eventually after some persuasion one teacher decided to tell us the story...

Apparently a man was sleeping in his hut after a long day farming in the fields of the dry season, and was so tired that he fell into a deep sleep. He was awoken in the night by some strong winds, and some strange sounds and feared that evil spirits had come to visit him. As he curiously peered out of his hut into the dark night, he noticed the shadow of a large animal on the wall. It turned out to be a fierce lion, which crawled into the doorway of this man's hut and made such a loud roar that the man was shocked and fell to the floor. The lion tried to drag him by his feet out of his hut-shaped home and into the night. The man managed to fight off the evil spirits in the form of this lion and ran straight to the rest of the community to warn them about the evil spirits. The community gathered together and decided they should all paint crosses on the sides of their houses and above their doors to ward off the evil spirits in the night.

The teachers were practically rolling about laughing as they told the story, and were clearly embarrassed by it. I was intrigued, I wondered why this community believed in evil spirits, and what they thought might happen if they came. It was a real insight into how some people are still very much tied to traditions and the land and beliefs that have dominated the rural regions for centuries, whilst others have one foot in a more modern and developed world where such an idea wouldn't even be entertained.

Later, on the way back home, I noticed there was one man who had obviously thought "Well never mind all these little crosses", and had just gone out and got some black paint, and painted one huge black cross on the side of his house. I can just imagine him standing there proudly admiring his artwork "We won't be seeing any lions in the night around here!". J

With love,

Em

xx

Photo: The house on the left has the mud crosses on it. The children in the picture had seen us arrive, well seen me the nasara seeing as you can't really miss us, and were running towards us hollering and wooping; they don't often see white people so they were pretty excited! So cute.