The Grand BBQ

We have wanted to do something for all our workers for sometime and just could not think of what that might be. Well, last week we put together a BBQ Rwandan style. Goat brochettte and roasted green bananas and Fanta. Fanta is a generic name for all soft drinks. There is a very limited selection of soft drinks in Rwanda, all Coke products. We have Coke, Sprite, Fanta Orange and Fanta Citris. They all come in 30 cl bottles, in a few of the up scale stores you can now get Coke light in a can, but it is expensive.

First I had to buy two goats, which we promptly named "Medium" and "Rare". This , of course was a real big hit with the ladies at the village -not. In fact, some decided not to eat after they saw them tied up enjoying their last meal. After the meat was taken care of I purchased two large stocks of green bananas and a couple cases of mixed "Fantas." OK, we had the fix'ins now we needed the butcher, the mason to build the grill, the fire starter (which is an art in itself with local charcoal), and of course the cook. As it came to pass (I borrowed that line), God provided Janvier, our gardener. Who, as it turns out, seems to be able to do just about everything. The rest of the boys and I pitched in, but Janvier was the hero of the BBQ.

We built the grill out of some left over cement building blocks, roofing metal and rat wire screening. Janvier and crew went off to prepare the goats, while we continued to put finishing touches on the grill. This grill was a masterpiece, a three tier affair. The meat cooking grill was on the top, with the charcoal fire under that and could be feed from the opening in the back side. On this view side the mid section was for roasting the bananas under the fire pit and the very bottom was a warming oven. I take no credit for the design, it was purely Rwandan and worked great.

Since I have been in Rwanda I have eaten in many places and eaten many things that I would have never even imagined I would eat before coming here. I have even eaten their "special" Brochette, once. But let me tell you there is no waste with these guys. I will spare you the pictures but they clean and boil the intestines and about everything else that comes out of that critter. Then they somehow tie all those loose parts together and put them on a skewer to roast. AS I said I had already tried those once, and did not think I needed another round. The regular goat brochette was very good I do not know all the stuff they rubbed and socked into them but they were very tasty. As expected some parts were a little chewier than others, but it was very good. They also had some sauce they brush onto the bananas, with an old paint brush I think, that was very good also.

But the coup-de-gras was when they drank the liquid from the boiling pot. I drew my line in the sand on that one. No thank you very much.

The Mother's and children came up to enjoy it, I was surprised how the children went for those brochette. We feed nearly 70 people counting the children. What a great day and what great people to share it with.

When I was growing up in Maine one of the highlights every year was going to deer camp in the fall. Dad, Gramps and usually a couple other families all gathered at this small cabin up on the mountain behind our farm. There was a log book there that everyone wrote in everytime we went. The end of nearly everyones entry was, "and a good time was had by all." God bless, go out and have a great time with folks you enjoy being with.