We got up earlier yesterday to make the trek out to Grandpa’s village.
The first house we checked out was one which Grandpa made for his younger brother, who sadly 15 years ago was robbed and murdered in this house (and even sadder, people only found his body days later AND the killer has never been found).
Photo of his brother, his house now abandoned and acting as a shrine of sorts.
Inside.
We then made our way to Grandpa’s house.
There were a fair few villagers there ready for our arrival so the traditional ceremonies kicked off right away with deafening crackers!
We all made a beeline to a wall of photos next to a shrine. This is Grandpa!
Mum cleaning the photo.
Yeah, cousins know how to dress!
I saw lots of this stuff drying out on slabs of concrete, it’s turnip for pig food!
Haha! My Uncle Julius rocks the ZEN Snapback so well!
Yeah Indo men, we drink and smoke! We then had a feast, eating all the food that was prepared for Grandpa earlier. The food we were eating was raised in the village too. So rad.
Mum meeting one of her cousins for the very first time. This guy drinks 3 bottles of a red a day, and smokes like a chimney. Happy life!
Cheers! We stayed here a while and I waxed lyrical a bit too (red wine does that to me!). I live for this!
I then got a scooter ride down to visit the last living brother.
On the way we stopped by the house in which Grandpa grew up in until he was 13 (funny that the house number was 13 too), this house was in a pretty bad state now with nothing but chickens living in it.
I was pretty welled up with emotions, as you can see in this photo. Was so hard to contain!
Family after family, house after house.
Super cute village girls!
And another family, the little kid was super naughty, as soon as he saw me he threw stuff in my face!
Tea, we had LOTS of it in each house. Each house owner would pour us tea, shove food in our faces and tell us stories, both happy ones and sad ones. I loved it.
With happy hearts we left the village and by the time we got back to the city it was dinner time.
I really wasn’t hungry at all, but when in doubt, power out!
Unreal man, that’s like stepping back in time. I can only imagine the strange emotions meeting distant relatives or looking back into the past, would definitely like to do that one day
100% Richard, was such a heart warming day, very hard to explain… you had to be there (is what I am screaming to my cousins back home who didn’t come with us!!!).