Gustaff's visit

For ten days, we had the pleasure of having an old friend stay with. We met Gustaff while the three of us were serving at the Bahai World Centre in Israel, and while we are not very good at keeping communication going with our friends, we managed to stay in touch enough to invite him our way, and were thrilled when he offered to come at the end of Feb/early March. He plays African drums and sings, dances, etc., bringing inspiration from his native Cameroon. Many evenings while he was here, he played for groups of people. Fazal just loved his drumming and they got a real kick out of each other (for Gustaff's description, check out his blog). One of the most fun and lively evenings was in Holyoke, where Gustaff combined sharing his culture and his love of his religion, the Bahai Faith. At the end of his presentation, there was a jam session with him and two others, and as you can see, people loved it!

Gustaff, Anis and TJ (from right to left)
The ladies getting down!
It was late, and some people just wanted to digest their food.
Fazal did his best to stay up late, and eventually, while staring at us in disbelief that we were not putting him in bed, he fell asleep in his father's arms.
I had learned, living in Spain for a few months during college, that much to my surprise, people there simply expected their children to stay up late if there was a late-night festival going on. I remember walking down the plaza and a couple of kids saying, "Mom I'm tired!" and she said, "Too bad, it's a night to party, you have to stay up!" I can't remember the name of it, but it was a night where people put up elaborate sculptures in the streets, and then burn them all down! My American friends and I were just laughing at how this could never happen in America because it would break every fire code known to man, but it was SO much fun!! That was a lesson to me that cultures have different ways to deal with their kids, too. Jafred is also taking a Sociology of Childhood course right now, and they discuss ethnopediatrics. A fascinating look at childraising in different cultures. And very relavant to our lives!