A cold start: Kindling trouble

Are you confident about your survival skills? I’m not, not anymore.

Story story!

Calling out to me, “I’m headed to church now. There’s milk in the cupboard, and some flour.” “There’s also food in the kitchen if you want some. Later, for your uncle, make some ugali (ignore if you have no idea what that is), boil the milk, and serve him.” She added. “Okay aunty,” I shout from the comfort of my bed where I was hiding from the chill and morning drizzle, knitting away. “I’ll make sure not to stay long.” She shouts on her way out.

This was two days later after arriving in the village where I had gone to escape the noisy and filthy city air. The afternoon sneaked up on me, and it was time to prepare the milk and ugali. So, I grudgingly head to the kitchen. I went over at the cupboard and fetched the freshly milked milk. “Where the heck is the flour?” I simply couldn’t find it. I was inclined to call my aunt after 10 minutes of exploring the entire home fearing maybe she had made a mistake, and the flour had run out. Also, she was in church so how crazy would that call have been? Okay, the plan was to start with the ugali first, then boil the milk but, plans change. I decided to start with the milk and then take a third look around. The flour must be somewhere in the house, right? Problem solved, hehe, or so I thought.

Confidently, I take some firewood that was standing lonely at the corner of the kitchen thinking it had been left there for me to use. Note: this is my first time creating a fire with firewood. How difficult could it be? I take some dry leaves to kindle the first fire, some little sticks and the larger wood. I had seen this done time and time again. I lit a match, got some kind of fire going😂 and so I placed the pot of milk to boil. I was so excited until– the smoke, a lot of it. Why is there so much smoke? There was no smoke yesterday as my aunt cooked. Something was wrong. I tried fanning and blowing but nothing helped. I should open the door before I suffocate, I thought. When I went to open the door, a dozen chickens rushed in. Oh dear! in the midst of coughing, I cover my nose, and I quickly fasten the door. This was meant to be pretty simple. My confidence had taken a major hit by now. My fire was dwindling but, I wasn’t worried yet.

I quickly realized that the firewood I used was set aside because it wasn’t fully dried and it was time to get better dried wood. That’s when I realized that I had no idea where it was stored 🙆‍♀️😩. At this point, frustration had set in. I call out to my uncle, “Uncle, where’s is the firewood kept?” “In that room.” He pointed. “Can you help me light it up. I really tried– I’ve been at it for about 30 minutes.” I narrate the entire story. He was laughing so hard. “And where is the flour? Why can’t I find it anywhere in this house?” “Even I can’t find anything I’m looking for in this house.” He said as he continued to laugh at me. I join in the laughter as I found some comfort in that. “Aunty told me to make you some ugali with milk”. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not hungry and it’s Sunday. We eat late lunch on Sundays. Just pour me some tea to drink while we wait for the owner of the house.” We laughed again. “Okay,” Let’s wait then, I’m not hungry either.”

Feeling useless, I resigned myself to doing the dishes, and just as I got started, I heard my aunt’s voice. I can’t convey how relieved I felt! I explained why it took me an hour to get a basic fire started and hence couldn’t cook anything. Oh! And guess what? The flour was behind me the entire time 🤦‍♀️. To my defence, it was stored in the most random thing. She laughed at me so hard while pointing it out. I’m grateful for their sense of humour because I’m now worried about my survival skills. I at least thought I wouldn’t have to worry about starting a basic fire. How is fire one of the first human technological discoveries and I haven’t mastered it yet? Where do I enrol for fire bending instruction?

What did you learn from this random story, actually?