White Ants!

Vivian is sitting by me as I swing in a hammock on the front porch.  We are enjoying a brief respite from the heat, feeling the cool breeze that comes as the sun sets.  I am chatting with several of the residents  about the crusade they just returned from in Muwayo.
Suddenly, Vivian starts shouting!  All the children go running to the back of the cottage.

 Isa says to me, "White Ants!  I will bring you one!"

He comes back chewing something, the wing still hanging from his lips and another one climbing up his arm  He snatches it off is arm, pops it in his mouth and chews excitedly.  Putting one in my face, he says "They are good.  Here, eat one.  No, don't kill it!  You have to eat it alive, it is better."

"No thank you, I just had dinner."

"You can put them in water and salt to eat them.  Or you can fry them."

At this wonderful culinary advice, I get up to go find the other children.  They are in the back, quickly gathering the winged grub like insects.  White, yes.  Ants, no.  They are grabbing them from the ground excitedly but very deliberately - popping them in their mouth and chewing quickly.  The sun has set and the darkness is coming fast.

Some children are adding the insects to a blue cup.  One child explains, "We are going to fry them!"  The sound of high pitched laughter and excitement fill the air.

Isa points out the swarm that had alerted Vivian.  Thousands hover around the mango trees, many dropping to the ground, as if their batteries have gone dead.

After the cup is full and last bit of light is gone from the sky, the kids all go running and skipping back to their cottage.

It is then that I notice Esther, alone, by the cottage.  She says sadly, "I don't like white ants. When I eat them they make my cheeks big."  (yeah, that is it, my excuse for next time)