Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine APRIL 2019 | Page 522

We used to use a flint stone
to do that. When it started
burning, we covered it
completely and let it burn. It
would burn for days. Finally,
when it stopped burning, you
wet it down and take the coals
out.”
above, cooking was also done
with cow manure! Mr. Berkel
explains: “It would be piled
up and then lit. Once it was
burnt down, you open the
heap, put sweet potatoes
inside, cover them with the
hot ashes and they would
bake!” And to go with that? Mr.
The coals were not only used
Berkel remembers: “Lime juice
for cooking, but also for ironing. was THE drink in those days.
When red hot, they were
Delicious!”
placed inside the so-called
goose, a flat iron. Mr. Berkel
ENRAPTURED
also has those in his museum.
In the afternoon, you would
give the animals water and
However, as mentioned
Ready to go back home …
Mr. Ishmael Berkel showing some of the crops
of olden days, such as sugar cane.
get feed for them. “Out on the
plantations, people would
make little thatch houses from
the stalks of the sugar cane
and corn to shelter from the
rain and also to preserve their
seeds.”
At the end of the day, it was
back on the donkey to go
home. “And you may be
carrying along some wood for
the oven or for cooking and
grass for the donkey. Or some
provisions for a meal.”