Week Seventeen

This week I thought I might give you an update with a twist. My adventures this week seemed to centre around food.   (Perhaps the facebook posts and email messages about picnics and BBQs are finally getting to me… ) I

The food eaten here in rural Kenya is, naturally, not the same as what we have in Canada.  In Nairobi, of course, I was able to get almost everything we can in Canada – at a price.  But not here, where access to food just isn’t that easy.  As well, the food budget at Home of Grace is pretty tight to say the least.  Feeding 35 to 50 people at each meal limits what can be served and I eat only what they eat.  Typically I have tea with bread or mandazis at about 7:00 in the morning (a mandazi is like deep fried dough – a not-so-sweet donut without the hole).  Lunch at the orphanage is at 1:00 and is usually rice with something else – beans, cabbage, potatoes or bananas (the cooking kind, not the sweet kind).  Occasionally with lunch or in the afternoon we also have local fruit that has been picked by the kids – avocadoes and guava grow on the compound, sugar cane is grown locally as well.  Sweet bananas or a few slices of orange or pineapple are a big treat. Supper at the orphanage at 7:30ish is ugali (maize meal) and sukuma wikki (kale-type of vegetable cooked along with onions and tomatoes). Once or twice a week we also have scrambled eggs with that or dhaga, small dried fish.   A huge bonus is to have meat – stewing beef I think (I don’t ask many questions!)  – we have that whenever it is contributed by visitors or ‘well wishers’ – so far, about once a month.

So while it’s food that ‘does the job’ and fills us up, I do occasionally (okay – more than occasionally!) yearn for a bit of variety.  So this week it was great to have some special treats – and food that also reminded me of a Canadian summer.  Ice cream, corn on the cob and old fashioned comfort food.  Kenyan style of course….!

First – the ice cream.  The first I’ve had since March.  And because of that it was absolutely delicious!!  So here’s the story to go with it…..

On the weekend the children went to the Kisii Agricultural Show – sort of like Royal Winter Fair meets the CNE.  But, obviously, on a smaller scale.  Home of Grace had been invited to perform again this year – well, actually, Edina applied and after many, many hours of waiting and convincing we were put on the program.  This is a huge deal since dignitaries attend the show and that means a chance for good attention and even the possibility of cash donations.  (It is, after all, an election year here.)  A teacher from the neighbouring school wrote several poems for the children to recite and spent the last two weeks rehearsing with them.  Schols here are closed during the annual show so off we all went on the Friday – all 35 of us crushed into a mutatu / van.  (That in itself was an experience!.)

The official stadium program got delayed (surprise, surprise) and we didn’t get a chance to perform so we were invited to return the next day instead.  So, we headed back with 20 of the older children on Saturday.  This time they did get to perform – and because of the rain the stage was set up just metres from the guests of honour and politicians.  It’s hard to ignore 15 children reciting dramatic poems about the plight of orphans, the impact of AIDS and the injustice of child labour when they are literally right in front of you.  They did well – choral reading / dramatic recitation is an art form here.

And they were presented with 5000 shillings (about $60)  enough for the tranport charges, lunch, carnival rides – AND ICE CREAM!  It was the first time many of the younger children had ever had it (remember – no fridges and definitely no freezers!) and for the older ones the only other time they had enjoyed it was at last year’s show.  So it was a worthwhile day!!  The politicians promised more money for Home of Grace as well – but it was likely just political rhetoric.  We’ll wait and see….  Regardless, the children really enjoyed themselves – the rides and the ice cream, rather than performing at the stadium, were the high points.

Second – corn on the cob.

Here in this part of Kenya they grow maize – sort of a tough ‘cow corn’ variety of corn that is either ground into maize meal for ugali (our daily staple) or cooked and eaten with beans as a sort of stew.  What can I say?  It’s the staple diet here – but not my idea of corn.  So imagine my excitement when I found out this week that it was the time of year for ‘boiled maize’.  It is husked, cooked and eaten exactly like corn on the cob.  (Without the butter or pepper though…)  So – corn on the cob it has been all week long.  At school as a recess treat and at home for breakfast as well as for snacks.   While it definitely isn’t ‘peaches and cream’ (cow corn, remember?) it is as close as I’m going to get, so I’m making the most of it.  It is a big treat for everyone here so I roll with it.Finally, my favourite comfort food….

Yesterday Benta and I travelled to one of the boy’s schools.  It seems he has been having serious difficulty there and the headmaster was wanting him to be expelled.  (He’s in class / grade seven)  Anyway, it was a long, tough meeting but Benta and I ‘worked our magic’ and succeeded in having the headmaster agree to let him attend for two more weeks as a final trial.  So – here’s the food part of the story.  To celebrate surviving the gruelling meeting I introduced Benta to my kind of celebration food – cold coke and a chocolate bar.  Delicious and well earned.  (When the drama is over and we get to the happy ending I’ll fill you in on the details of Samwel’s school issues.  It’s an example of what I am now comingi to consider a classic Kenyan tale.)

So – that was some of my week – at least, from a gastronimic perspective.  Perhaps as you chow down on that barbecued hamburger you’ll think of me and the children…

Thanks, as always, for journeying along with me.  I have less than one month to go – I leave Kisii exactly four weeks from today.