An awesome handcart...

Sorry for the delay, but a week or so ago, I finished helping construct a handcart to be used in the community.


Many of them are wood, but this one is metal for extra durability. It was also great practice ahead of constructing a trailer for the tractor to helping with harvesting and general transport, which is slowed slightly while searching for an axel with a differential, which we identified as necessary for the stability of the trailer given the terrain it will be traversing.

In a recent blog entry titled “Life Changing,” I described, among other things, that nearly everything is reused, and the materials for this handcart were no exception; only welding rods and paint were purchased at this time. The axle and wheels are from an old wooden cart, the rods for the frame are reappropriated from something else, and you may or may not be able to tell, but all the flat sheets on the bottom and sides are cut and flattened 55-gallon drums. You know, the ones commonly used in the US as trash cans at parks and such.

We pounded them flat with a mallet and then cut them 1 inch at a time with a chisel and the mallet. We also cut a worn out steel-belted tire with a hacksaw for the “brakes” at the back, which are installed reusing some nuts and bolts with some homemade washers from left over sheet metal.

This handcart is very useful in the community for helping fetch water in 20-liter jugs, as well as other materials. There has been a water shortage lately that we have even felt; our host has enormous water storage tanks that he thought would keep us from realizing any water problems, but when he needed to refill them the local waterline had been broken by elephants that were looking for water several towns away. We have been able to fetch water from his well for washing (we buy pure drinking water), but we have seen ladies along the road carrying a full 20-liter jug balanced on their head (probably like 40lbs - I don't know how they do that!) from watering holes and boys on bikes can manage 3 of the jugs, but this cart has already allowed them to fetch a lot more in a single trip.

[Update: I saw it in use with one teenaged boy pulling it by the handles and about 6 younger boys around the sides and back kind of helping push. They had 7 or 8 of the water jugs, which the younger boys probably wouldn't have been able to carry theirs once filled. The cart was serving its purpose!]

Adventures in Cooking, Part I

Ever wonder what we eat in Kenya? A considerable amount of our time here has been spent learning to prepare new food, and old favorites in a new way. Before I began teaching, it felt like I spend about half of each day in the kitchen … not because there’s nothing better to do, but because if you want to eat, you’ll have to cook! There is no take out, no convenience stores … the closest thing to fast food in Ribe is a duka (small shop) that sells samaki (fried whole fish) in the evenings. It’s a good thing that we have really learned to like cooking over the last couple years, and that we have found a great friend and teacher here (Sophie to the rescue!). We have limited ingredients, but I’m trying to be as creative as possible …



First meal we made in Kenya, which became a staple: beef stew, green gram, and rice


Another staple: cabbage stew (cabbage, carrots, onion, garlic, tomato, Royco seasoning) with ugali (cornmeal … kind of like polenta or the rice part of bao)

An artichoke?

No, a tomoko! What is it in English? Maybe a custard apple?

Guacamole is totally a Kenyan food … they just don’t know it! Homemade guac with locally bought avocado, tomato, onion, garlic, dhania (cilantro), pili pili (hot sauce), a handpicked lime and our attempt at homemade corn tortillas (our Kenyan friends actually liked this dish).

Quiche a la jiko… since eggs and veggies are easily available, I made a quiche over the charcoal jiko stove by placing charcoal beneath and above the covered pot!

Fried rice ... we found a sauce that tastes like soy sauce left from the previous American resident of this house. So now we can have Asian food!

I’m trying to be as creative as possible, but without cookbooks or regular internet access, we are often stuck with the basics. Chris would remind me that eating for pleasure is a luxury of the affluent, but I still think we can come up with some variety using local resources.

So, if you have any suggestions for recipes, please let me know! Our staple foods are white flour, maize meal (corn flour), rice, eggs, milk, oil, tomatoes, onions, garlic, beans, cabbage, tomato paste, bullion seasoning … we occasionally have meat brought from Mombasa or seasonal fruits (mangoes, bananas, coconut) and veggies (eggplant, okra, carrots) from the local duka. We can also keep white bread, peanut butter, jam, margarine, coffee, and tea in the house. We can cook on the stove and “bake” over charcoal, but only in a round pot. Seriously, if can think of any good recipes that only use those ingredients, I’m all ears! (or, uh, eyes!)

Stay tuned for Part II … featuring a local recipe!

Life Changing

I just finished an awesome book that I highly recommend to everyone. It is
Blessed Unrest; How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World by Paul Hawken

Right before we left the States, we went to Borders for a couple specific books, and Lesley couldn’t resist looking through the $1 books out front. I teased her about it, but then had to swallow my words when I vaguely recognized the author of this book, the title intrigued me, and it was only one dollar. Not too long ago, I read a great commencement speech that Hawken gave, which was posted in a Design Thinking blog I follow. Plus, the title of the book seemed like it might correspond with our work in Kenya.

Little did I know just how much the material in the book and our setting here would complement each other! As I told Lesley the other day, “It has been a life changing book,” (on top of this life changing year in Kenya!) and I think I could read it a couple more times to absorb more of the very wide range of information he touches on. I was reading excerpts from it to her so frequently that she asked me many times to stop because she’ll read it after I finish it.

I’ll share this synopsis from the back cover of the book:

“Across the planet groups ranging from neighborhood associations to well-funded international organizations are confronting issues like the destruction of the environment, the abuses of free-market fundament-alism, social justice, and the loss of indigenous cultures. Though these groups share no unifying ideology or charismatic leader and are mostly unrecognized by politicians and the media, they are bringing about a profound transformation of human society.”

Blessed Unrest was published in 2007, which is the only reason I can imagine this New York Times Bestseller was only $1 now due to overstock, but their loss was certainly my gain, because I think this book is invaluable. I have already noted morsels that I can hopefully apply this year! Yet, since it was published a couple years ago, there were portions of the reading that made me feel way behind on this “movement,” especially considering all the research and breadth of knowledge Hawken shares! Nevertheless, it seems like it is never too late to join this “infinite game” which is a term he attributes to James Carson and explains that “the rules change whenever necessary to keep the game going” and they “pay it forward and fill future coffers.”

Within the book, Hawken writes that, “People trying to keep the game going are activists, conservationists, biophiles, nuns, immigrants, outsiders, puppeteers, protesters, Christians, biologists, permaculturists, refugees, green architects, doctors without borders, engineers without borders, reformers, healers, poets, environmental educators, organic farmers, Buddhists, rainwater harvesters, meddlers, meditators, mediators, agitators, schoolchildren, ecofeminists, biomimics, Muslims, and social entrepreneuers.”

Living in Ribe made a lot of the reading that much more real. Ribe includes a couple villages that probably have residents that are living at the $2 a day level (and yet they seem healthy and happy!) not to mention our awareness of the severity in the orphanages and slums near the cities, We are picking up the Kiswahili language pole-pole (slowly), but they also have their specific mother tongues such as Kiribe here in Ribe that they’ll sometimes throw in and thoroughly confuse us even more. Accordingly, a section of the book about cultures and languages dying and the importance of preserving them and the heritages of these people is something I can see everyday rather than not being able to relate at all. Another everyday presence that we are blessed with is local and organic foods, which the book touches on as well, but the people here probably have not considered that it is organic; as far as I can tell they do not have pesticides. They are concerned about rain and water, much the less "treatments" with adverse side-effects.

Sections of the book about the environment are just as undeniable when we see litter pretty much everywhere, and their “garbage dumps” are just fields full of trash that there are people actually going through for anything even marginally useful. Even our trash is tossed in a corner of the property and burned much to our chagrin. This is evidence of the Western world’s industries that have found their way to places that do not have the necessary infrastructures to handle them. Believe me when I say that the US is not better; it is only better at hiding our waste from exponentially worse consumption; gross over consumption. I have not found any recycling program here (at least the US and other nations have that going for them, but it is not nearly enough). Meanwhile, there is definitely reuse of as much as possible as I eluded to above; probably due to necessity more often than not.

But, to get back to the book, the text is only 190 pages, at which point an appendix begins. On page 193 the author writes, “Except for quotations, I wrote what you have read to this point in the book. Everything you read after this page was written by a community…” and then the book has a 100 page sampling of the categories of organizations in a database that he helped set-up and offers online “at the time this book was written. Although these numbers will be outdated because the database grows daily, they do provide a sense of the depth and breadth of organizations addressing specific interests.”

I have truly found Blessed Unrest fascinating. I realize I truly am interested in the life and writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (rather than just an appreciation of his quotes whenever I see them) and am now curious about some other people due to a chapter called Emerson’s Savants. It may go without saying that I also have a newly enhanced concern in a few areas of this “movement.”

Chris a Kenyan footballer?

Well, first I should explain that I have begun work on some projects, so I am not just playing football (soccer) with the kids and having fun all the time. I recently went with Tito and the local “engineer” (experienced handyman who knows how to weld) to look at a couple used (and at various stages of rusting) trailers for the tractor. We were inquiring about their costs because they had heard that they were for sale and we could have renovated them. However, it turns out they were not for sale, but a good scouting trip for design ideas and a quote on materials and labor as a starting point.

Meanwhile, my joining the futboli mazoezi (football practices) have led me to an interesting position… that is potentially a position on the field in their league beginning this weekend! I must share the conversation from Thursday in which I learned this information:

Jimmy: We are playing futboli this Saturday.
Me: Oh, yes, the tournament begins… (Tito showed me the schedule of the “Tito Cup Tournament” that he is sponsoring, and it is like a league for a couple months with semi-finals for the top teams)
Jimmy: Yes, we are playing, including you.
Me: Including me?!
Jimmy: Sure, if you can. Are you traveling?
Me: (hesitantly) Well, no, but I did not know I would be on your team. I thought I’d watch another game that is here at this field.
Jimmy: Oh, yes, you should play with us. We have a jersey for you, and socks. You will play number 7. If Tito wants you to travel you should tell him, “No, you’d like to play in the football games.”
Me: (laughing, and having learned that their field positions are numbered) What postion is number 7?
Jimmy: It is right forward.
Me: I’m not a very good forward.
Jimmy: Oh, you are defense?
Me: Yes, a defender.
Jimmy: I see, but the other team is very good, you have to be a strong defender (and a descriptive Swahili word that I did not catch).
Me: (laughing) Oh, so I am not good enough? Is that why I am put at forward?
Jimmy: Yes, see, you go to forward and they come attack you, and foul you, and if it is in the box we get a penalty kick and score! They will see a mzungu (white person) and come attack you, and you go down and we get the call (demonstrating how I’d fall, then whistling like a referee, and adding to my amusement).
Me: Geez! I would need pads!
Jimmy: We have some you can use… (I was joking about some real pads, but it probably did not come across culturally, and I’m sure he is talking about shin guards…)

The topic was changed by one of the other guys at that point, so I’m afraid I have not talked my way out of being on the team. There are several reasons I am hesitant to join them right away: I am still quite rusty and not quite back in shape for a full game of serious soccer, so he is probably correct that I am not good enough. Plus, after his descriptions, I am a little bit scared! Beyond that, if what he says is true, would that dynamic on the field be a very good atmosphere (for all, not only my safety), much less an acceptable tactic if they employed a trend of playing the ball to me trying to get it to happen?

Hmm, to play or not to play…

Church and School

[Ed note: This is from earlier this week, but we had internet issues. Sorry the posts are sporadic because our internet is sporadic!]

As of today we have been in Ribe for exactly 3 weeks. Time has gone very quickly, and it still feels like we are getting settled. We have taken everything relatively slowly, so it’s amazing to think that some short-term trips are here and home again in only two weeks, and how much they pack in. Our schedule, though, has enabled us to acclimate and actually “move” here rather than just visit. We hope that the work we do and the relationships we develop will be enhanced because we have taken the time to get to know the community better.

Church

We have now attended 3 different churches in Kenya: Nairobi Chapel, which was half English and half urban Swahili slang; Ribe Methodist, which was entirely coast Swahili except for “praise Jesus” and “would the visitors please come up here;” and Crossroads Fellowship, which was so American we could have thought we were in Wisconsin.

Attending Ribe Methodist was amusing not only because we couldn’t understand anything they said, but also because of all the cultural phenomenon we didn’t really understand, either. When we arrived we sat together, only to later realize that one side of the aisle was almost all women and the other side almost all men. We still have not figured out if that is intentional, but there is slight mixing so we feel okay sitting together. There were many hymns for which you were supposed to provide your own hymnal, and people very kindly handed us hymnals so we could belt out syllables that were still mostly nonsense to us (though we recognized the tune for Amazing Grace).

As expected, the church runs on Kenya time, which means that the 10 am service has “intro” music from 10:10 to 10:20 or so, finally people start to trickle in by 10:30. Then, church lasted almost 3 hours! No fewer than 10 people got up to say something lengthy (prayer, sermon, announcements, we weren’t really sure). When Tito arrived later, being the district councilor, he got up front, called us up again to “officially” introduce us, and then the service seemed to evolve into a town meeting for a bit!

One of the most unusual things was that after the offering there was an auction of physical offerings. We had heard that this is fairly common; for their tithe, many rural people will bring whatever they produce: maize, bananas, mangos, a live chicken, etc. Luckily we had just learned our numbers in Kiswahili and were able to pay “hamsini” (50 shillings) for a bunch of bananas. The funniest thing was the fact that after the auction, the service went on for a while with the recently-sold chicken trying to escape between the pews, capturing our attention, but with little concern from the Kenyans since its legs were tied together.

Located in a wealthy suburb of Mombasa, Crossroads Fellowship was the exact opposite. The pastors as Crossroads are some American missionaries serving in the Mombasa area who are supported by various Baptist churches including Fox River in Waukesha, WI. Two weeks ago we emailed the missionaries asking about their church, only to find out that one missionary couple was home on medical leave and the other was leaving for a 6-month furlough in 4 days!

Luckily we could attend that weekend (which was comparable to Fox River, Elmbrook, IPC, or any other big American church) and connected with the family who was about to leave and they introduced us to some other local missionaries as well as one girl in particular from Waukesha, WI who is here doing volunteer work with schools and orphanages for 3 months. Kristen is about our age and we hung out with her and some other folks from the church again last weekend. She is staying in one of the missionary’s home right by the beach so we had a chance to enjoy an oceadside Italian dinner (pizza and pasta never tasted so good!) and swim in the Indian Ocean.

We are very thankful that Crossroads provides the opportunity for us to worship in a familiar environment as well as “retreat” from the small rural community, but it takes us almost two hours to get there so we will continue to split our time between churches.

Picture: Us at the Indian Ocean

School

A couple weeks ago we met with the headteacher of Ribe Primary School to discuss what subjects would be appropriate to teach, and I (Lesley) am teaching Class 6 (6th grade) mathematics and Class 7 (7th grade) English. We determined that Chris will not be teaching a course right now because of varying time commitments with community projects, but he has already been very active in the school by participating in soccer matches! Last week we observed teachers and worked on lesson plans, and this week I began teaching.

So far it is a little overwhelming, since I have 60 students in English and at least 77 students in math. The kids are good: they listen well, respect the teachers, and try hard, but it is difficult to assess how much they are learning. Today I tried to “mark” (grade) about 50 English compositions and 70 math assignments, and learned that I will either have to limit the problems I assign or they will have to grade their own in class. I’m sure I will write more about school in the near future, including the needs we have observed here, so stay tuned.

Time... and money

Lesley recently shared our observation on the American focus on time, and it seems like just as “a watched kettle doesn’t boil,” such a focus on time never seems to provide enough of it to do some of the finer things you know you ought to do, or you’d even enjoy if you made time.

A departure from that is something I suspected would be different here in Ribe, which I anticipated and hoped for. I longed for the opportunity to begin a new habit of taking time to read before going to bed, and began to do so even before we left the states. I finally finished several of the half a dozen books I was somewhere in the middle of…

Anyway, with this newfound time and habit of reading, I have decided I’d like to read the whole Bible this year – a somewhat daunting task; there are definitely parts I have never read, and perhaps more intimidating by the fact that there exist outlines and plans to follow to accomplish it, so I have put those aside to try to keep it from becoming a “task I must do” and I began with Genesis. [edit: I am now in Exodus and added a Psalm and several Proverbs to my night since I remembered there are so many!]

Reading Genesis [was] good; mostly familiar stories, but a few sections I don’t know well, and passages that I have probably read, but catch my eye in a new way. One of those short passages was Gen. 13:1-2 that states that “Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold."

This likely caught my eye based on our setting here in Kenya, but for more reasons than you might think! First of all, similar to how “Abram went up from Egypt,” those who have moved to the cities of Mombasa or Nairobi for work frequently travel “up country” (often much further than Tito does when coming home to Ribe) to visit family in their hometowns.

Some "up country" beyond Ribe

More notably in the Bible verses is that, yes, Abram’s wealth in livestock is perhaps most applicable to the villages and small towns around here, and so it stood out to me that God also seems to put an importance on fiscal savings in the details about silver and gold. It is far to early for us to know whether many folks in Ribe are in the position to save much money or if they are pretty much harvest season to the next or even shorter, and we may never really be in a position to determine either way, but I can guarantee they are not on a tight budget because of maxed out lines of credit.

A fascinating development in Kenya is the use of a service called M-PESA that is offered by one of the cell phone and internet providers to store money on your phone for many uses such as pay for products at certain vendors, send money to family and friends, and apparently even pay bills as of recently. I just read an article about M-PESA, and found it interesting how it was actually recognized with a “Changing Lives” award because among other uses, it “was utilized by Concern Worldwide to distribute funds to households in a rural community that was adversely affected by the post-election crisis” last winter.

Yet, even before seeing this article, a friend explained that M-PESA is great not only for the convenience that he’s found it to be, but it has actually provided a means for more Kenyans to save money where they would not have sought out a bank, or even had easy enough access to one. He described that the banks have tried to shut it down with no success and little support from the people, and went on to say that it is a shame that the banks in the U.S. would probably never let something like this even get started.

Well, that is pretty much the basis of why that passage of the Bible jumped out at me with some true life application areas for the people here.

Sophie

Hello from Ribe ... where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are ... just kidding. In all seriousness, the women in Ribe are very strong - both physically and mentally. One such woman I have been blessed to befriend is Sophie, and I want to tell you about her.

We met Sophie our second day here when Tito walked us through the place where he grew up, Mango Village (a village within the town of Ribe). Sophie’s house was the first place we stopped and when he mentioned her great cooking, I asked if she could teach me some things. She showed up at our house the next day to teach and “accompany” us (what a pleasant term she used!). We have seen her about every other day or more frequently since then!

Picture: Sophie & Lesley


Sophie is 27, has been married to her husband Chai (Tito’s cousin) for 7 years, and has a 5 year old son named Nesta who also hangs out at our house after he is done with school. Sophie is interesting, intelligent, humble and so gracious about teaching us how to live our daily lives in Ribe. She completed secondary school, which is pretty educated for this area, so we can communicate in English while she and Nesta teach us Kiswahili (the Swahili language). In addition to teaching us how to cook, clean, do laundry, and speak the language, Sophie has blessed us with her joyful spirit and ambitious goals. Over the last few years she has received a few loans to start small businesses, including a video room (i.e. a mini movie theater) and a motorbike for her husband to use as a taxi service (which is very common here). Additionally, she is a volunteer health worker in the community and very active in her son’s education.

Picture: Chris & Nesta

One time I asked Sophie about her favorite subjects in school and what her goals are, and she mentioned that she would really like to learn about computers. So we have begun a series of computer lessons – from learning what a computer is and how to turn it on to learning to type to introducing the concept of the Internet! We have even begun talking about the idea that after I teach Sophie, she could teach other women in the community. I really feel that God has provided this amazing opportunity for us to learn from someone and teach at the same time, sharing our different areas of knowledge for the overall betterment of the community. Sophie also mentioned that she became a Christian a couple years ago and is still learning about the faith, so there may be great opportunities for Bible study, discipleship and learning in this area, too.

I am so thankful to have a friend and sister already in Ribe, and ask that you continue to pray for our relationship and for the opportunities that may be coming in Sophie's life.