Last weekend, I went to a co-worker's village. We did two major things during this period. First, this is Kenya, so we had a big meal prepared by his mother. Second, in very unKenyan fashion, we climbed one of the foothills of Mt. Elgon.
One of the neatest things about visiting Geoffrey's village was meeting people that knew him on the street every two feet. It made me realize that in a village it really is possible to know almost everyone. Since I've always lived in a city, I have never experienced this phenomenon. The second thing that proved fun was addressing everyone using "How are you?" in Bukusu (the local language). I also aided Canada's reputation by telling an old Kenyan man in the local bar (owned by Geoffrey's brother-in-law) that Canada was not part of the United States. I think I've done my patriotic duty.
While climbing the little foothill, I found out that I am quite out of shape. As always, I was amazed by the Kenyans who live in the area. (Quite comfortingly Geoffrey was also panting on his way up the hill). It was our impromptu guide who amazed me. He was a young man who turned out to be a old neighbour to Geoffrey. He met us half way up the hill as we were resting on some rocks. Mt. Elgon and area are ancient volcanos. If the big rocks with characteristic volcanic bubbles didn't convince me I was looking at an old volcano, the dark, almost black soil caused by the volcanic ash would have. But Geoffrey's neighbour amazed me because he climbed the rocks AND nimbly skipped down the hill in FLIP FLOPS. As you all know I'm a complete klutz, I managed to fall down the hill at one point in my expensive Canadian hikers.
All that being said, it was incredible to climb up a hill that people were using to grow corn and graze their cattle. How they made it up the hill I'm not sure. We even bought sugar cane for a quick snack on the way down. Yes, we used sugar cane bought from a local villager in much the way I would have eaten a granola bar at home. Admittedly, it was probably organice and environmentally friendly since it just came as the cane without any packaging. We also heard drums from church services throughout the rock. Between the Kenyans peacefully tending their cattle, or hanging out on rocks, and the church music it was a positively idyllic African afternoon.
The only thing to mar this picture was hearing an female genital mutilation (FGM) ceremony. The Saboat in Mt. Elgon still practice FGM although it is technically illegal. One chief at our training told the participants that he didn't want to see any of that in his region. It is considered a harmful cultural practice in Kenya, and therefore, unconstitutional with Kenya's constitution. So hopefully it will be ending soon. On the bright side, one girl told me that men in some areas were starting to refuse to marry girls who had FGM because they weren't very good in bed for obvious reasons. I think this turn of events might be the most useful thing in stopping FGM.
Anyways, onto a more pleasant topic. I ate some of the best chicken at Geoffrey's house. There's something comforting in knowing that just hours before someone had personally slaughtered that chicken. Bizarrely we had to keep chasing away the chickens from the table where we were eating outside. You'd think that the chickens wouldn't want to be around people eating their brethren. Actually, I think that would be grounds for a revolt in my world, rather than a cause to go and say hello. I suppose it's chickens proving their stupidity. I have to admit that my animal rights activist self has become a great deal less strong since moving to Kenya where livestock is always around and always safely in the food category.
My visit to Geoffrey's village does provide an opportunity to describe what most, although Geoffrey's was nice, look like. They have a main house and a separate house for cooking. There's also always a portion set aside for substitence farming. However, the most interesting phenomenon in Bukusu culture for me is something called a Simba (meaning lion in kiswahili). After circumsision, boys move into a Simba. It is a separate sleeping quarters from the main house. Geoffrey has built himself a very nice simba that his younger brothers now live in. I thought it was a little cruel to make boys between the ages of 10 and 14 basically move out of their parents house. However, since the parents house is mere meters away and the kitchen is not even in the house it seems like an okay system. It reminds me of moving to the basement where you get your own space. The boys I talked to seemed to like having a simba. I have to admit I'm still rather confused where this practice comes from, but I guess if it works.
Welcome to a slice of village life.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Kristin's Kisumu
So my new roommate took me to Kisumu recently. She visited Kisumu as a student several times, meaning that she knows the town. This one was my third time in Kisumu. It's Kenya's third largest city, resting laguidly on the banks of Lake Victoria. Apparently there's hippos out in the lake. I keep promising myself that someday I will actually pay the money to go out in a boat for a quick looksie. So far, no dice.
Instead, I spent my weekend in Kisumu fulfilling my need for rest and relaxation. The Friday night, Kristin took me out for kuku choma (roasted chicken). It's a tradition that's taken off all over Kenya. Tribes used to eat it at celebrations, but now you can find various types of choma all over the country. This particular choma restaurant catered to your average kenyan. And Kristin and I paired our kuku choma with some ugali so we could call ourselves truly Kenyan. Ugali is the principal plate of Kenya. It's a thick, white paste that can be rolled into balls made out of corn flour. Usually people eat ugali with meat stew and vegetables. Kenyans adore ugali. One Kenyan told me that he hadn't eaten unless he had eaten some ugali. This stance means that pasta, pizza, meat and potatoes or any other type of Western food counts as a snack for your average Kenyan. Also, every Kenyan is absolutely shocked that Canadians do not include ugali in their daily diets. In the night air of Kisumu, ugali and kuku choma were perfect.
My second cultural experience of the night was an outting to the local African nightclub called "Sunspot." I loved this nightclub. It played only african music from various countries. Music from the Congo in Lingala is quite popular. In general, African music is quite chill with beats akin to reggae (another music style most Kenyans enjoy). And, of course, people dance. I found the Kenyan club experience to be really chill. I didn't feel any pressure to dress in a particular way either. I went in a t-shirt and pants and had a ton of fun. Most of the Kenyan women were more dressed up than I, admittedly. I felt so little pressure to look, act or dance a certain way at the Kenyan club that I couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't my exemption as a foreigner from the culture's pressures. Obviously, it doesn't mean the same thing for me to go to the club as it does for a Kenyan woman.
After a chat with my co-worker, I think I have a better idea of what a club would be like for a Kenyan girl. For starters, Kenyan women don't want to pick up at the club. It's only going to be a one night stand. The most popular pick up joint in Kenya is actually church. Not surprising I suppose considering the number of people that go to church. Also, there's stories about how men go to church pretending to be faithful until they find a nice girl, and then completely abandoning their faith. Back to the club experience though. Going to a club, as a Kenyan woman, connotes some liberality because generally nice girls don't frequent clubs or at least not often. Also, clubs host many prostitutes. I suppose it's best as a guy to be wary at the club of being picked up by a prostitute.
As for me, I had a blast dancing and watching the locals dance. It was also the first time that a guy danced to impress me. He shook his hips and moved his shoulders beside me. I have to admit that the effect he wanted was somewhat lost on me because it just made me laugh. Still had a blast.
The next day was spent chillaxin' by the pool at the Kisumu Hotel. Most of the people in the pool were white foreigners because most Kenyans do not know how to swim. As a general rule, Kenyans are terrified of water. In Webuye, I had the pleasure of watching a little Kennyan boy learn how to swim. I have to admit that it was quite amusing. The boy wouldn't put his face in the water. Imagine a front crawl without your face in the water while your arms windmill into the water creating big splashes as your head awkwardly turns to try and keep pace with your arms. It made my neck sore just watching the boy's head shake back and forth to match his spinning arms. Of course, the amount of chlorine in the pool kept me from putting my head in for any length of time, but serious swimming requires a good pair of goggles.
After the pool, we went to the mall for a good cup of coffee and piece of cake. It was the weirdest thing to see a mall with a parking lot in the middle of Kenya. This one looked and felt just like a mall in Canada. Of course, the iced coffee and chocolate cake were a welcome treat. Not sure why I miss coffee shops so much when abroad, but it's a place that I miss.
Finally, we went to a concert. I'm not even sure what the name of the artist was now. It was at a little bar. The stage was quite far back from the crowd and the performers weren't really paying that much attention to the audience. Weirdest was that to one side of the "stage" a tailor worked presumably on showing costumes. Perhaps we were just too early, but it was the strangest concert I've ever been to.
The neatest part of the concert was the dancing. They had employed one dancer, although half way through he was joined by a street kid. Man, could these boys dance. To this day, I don't understand how they isolated their hips to make that movement. The street kid started getting cheers from the crowd. Coolest though was that he motioned me to come dance with him. So me and Kristin went out to show him some mzungu (white person) moves. The white people dances basically invovle lots of big arms and some of the classics, such as the shopping cart, swim, skiier, bus driver etc. He copied us and we tried to copy him. This kid had such sass about him. Quite gutsy really to barge into a concert and start dancing. I was sad to see him sniffing glue because I thought he had such talent. Another example of how poverty causes lots of wasted potential.
Anyhoo, that was my weekend in Kristin's Kisumu. I think we managed to hit all her favourite spots including the nice hotel with free wifi. Oh and we went out for kick-ass indian food. For a place with a fairly substantial indian population, I'm not sure why indian restaurants aren't more common, but such is life.
Here's a quick recipe for Ugali
Corn flour
Water
Boil the water. Pour in the flour. Stir until you have a thick paste or dough. Some Kenyans say that it should burn a little at the bottom to be properly cooked.
Instead, I spent my weekend in Kisumu fulfilling my need for rest and relaxation. The Friday night, Kristin took me out for kuku choma (roasted chicken). It's a tradition that's taken off all over Kenya. Tribes used to eat it at celebrations, but now you can find various types of choma all over the country. This particular choma restaurant catered to your average kenyan. And Kristin and I paired our kuku choma with some ugali so we could call ourselves truly Kenyan. Ugali is the principal plate of Kenya. It's a thick, white paste that can be rolled into balls made out of corn flour. Usually people eat ugali with meat stew and vegetables. Kenyans adore ugali. One Kenyan told me that he hadn't eaten unless he had eaten some ugali. This stance means that pasta, pizza, meat and potatoes or any other type of Western food counts as a snack for your average Kenyan. Also, every Kenyan is absolutely shocked that Canadians do not include ugali in their daily diets. In the night air of Kisumu, ugali and kuku choma were perfect.
My second cultural experience of the night was an outting to the local African nightclub called "Sunspot." I loved this nightclub. It played only african music from various countries. Music from the Congo in Lingala is quite popular. In general, African music is quite chill with beats akin to reggae (another music style most Kenyans enjoy). And, of course, people dance. I found the Kenyan club experience to be really chill. I didn't feel any pressure to dress in a particular way either. I went in a t-shirt and pants and had a ton of fun. Most of the Kenyan women were more dressed up than I, admittedly. I felt so little pressure to look, act or dance a certain way at the Kenyan club that I couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't my exemption as a foreigner from the culture's pressures. Obviously, it doesn't mean the same thing for me to go to the club as it does for a Kenyan woman.
After a chat with my co-worker, I think I have a better idea of what a club would be like for a Kenyan girl. For starters, Kenyan women don't want to pick up at the club. It's only going to be a one night stand. The most popular pick up joint in Kenya is actually church. Not surprising I suppose considering the number of people that go to church. Also, there's stories about how men go to church pretending to be faithful until they find a nice girl, and then completely abandoning their faith. Back to the club experience though. Going to a club, as a Kenyan woman, connotes some liberality because generally nice girls don't frequent clubs or at least not often. Also, clubs host many prostitutes. I suppose it's best as a guy to be wary at the club of being picked up by a prostitute.
As for me, I had a blast dancing and watching the locals dance. It was also the first time that a guy danced to impress me. He shook his hips and moved his shoulders beside me. I have to admit that the effect he wanted was somewhat lost on me because it just made me laugh. Still had a blast.
The next day was spent chillaxin' by the pool at the Kisumu Hotel. Most of the people in the pool were white foreigners because most Kenyans do not know how to swim. As a general rule, Kenyans are terrified of water. In Webuye, I had the pleasure of watching a little Kennyan boy learn how to swim. I have to admit that it was quite amusing. The boy wouldn't put his face in the water. Imagine a front crawl without your face in the water while your arms windmill into the water creating big splashes as your head awkwardly turns to try and keep pace with your arms. It made my neck sore just watching the boy's head shake back and forth to match his spinning arms. Of course, the amount of chlorine in the pool kept me from putting my head in for any length of time, but serious swimming requires a good pair of goggles.
After the pool, we went to the mall for a good cup of coffee and piece of cake. It was the weirdest thing to see a mall with a parking lot in the middle of Kenya. This one looked and felt just like a mall in Canada. Of course, the iced coffee and chocolate cake were a welcome treat. Not sure why I miss coffee shops so much when abroad, but it's a place that I miss.
Finally, we went to a concert. I'm not even sure what the name of the artist was now. It was at a little bar. The stage was quite far back from the crowd and the performers weren't really paying that much attention to the audience. Weirdest was that to one side of the "stage" a tailor worked presumably on showing costumes. Perhaps we were just too early, but it was the strangest concert I've ever been to.
The neatest part of the concert was the dancing. They had employed one dancer, although half way through he was joined by a street kid. Man, could these boys dance. To this day, I don't understand how they isolated their hips to make that movement. The street kid started getting cheers from the crowd. Coolest though was that he motioned me to come dance with him. So me and Kristin went out to show him some mzungu (white person) moves. The white people dances basically invovle lots of big arms and some of the classics, such as the shopping cart, swim, skiier, bus driver etc. He copied us and we tried to copy him. This kid had such sass about him. Quite gutsy really to barge into a concert and start dancing. I was sad to see him sniffing glue because I thought he had such talent. Another example of how poverty causes lots of wasted potential.
Anyhoo, that was my weekend in Kristin's Kisumu. I think we managed to hit all her favourite spots including the nice hotel with free wifi. Oh and we went out for kick-ass indian food. For a place with a fairly substantial indian population, I'm not sure why indian restaurants aren't more common, but such is life.
Here's a quick recipe for Ugali
Corn flour
Water
Boil the water. Pour in the flour. Stir until you have a thick paste or dough. Some Kenyans say that it should burn a little at the bottom to be properly cooked.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
October Highlights
So I've decided to update my blog which appears to be slowly dying. I'm starting with October before moving onto November. As you were all merrily enjoying Autumn, I was enjoying the short rains in Kenya. I had three major events in October: 1) Kericho, 2) Uganda, and 3) Kakamega Forest.
Kericho
Kericho is still in Western Kenya, but, unlike Bungoma, it's a tea growing region. I'm sure most of you can guess that was the draw for me. I adore tea so I really wanted to see how tea is made. Me, and a two fellow German enthusiats, went picking in the tea fields and then headed to the factory. Tea has got to be one of the prettiest crops I've seen. They are waist-high green bushes whose leaves become the most delectable drink of all time. It's almost all hand picked because you need to pick the top three leaves only. Machines aren't quite that particular. Tea is also a pretty cool plant because the same same leaves can me made into white, green or black tea.
I didn't actually stop at picking on the tea plantation - I went to the factory as well. Unlike other places in the world, more than half of the tea factories in Kenya are farmer owned. By owning the factories, the farmers can ensure a fairer price for their tea although they are not fair trade.
I found the factory really interesting but I'm not so sure all of you will be as enthralled. Basically, the process goes something like this: 1) wither the leaves, 2) cut and tear them, 3) oxidize them (this step is only for black tea), 4) dry 'em out 5) sort for the best quality 6) pack and ship 'em out. It's quite sad actually that all the best tea, as well as coffee, is exported. For a nation that grows some of the best coffee, the average Kenyan drinks instant. The tea is of a slightly better quality from the supermarket, but the sad fact is that you're probably drinking better tea outside the country than inside. Tetly is actually one of the producers that buys the tea from the Momul factory we visited.
Oh the other interesting thing about Kericho was the Tea Hotel. It was built in the 1950s. While a stunning building, unlike most of Kenyan architecture, it reeked of colonialism. There was such a palatial feel to this building that it turned me off. It's the first place I've really seen like that in Kenya.
Uganda
Where to start? Well, I went three places in Uganda: 1) Kampala, 2) Entebbe, and 3) Jinja. I actually have less to say about Kampala. I kinda skipped the tourist attractions and focused on all the things I can't get in Bungoma. I went straight for the coffeeshop and english bookstore. I was just so excited to be in a city. I bought two books on development - Dead Aid by Dombisa Moyo and one about food security. Dead Aid was fantastic. Totally read. I'll write a post about it because it was just that good. umm Kampala as a city. It's a busy city with an army of motorbike taxis. I was constantly lost in Kampala.
Entebbe was completely different. It's only about an hour away from Kampala, but the picture perfect resort right on Lake Victoria. Lake Victoris is the massive lake in the middle of East Africa that touchs Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. I keep wishing there was a ferry across it, but it's not to be.
The big highlight of Entebbe though was the Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Ngama Island. Apparently there are chimpanzee sanctuaries all over the world including Louisana in the US. In the name of honesty though, the chimp sancuary was expensive and kinda felt like a zoo. The chimps are allowed to roam free, but visitors are allowed to see the feedings. I have to admit they do act a lot like humans. I was amazed to find them clapping and holding out their hands for food. They do share 96% of their genes with humans though so not sure why I'm surprised. I think there's a difference between knowing that chimps and humans are remarkably similar and seeing it. I'm happy to report though that humans are a great deal less violent than chimps. The chimps we saw fought tooth and nail over food. Actually, chimpanzees in sanctuaries often cannot be re-introduced into the wild because if another chimpanzee group is in the area the two groups will fight to the death for the territory. They also don't share. The guide told me that the only thing chimps share is breast milk. He mentioned this during a story about chimps returning to the spot where another chimp had died in a type of mourning ritual. I found that a fascinating tidbit to imagine another animal engaging in some type of mourning. Anyways, that was the chimps. Darn cute though. Oh if you are interested, this chimp sanctuary offered a caregiver experience. It's a lot of money but you get to feed the chimps, put them to bed, have them climb on you etc. Sounded pretty sweet, but of course I didn't have the money/time to go for it.
Onto Jinja, my last stop in Uganda. I really liked Jinja. It also goes down as the place where I had my most adventuresome motorbike ride. The Lonely Planet mentioned a textile shop near Jinja. So we asked some local motorbike drivers to take us there. They asked around and apparently thought they knew where they were going. As I'm about to motor off, a ugandan guy tells me, "I want to make love to you." I kind of stare at him strangely while motioning for my motorbike driver to step on it. Then we're waiting in traffic on the bridge crossing the Nile, and two guys start talking to me in Lugandan (the local language). My motorbike driver is nice enough to translate: "You're beautiful and we love you because you're beautiful." The most bizarre part of this experience is not so much the protestations of undying affection, but the fact that the driver and his passenger are wedged tightly together. I'm aware that homosocial relationships are often expressed very differently in other parts of the world, such as men holding hands in Uganda does not connote homosexuality. However, when protesting love to someone I think it's better not to be holding another guy too close. That's just me though. If all the love I'm getting from the ugandan men isn't enough, my driver stops to fill up the bike. And somehow or other she puts too much in. And he argues ad nauseum with the poor woman. Finally, she asks me if I've paid and if not, then maybe I can pay her. So I pay for my driver's gas. This ride was also exciting because we had to stop several places to ask for directions. Voila! We finally make it to the textile factory. I thought it was pretty cool to see all the hand-looms. The size of the was quite astonishing. I'll add a pic for everyone to see.
The final highlight of Uganda was rafting the Nile. I'm incredibly lucky to have gone now because they are building a new dam that will get rid of about half of the rapids forever. The best part about raftin on the Nile though is that it's not too cold when you fall in. Plus the water is quite deep so it's fairly hard to get hurt.I should know since our raft flipped 5 times (once was the safety demonstration, but still lots of flips!) So much fun. And the scenery is absolutely beautiful. Our company fed us pineapple and cookies in the middle of the trip to keep our energy up. The only downside to the Nile was that the rapids tended to be fairly far apart. So you'd better be prepared to paddle.
Unlike my rafting trip in Canada, I saw way more wildlife. There were a couple different types of birds, some lizards, two eagles, and some bats. Luckily, I missed any of the crocs that are apparently in the water. The weirdest part of the wildlife was actually man-made if you will. Ugandans have been quite busy cutting down the indigenous rainforest in order to plant pine. I was quite surprised to see pine (trees from my native country) on the banks of the Nile. Not only do they look horribly out of place, but they change the pH in the soil making it impossible to simply re-plant the indigenous forest. They plant pine because it grows faster making it easier to produce paper and fire wood. Uganda has a deforestation rate of 3% per year though. Anyways, it's still a beautiful place, but environmental problems definitely exist.
I found Ugandans on a whole to be a lot more chill than Kenyans. I think I noticed this most at the market place. I'm currently used to the Kenyan bargaining style where you talk lots and try to get him down by quite a bit. I went in all ready to bargain and the woman didn't really move all that much. Nor did she make any major comments regarding how the merchandise was so nice and that I was already getting a good deal. Oh no, she just kinda looked uncomfortable. I bought the scarves anyways, but it was definitely a less intense experience than most of my bargaining here in Kenya (although truth be told I'm not that good at it. . . )
Kakamega Forest
After heading off to Uganda, my friend and I took a quick trip to the Kakamega Forest. I only live about 2 hours away from this national park. This forest is all that's left of the rainforest that stretched all the way from the Congo to Western Kenya. I'm quite sad that it's mostly gone now.
This place goees down as the most magical I've been to in Kenya. There's something special about a walk through the rainforest. To know that those trees have been there for hundreds of years. Even though we were slighly unlucky in the sense that it rained so we saw very little wildlife, I still felt the magic of being under that green canopy. I felt like it could have been a millenia ago before humans even walked the earth.
Some of my guides stories about some of the tribes traditions were quite interesting. There's one tree that will cure typhoid if you run to it, then around it 9 times, followed by running all the way home. The catch is though that you can't look back on the way home. Similarly, another tree can cure infertility if a woman takes a pot with water to the sacred tree. She drinks the water from home, but leaves the pot behind. When she returns for the pot, she drinks the rainwater it has collected in the interim. Then voila, the baby will come.
Ok, so these two beliefs I'm not so sure about. On the other hand, some of the plants do have medicinal purposes. Our guide was part of a group that has started a tree nursery where local healers etc. can come to gather those plants, rather than heading into the forest. This is just one example of some of the initiatives that have been started to conserve the wilderness.
Anyhoo, that's all she wrote for October. I also managed to do some work during that month so never fear.
Kericho
Kericho is still in Western Kenya, but, unlike Bungoma, it's a tea growing region. I'm sure most of you can guess that was the draw for me. I adore tea so I really wanted to see how tea is made. Me, and a two fellow German enthusiats, went picking in the tea fields and then headed to the factory. Tea has got to be one of the prettiest crops I've seen. They are waist-high green bushes whose leaves become the most delectable drink of all time. It's almost all hand picked because you need to pick the top three leaves only. Machines aren't quite that particular. Tea is also a pretty cool plant because the same same leaves can me made into white, green or black tea.
I didn't actually stop at picking on the tea plantation - I went to the factory as well. Unlike other places in the world, more than half of the tea factories in Kenya are farmer owned. By owning the factories, the farmers can ensure a fairer price for their tea although they are not fair trade.
I found the factory really interesting but I'm not so sure all of you will be as enthralled. Basically, the process goes something like this: 1) wither the leaves, 2) cut and tear them, 3) oxidize them (this step is only for black tea), 4) dry 'em out 5) sort for the best quality 6) pack and ship 'em out. It's quite sad actually that all the best tea, as well as coffee, is exported. For a nation that grows some of the best coffee, the average Kenyan drinks instant. The tea is of a slightly better quality from the supermarket, but the sad fact is that you're probably drinking better tea outside the country than inside. Tetly is actually one of the producers that buys the tea from the Momul factory we visited.
Oh the other interesting thing about Kericho was the Tea Hotel. It was built in the 1950s. While a stunning building, unlike most of Kenyan architecture, it reeked of colonialism. There was such a palatial feel to this building that it turned me off. It's the first place I've really seen like that in Kenya.
Uganda
Where to start? Well, I went three places in Uganda: 1) Kampala, 2) Entebbe, and 3) Jinja. I actually have less to say about Kampala. I kinda skipped the tourist attractions and focused on all the things I can't get in Bungoma. I went straight for the coffeeshop and english bookstore. I was just so excited to be in a city. I bought two books on development - Dead Aid by Dombisa Moyo and one about food security. Dead Aid was fantastic. Totally read. I'll write a post about it because it was just that good. umm Kampala as a city. It's a busy city with an army of motorbike taxis. I was constantly lost in Kampala.
Entebbe was completely different. It's only about an hour away from Kampala, but the picture perfect resort right on Lake Victoria. Lake Victoris is the massive lake in the middle of East Africa that touchs Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. I keep wishing there was a ferry across it, but it's not to be.
The big highlight of Entebbe though was the Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Ngama Island. Apparently there are chimpanzee sanctuaries all over the world including Louisana in the US. In the name of honesty though, the chimp sancuary was expensive and kinda felt like a zoo. The chimps are allowed to roam free, but visitors are allowed to see the feedings. I have to admit they do act a lot like humans. I was amazed to find them clapping and holding out their hands for food. They do share 96% of their genes with humans though so not sure why I'm surprised. I think there's a difference between knowing that chimps and humans are remarkably similar and seeing it. I'm happy to report though that humans are a great deal less violent than chimps. The chimps we saw fought tooth and nail over food. Actually, chimpanzees in sanctuaries often cannot be re-introduced into the wild because if another chimpanzee group is in the area the two groups will fight to the death for the territory. They also don't share. The guide told me that the only thing chimps share is breast milk. He mentioned this during a story about chimps returning to the spot where another chimp had died in a type of mourning ritual. I found that a fascinating tidbit to imagine another animal engaging in some type of mourning. Anyways, that was the chimps. Darn cute though. Oh if you are interested, this chimp sanctuary offered a caregiver experience. It's a lot of money but you get to feed the chimps, put them to bed, have them climb on you etc. Sounded pretty sweet, but of course I didn't have the money/time to go for it.
Onto Jinja, my last stop in Uganda. I really liked Jinja. It also goes down as the place where I had my most adventuresome motorbike ride. The Lonely Planet mentioned a textile shop near Jinja. So we asked some local motorbike drivers to take us there. They asked around and apparently thought they knew where they were going. As I'm about to motor off, a ugandan guy tells me, "I want to make love to you." I kind of stare at him strangely while motioning for my motorbike driver to step on it. Then we're waiting in traffic on the bridge crossing the Nile, and two guys start talking to me in Lugandan (the local language). My motorbike driver is nice enough to translate: "You're beautiful and we love you because you're beautiful." The most bizarre part of this experience is not so much the protestations of undying affection, but the fact that the driver and his passenger are wedged tightly together. I'm aware that homosocial relationships are often expressed very differently in other parts of the world, such as men holding hands in Uganda does not connote homosexuality. However, when protesting love to someone I think it's better not to be holding another guy too close. That's just me though. If all the love I'm getting from the ugandan men isn't enough, my driver stops to fill up the bike. And somehow or other she puts too much in. And he argues ad nauseum with the poor woman. Finally, she asks me if I've paid and if not, then maybe I can pay her. So I pay for my driver's gas. This ride was also exciting because we had to stop several places to ask for directions. Voila! We finally make it to the textile factory. I thought it was pretty cool to see all the hand-looms. The size of the was quite astonishing. I'll add a pic for everyone to see.
The final highlight of Uganda was rafting the Nile. I'm incredibly lucky to have gone now because they are building a new dam that will get rid of about half of the rapids forever. The best part about raftin on the Nile though is that it's not too cold when you fall in. Plus the water is quite deep so it's fairly hard to get hurt.I should know since our raft flipped 5 times (once was the safety demonstration, but still lots of flips!) So much fun. And the scenery is absolutely beautiful. Our company fed us pineapple and cookies in the middle of the trip to keep our energy up. The only downside to the Nile was that the rapids tended to be fairly far apart. So you'd better be prepared to paddle.
Unlike my rafting trip in Canada, I saw way more wildlife. There were a couple different types of birds, some lizards, two eagles, and some bats. Luckily, I missed any of the crocs that are apparently in the water. The weirdest part of the wildlife was actually man-made if you will. Ugandans have been quite busy cutting down the indigenous rainforest in order to plant pine. I was quite surprised to see pine (trees from my native country) on the banks of the Nile. Not only do they look horribly out of place, but they change the pH in the soil making it impossible to simply re-plant the indigenous forest. They plant pine because it grows faster making it easier to produce paper and fire wood. Uganda has a deforestation rate of 3% per year though. Anyways, it's still a beautiful place, but environmental problems definitely exist.
I found Ugandans on a whole to be a lot more chill than Kenyans. I think I noticed this most at the market place. I'm currently used to the Kenyan bargaining style where you talk lots and try to get him down by quite a bit. I went in all ready to bargain and the woman didn't really move all that much. Nor did she make any major comments regarding how the merchandise was so nice and that I was already getting a good deal. Oh no, she just kinda looked uncomfortable. I bought the scarves anyways, but it was definitely a less intense experience than most of my bargaining here in Kenya (although truth be told I'm not that good at it. . . )
Kakamega Forest
After heading off to Uganda, my friend and I took a quick trip to the Kakamega Forest. I only live about 2 hours away from this national park. This forest is all that's left of the rainforest that stretched all the way from the Congo to Western Kenya. I'm quite sad that it's mostly gone now.
This place goees down as the most magical I've been to in Kenya. There's something special about a walk through the rainforest. To know that those trees have been there for hundreds of years. Even though we were slighly unlucky in the sense that it rained so we saw very little wildlife, I still felt the magic of being under that green canopy. I felt like it could have been a millenia ago before humans even walked the earth.
Some of my guides stories about some of the tribes traditions were quite interesting. There's one tree that will cure typhoid if you run to it, then around it 9 times, followed by running all the way home. The catch is though that you can't look back on the way home. Similarly, another tree can cure infertility if a woman takes a pot with water to the sacred tree. She drinks the water from home, but leaves the pot behind. When she returns for the pot, she drinks the rainwater it has collected in the interim. Then voila, the baby will come.
Ok, so these two beliefs I'm not so sure about. On the other hand, some of the plants do have medicinal purposes. Our guide was part of a group that has started a tree nursery where local healers etc. can come to gather those plants, rather than heading into the forest. This is just one example of some of the initiatives that have been started to conserve the wilderness.
Anyhoo, that's all she wrote for October. I also managed to do some work during that month so never fear.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Cooking Forays!
So I have made chapati (flat bread), groundnut (or a variety of peanut) stew and matooke (mashed plantains) in the past two days. For chapati I went into my director's kitchen to cook with her cousin. I have to admit that there was something inherently soothing in the act of making bread. Although the nice thing about a flatbread is that there's no waiting around for it to rise. Just mix it up, roll in out (well this step takes a bit since you do it twice), then throw it on a pan to cook. And oh goodness does chapati ever taste good. The warm, oily, bready wonderfulness that's chapati. Definitely my favourite food in Kenya although groundnut stew scores a close second.
I'm going to share the chapati recipe but really it's just a list of ingredients because Kenyans don't measure anything when they cook. It's more of a throw in the pot and hope it comes out kinda attitude. Nor do they seem to share recipes on cards to put in boxes like some of us are wont to do. And, most unfortunately, the church or school cookbook is absolutely non-existent.
Chapati
Flour
Salt
Egg (I've been told these can be optional
Oil
Water
Mix it all together until it resembles dough.
Roll it out into a square. (I think techniques might differ here). After we rolled, we cut the dough into long, thin strips that we rolled into a pinwheel shape that eventually made a little ball of dough. Then we rolled out the little balls of dough into round, pancake shapes.
Now you're ready to cook your chapati. Put oil on the pan, throw on the chapati. Flip it once or twice, possibly adding a bit more oil for that top side. The goal is a nice, golden chapati. You'll know if there's too little oil because it'll be white rather than golden.
And voila! chapati!
I'm going to share the chapati recipe but really it's just a list of ingredients because Kenyans don't measure anything when they cook. It's more of a throw in the pot and hope it comes out kinda attitude. Nor do they seem to share recipes on cards to put in boxes like some of us are wont to do. And, most unfortunately, the church or school cookbook is absolutely non-existent.
Chapati
Flour
Salt
Egg (I've been told these can be optional
Oil
Water
Mix it all together until it resembles dough.
Roll it out into a square. (I think techniques might differ here). After we rolled, we cut the dough into long, thin strips that we rolled into a pinwheel shape that eventually made a little ball of dough. Then we rolled out the little balls of dough into round, pancake shapes.
Now you're ready to cook your chapati. Put oil on the pan, throw on the chapati. Flip it once or twice, possibly adding a bit more oil for that top side. The goal is a nice, golden chapati. You'll know if there's too little oil because it'll be white rather than golden.
And voila! chapati!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Kitchens
Last week, I also attended an agricultural field. Admittedly, I did little actual work since my agricultural knowledge is quite limited, but I did get the chance to talk to the villagers. We talked of many things, including cabbages and kings, but I want to focus on one particular moment. At first, the villagers told me to sit down. However, I've never been very good at sitting around watching people work around me.
So, like any good prairie girl, I found my way into the kitchen hoping to be helpful. But this kitchen looked very little like a Canadian kitchen, meaning I was basically no help at all. The kitchen was in a round, mud-brick hut with a thatched roof. The women were cooking over an open fire with massive pots. The mudbrick hut design seemed a little flawed to me because it had no chimney so the smoke could only go out some tiny windows, making it understandably quite smokey. The first portion of my help consisted of cutting one onion before having it taken away. At this point, I also witnessed freshly slaughtered chickens being plucked. I have to admit that I've never been quite that close to my food.
In fact, I'd carried one of those chickens to the car myself. I tried not to think of animal rights as I put the chicken in the trunk of the car. It actually gets worse. Not only were the chickens in the trunk, but we (yes, I need to implicate myself) put a bunch of bread on top of them. I wish I could say I heard hurt chicken noises from the trunk, but they seemed to come through the ordeal just fine. All the chickens here are free range so I guess I should not worry if their last hours of life were couped up in a trunk since they'd spent the rest of their lives roaming the streets of Bungoma.
The second time I came into the cooking hut, one of the women told me, "We're hard working. We should be paid." To which, I replied, "You should. I'll tell Iddi." Iddi was one of the community members running the show. Of course, all the women laughed.
The highlight of my kitchen experience was shoveling chicken into a pot with frying onions. I took a big metal paddle to move chicken bits from one large pot into another. Of course, this was done in a crouched position since the fire is in the ground. A lot of cooking here occurs bent over your pot whether you live in the city or country. My own gas burner is on the ground. Jikos, which are little charcoal burning stoves, also sit on the ground. People usually use jikos to cook anything requiring a lot of time, such as beans.
Strangely, shoveling chicken was not in itself the amusing part of the experience, but one of the village women's picture taking skills. I gave my camera to a villager to document my village cooking experience, but she didn't know to hold a camera. She kept turning it backwards with the lenses pointing at herself. With a little teaching though, she got the hang of it. As always happens when I bring out the camera, everyone then wants a picture. Often they want to have their picture taken with me. So I now have action shots of me cooking chicken and several with random village ladies.
Even though I learned a lot about agricultural and our programs, those ladies laughing with me while cooking are what I will remember. Kitchens are often my favourite part of the house so it's no surprise this village kitchen turned out to be my favourite part of the village. And whether the kitchen has an electric fridge and stove or just an open fire, there will always be women sharing laughter and stories. Oh and talking about their men, of course.
So, like any good prairie girl, I found my way into the kitchen hoping to be helpful. But this kitchen looked very little like a Canadian kitchen, meaning I was basically no help at all. The kitchen was in a round, mud-brick hut with a thatched roof. The women were cooking over an open fire with massive pots. The mudbrick hut design seemed a little flawed to me because it had no chimney so the smoke could only go out some tiny windows, making it understandably quite smokey. The first portion of my help consisted of cutting one onion before having it taken away. At this point, I also witnessed freshly slaughtered chickens being plucked. I have to admit that I've never been quite that close to my food.
In fact, I'd carried one of those chickens to the car myself. I tried not to think of animal rights as I put the chicken in the trunk of the car. It actually gets worse. Not only were the chickens in the trunk, but we (yes, I need to implicate myself) put a bunch of bread on top of them. I wish I could say I heard hurt chicken noises from the trunk, but they seemed to come through the ordeal just fine. All the chickens here are free range so I guess I should not worry if their last hours of life were couped up in a trunk since they'd spent the rest of their lives roaming the streets of Bungoma.
The second time I came into the cooking hut, one of the women told me, "We're hard working. We should be paid." To which, I replied, "You should. I'll tell Iddi." Iddi was one of the community members running the show. Of course, all the women laughed.
The highlight of my kitchen experience was shoveling chicken into a pot with frying onions. I took a big metal paddle to move chicken bits from one large pot into another. Of course, this was done in a crouched position since the fire is in the ground. A lot of cooking here occurs bent over your pot whether you live in the city or country. My own gas burner is on the ground. Jikos, which are little charcoal burning stoves, also sit on the ground. People usually use jikos to cook anything requiring a lot of time, such as beans.
Strangely, shoveling chicken was not in itself the amusing part of the experience, but one of the village women's picture taking skills. I gave my camera to a villager to document my village cooking experience, but she didn't know to hold a camera. She kept turning it backwards with the lenses pointing at herself. With a little teaching though, she got the hang of it. As always happens when I bring out the camera, everyone then wants a picture. Often they want to have their picture taken with me. So I now have action shots of me cooking chicken and several with random village ladies.
Even though I learned a lot about agricultural and our programs, those ladies laughing with me while cooking are what I will remember. Kitchens are often my favourite part of the house so it's no surprise this village kitchen turned out to be my favourite part of the village. And whether the kitchen has an electric fridge and stove or just an open fire, there will always be women sharing laughter and stories. Oh and talking about their men, of course.
Government working with the community?
This week has been jam packed with days spent in the field. I have to admit that I'm consistently impressed with Kenyans' passion. But also their ability to talk and their audience's ability to sit and listen. In almost every meeting, I am left tapping my feet hoping the speeches will end shortly while the Kenyans wait patiently for the talker (which they all are) to finish.
Ironically, some of the most formal meetings I've attended have been in small, rural villages in Kenya. First of all, every person stands up to introduce themselves. After introductions, the MC usually introduces other important guests then gives a synopsis of what will occur at the meeting. At one of meetings, we had a speech from the committee chairperson. Oh and if you have question, it's necessary to raise your hand then stand to speak your piece. My favourite moment occurred in one of these formal meetings when a chicken walked in to stand in the middle of the floor. He came and went from the meeting at will with no one paying him any mind. I kind of wished that I had that chicken's abiliy to come and go from the meeting.
Even though these meetings are more formal than I'm used to, I've had some powerful moments at them. The first happened this week during a training session for lobby group members. We were training them on the new constitution. Kenya swore in its new constitution in late August. The high in the country is amazing right now. Everyone is talking about how this constitution will change the government. They have high hopes that it will fight corruption and ensure the equal distribution of resources with the implementation of county, as well as national, governments. Historically, members of government have given their tribe, or local region, more resources. Ok, enough history.
My moment in the lobby group training came right at the end. One of the members commented that he wanted to see the lobby groups become finanically sustainable associations in the future. His comment was really cool because Valerie (the project manager) and I had discussed implementing the same idea the week before while writing the final report for this program. Valerie asked me to respond to his suggestion. So I was the one who got to tell them that we are submitting a proposal with that very suggestion to UNIFEM. We'd suggested that CREADIS give lobby groups a loan for start-up capital for income generating activities in order to make them finanically sustainable, as well as allowing them to pay for stationary, lunch and transport for people who attend their meetings. It was amazing to make this announcement because they all clapped for me. I then had to tell them that currently there is no money, but it's a wonderful thought for the moment. I just felt so special when they all clapped for me!
The next day I went to an Accountability Forum. The Kenyan governments has a number of devolved funds that communities can access in order to improve their communities. However, the issue is that these devolved funds often mysteriously go missing while proposed projects are either shoddily completed or not even started. CREADIS with its partners trained community monitors to monitor these projects. This particular day we had gathered stakeholders, including some government officials, to talk about the projects. Of course, we mostly spoke about the projects that had gone awry.
I think the most productive part of this forum was bringing the government officials together with the community members and NGOs to dialogue. Government officials have mentioned to me how NGOs can often make them feel as if they on trial, rather than trying to work with them. I felt the engagement on both sides to try to start working together. Of course, right now its all pretty words.
I did stand up at one point to try and make it a bit more than pretty words. The community members had been complaining about access to information at the government offices. The governance advisor suggested that the government offices post the information on notice boards. Then the community members started to discuss how this suggestion would be difficult to implement. At this point, I stood up to ask the government officials representing their offices if they could act as our lobby in the office to produce these notice boards. One of the officials promised to have the notice board posted in two days. We still need to follow up to find out if they've actually fulfilled their promises, but I'll keep you posted.
Ironically, some of the most formal meetings I've attended have been in small, rural villages in Kenya. First of all, every person stands up to introduce themselves. After introductions, the MC usually introduces other important guests then gives a synopsis of what will occur at the meeting. At one of meetings, we had a speech from the committee chairperson. Oh and if you have question, it's necessary to raise your hand then stand to speak your piece. My favourite moment occurred in one of these formal meetings when a chicken walked in to stand in the middle of the floor. He came and went from the meeting at will with no one paying him any mind. I kind of wished that I had that chicken's abiliy to come and go from the meeting.
Even though these meetings are more formal than I'm used to, I've had some powerful moments at them. The first happened this week during a training session for lobby group members. We were training them on the new constitution. Kenya swore in its new constitution in late August. The high in the country is amazing right now. Everyone is talking about how this constitution will change the government. They have high hopes that it will fight corruption and ensure the equal distribution of resources with the implementation of county, as well as national, governments. Historically, members of government have given their tribe, or local region, more resources. Ok, enough history.
My moment in the lobby group training came right at the end. One of the members commented that he wanted to see the lobby groups become finanically sustainable associations in the future. His comment was really cool because Valerie (the project manager) and I had discussed implementing the same idea the week before while writing the final report for this program. Valerie asked me to respond to his suggestion. So I was the one who got to tell them that we are submitting a proposal with that very suggestion to UNIFEM. We'd suggested that CREADIS give lobby groups a loan for start-up capital for income generating activities in order to make them finanically sustainable, as well as allowing them to pay for stationary, lunch and transport for people who attend their meetings. It was amazing to make this announcement because they all clapped for me. I then had to tell them that currently there is no money, but it's a wonderful thought for the moment. I just felt so special when they all clapped for me!
The next day I went to an Accountability Forum. The Kenyan governments has a number of devolved funds that communities can access in order to improve their communities. However, the issue is that these devolved funds often mysteriously go missing while proposed projects are either shoddily completed or not even started. CREADIS with its partners trained community monitors to monitor these projects. This particular day we had gathered stakeholders, including some government officials, to talk about the projects. Of course, we mostly spoke about the projects that had gone awry.
I think the most productive part of this forum was bringing the government officials together with the community members and NGOs to dialogue. Government officials have mentioned to me how NGOs can often make them feel as if they on trial, rather than trying to work with them. I felt the engagement on both sides to try to start working together. Of course, right now its all pretty words.
I did stand up at one point to try and make it a bit more than pretty words. The community members had been complaining about access to information at the government offices. The governance advisor suggested that the government offices post the information on notice boards. Then the community members started to discuss how this suggestion would be difficult to implement. At this point, I stood up to ask the government officials representing their offices if they could act as our lobby in the office to produce these notice boards. One of the officials promised to have the notice board posted in two days. We still need to follow up to find out if they've actually fulfilled their promises, but I'll keep you posted.
Government working with the community?
This week has been jam packed with days spent in the field. I have to admit that I'm consistently impressed with Kenyans' passion. But also their ability to talk and their audience's ability to sit and listen. In almost every meeting, I am left tapping my feet hoping the speeches will end shortly while the Kenyans wait patiently for the talker (which they all are) to finish.
Ironically, some of the most formal meetings I've attended have been in small, rural villages in Kenya. First of all, every person stands up to introduce themselves. After introductions, the MC usually introduces other important guests then gives a synopsis of what will occur at the meeting. At one of meetings, we had a speech from the committee chairperson. Oh and if you have question, it's necessary to raise your hand then stand to speak your piece. My favourite moment occurred in one of these formal meetings when a chicken walked in to stand in the middle of the floor. He came and went from the meeting at will with no one paying him any mind. I kind of wished that I had that chicken's abiliy to come and go from the meeting.
Even though these meetings are more formal than I'm used to, I've had some powerful moments at them. The first happened this week during a training session for lobby group members. We were training them on the new constitution. Kenya swore in its new constitution in late August. The high in the country is amazing right now. Everyone is talking about how this constitution will change the government. They have high hopes that it will fight corruption and ensure the equal distribution of resources with the implementation of county, as well as national, governments. Historically, members of government have given their tribe, or local region, more resources. Ok, enough history.
My moment in the lobby group training came right at the end. One of the members commented that he wanted to see the lobby groups become finanically sustainable associations in the future. His comment was really cool because Valerie (the project manager) and I had discussed implementing the same idea the week before while writing the final report for this program. Valerie asked me to respond to his suggestion. So I was the one who got to tell them that we are submitting a proposal with that very suggestion to UNIFEM. We'd suggested that CREADIS give lobby groups a loan for start-up capital for income generating activities in order to make them finanically sustainable, as well as allowing them to pay for stationary, lunch and transport for people who attend their meetings. It was amazing to make this announcement because they all clapped for me. I then had to tell them that currently there is no money, but it's a wonderful thought for the moment. I just felt so special when they all clapped for me!
The next day I went to an Accountability Forum. The Kenyan governments has a number of devolved funds that communities can access in order to improve their communities. However, the issue is that these devolved funds often mysteriously go missing while proposed projects are either shoddily completed or not even started. CREADIS with its partners trained community monitors to monitor these projects. This particular day we had gathered stakeholders, including some government officials, to talk about the projects. Of course, we mostly spoke about the projects that had gone awry.
I think the most productive part of this forum was bringing the government officials together with the community members and NGOs to dialogue. Government officials have mentioned to me how NGOs can often make them feel as if they on trial, rather than trying to work with them. I felt the engagement on both sides to try to start working together. Of course, right now its all pretty words.
I did stand up at one point to try and make it a bit more than pretty words. The community members had been complaining about access to information at the government offices. The governance advisor suggested that the government offices post the information on notice boards. Then the community members started to discuss how this suggestion would be difficult to implement. At this point, I stood up to ask the government officials representing their offices if they could act as our lobby in the office to produce these notice boards. One of the officials promised to have the notice board posted in two days. We still need to follow up to find out if they've actually fulfilled their promises, but I'll keep you posted.
Ironically, some of the most formal meetings I've attended have been in small, rural villages in Kenya. First of all, every person stands up to introduce themselves. After introductions, the MC usually introduces other important guests then gives a synopsis of what will occur at the meeting. At one of meetings, we had a speech from the committee chairperson. Oh and if you have question, it's necessary to raise your hand then stand to speak your piece. My favourite moment occurred in one of these formal meetings when a chicken walked in to stand in the middle of the floor. He came and went from the meeting at will with no one paying him any mind. I kind of wished that I had that chicken's abiliy to come and go from the meeting.
Even though these meetings are more formal than I'm used to, I've had some powerful moments at them. The first happened this week during a training session for lobby group members. We were training them on the new constitution. Kenya swore in its new constitution in late August. The high in the country is amazing right now. Everyone is talking about how this constitution will change the government. They have high hopes that it will fight corruption and ensure the equal distribution of resources with the implementation of county, as well as national, governments. Historically, members of government have given their tribe, or local region, more resources. Ok, enough history.
My moment in the lobby group training came right at the end. One of the members commented that he wanted to see the lobby groups become finanically sustainable associations in the future. His comment was really cool because Valerie (the project manager) and I had discussed implementing the same idea the week before while writing the final report for this program. Valerie asked me to respond to his suggestion. So I was the one who got to tell them that we are submitting a proposal with that very suggestion to UNIFEM. We'd suggested that CREADIS give lobby groups a loan for start-up capital for income generating activities in order to make them finanically sustainable, as well as allowing them to pay for stationary, lunch and transport for people who attend their meetings. It was amazing to make this announcement because they all clapped for me. I then had to tell them that currently there is no money, but it's a wonderful thought for the moment. I just felt so special when they all clapped for me!
The next day I went to an Accountability Forum. The Kenyan governments has a number of devolved funds that communities can access in order to improve their communities. However, the issue is that these devolved funds often mysteriously go missing while proposed projects are either shoddily completed or not even started. CREADIS with its partners trained community monitors to monitor these projects. This particular day we had gathered stakeholders, including some government officials, to talk about the projects. Of course, we mostly spoke about the projects that had gone awry.
I think the most productive part of this forum was bringing the government officials together with the community members and NGOs to dialogue. Government officials have mentioned to me how NGOs can often make them feel as if they on trial, rather than trying to work with them. I felt the engagement on both sides to try to start working together. Of course, right now its all pretty words.
I did stand up at one point to try and make it a bit more than pretty words. The community members had been complaining about access to information at the government offices. The governance advisor suggested that the government offices post the information on notice boards. Then the community members started to discuss how this suggestion would be difficult to implement. At this point, I stood up to ask the government officials representing their offices if they could act as our lobby in the office to produce these notice boards. One of the officials promised to have the notice board posted in two days. We still need to follow up to find out if they've actually fulfilled their promises, but I'll keep you posted.
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