Blog Post 11
Yesterday I found about a minor change of plans for me- due to scheduling stuff, I was originally planning on leaving Mathare and going to Sombo on Friday ,but now we’re leaving Tuesday. I was supposed to come to the Bass’ house for dinner tonight anyways, so I’m just staying here tomorrow and we’ll leave Tues. morning. So this only became apparent yesterday, so I went from having 5 days left to having ½ day left and had to scramble to get everything together (not difficult when it’s all sitting in one half of an armoire) and say bye to everyone I thought I’d have an extra few days with (actually harder than I’d originally anticipated…I didn’t realize how many people I wanted to say good bye to)
So I’ve made lots and lots of promises that I’ll come back and visit to make up for my sudden disappearance, and hopefully hopefully hopefully I’ll be able to do just that. I was shocked at how people were reacting to my leaving too soon…like they were seriously going to miss me, even after such a short time. These Kenyans, I tell you, they are welcoming and friendly beyond belief and just pick you up and bring you into their homes and their hearts quite rapidly. So I’m no longer worried about feeling disconnected from people because I’m moving so much. J
Yesterday I went to visit the actual school/”CDC” (child development center) part of MCDC. We took a matatu again (woohoo!) and walked a little bit to the school campus. There are about 500 students who attend there, and about 30 they said, who board there. So I got to meet some of them, tour the dorms and the classrooms and the still-in-progress building. The interesting thing about building here is that basically, all the buildings are made so that at any time should you want to, you can just add another floor on top, and that’s what they often do, as the money becomes available.
Interesting clinical of the week:
A 3 year old girl with really bad oral thrush (yeast infection on the tongue)- she got meds and was back a few days later with her mom, who had a cough or something, and it was almost entirely gone, so that was good.
We took out the stitches from one of the kids we sutured last week, and he had these huge (not really, but compared to how big they should be) holes from the giant needle. There has been zero usage of scissors in the whole suturing/removal process…we have a box of 100 scalpel blades and so we just slash the nylon threads with them. I don’t really like it, I feel like I’m gonna poke someone’s eye out, but you gotta do what you gotta do!
Some people came by the other day to visit who run a franchise of clinics called Child and Family Wellness Clinics (CFW Clinics) they have about 80 nurse-run clinics, where they charge as low as they can while still making enough money for the nurses to make a living. So people get low-cost care and nurses get jobs (they can prescribe here) and there’s a central headquarters that is in charge of procuring the lowest-cost-possible drugs for distribution to the clinics. They seem to be very successful, they’ve been around for 10 years they said.
The other day I went to buy an avocado from the fruit stand right outside our building…I have basically zero ability to determine if an avocado is ripe, because my mom never buys them and doesn’t allow them in the house (seriously…) so I just took the one he gave me and when I got inside and cut it open it was not quite ripe and had a couple rather large grey spots. So now I’ve decided that they’re ripe when they’re soft (right? Cuz this one was a little harder than ripe ones I’ve eaten. :-p) and I’m going to pick out my own fruit from now on!
A social observation:
In Kenya, when you go to someone’s house, they offer you food, drink, etc. And it’s rude if you do not accept it, you’re considered prideful, like the stuff they’re offering isn’t good enough for you. So even if you don’t want it, aren’t hungry or just ate or are about to go somewhere to eat, etc. you have to take it or you’re prideful. I think that’s interesting, because really, it’s the host who’s being prideful by being offended when you don’t accept what they offer. It makes much more sense to me (of course, since that’s the way I was raised) for you to offer someone food, drink, whatever, and give them the choice of whether they want it or not. That way you’ve fulfilled your obligation to offer, and they can be comfortable and choose to accept or not without worrying about offending their host. This paragraph comes from me hating being forced to drink an entire coke and eat a muffin right before I’m going home to eat a gigantic dinner I can barely finish on an empty stomach. :-P At home I’d just say “I can’t spoil my dinner” and be done with it.
New culinary experience: “small fish” basically 2-inch long whole, dried-out fish that tasted…just like the smell of fish, plus a lot of salt. The texture was like eating…fish scales. It didn’t gross me out like liver but it wasn’t really pleasant either. Oh, and they watched me while I ate them. They were whole, after all. ;-)
I tried to chop cabbage the way the Kenyans do it and failed miserably, the pieces were coming off huge. So I gave up after like 10 seconds, haha. I guess I should try a little more perseverance, but I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s dinner. :-p
I went to a friend’s house for dinner and as the “guest of honor” got to eat the “best part” of the turkey(?): The liver. Great. Thankfully, Turkey liver is apparently sliiiightly less crumbly than cow liver and this one was slightly less cooked than last time, so I managed to not gag, so long as I shoved a spoonful of rice in my mouth as soon as I swallowed to get rid of the taste, and one right before I swallowed, to help the not-quite-fully-chewed pieces slide down better.
Sooooo here I am, at the Bass’ house, the electricity has gone out 3 or 4 times already tonight cuz it’s raining…there’s nothing like the sound of rain on a the tin roof of the patio with the breeze blowing tiny sprays of rain in…the only thing to ruin it is the generator going in the background…because we had to finish cooking dinner, cuz there’s people coming over. :-p
Tomorrow we’ll do more unpacking of the 40-ft container full of medical stuff, and then Tuesday it’s off to Sombo! I don’t know how good the internet or electricity will be out there, but I’ll update as much as that allows me!
10 comments:
ewwww fish scales! I'm stepping out of my vegetarian comfort zone more and more, but I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to eat something that stares back at me :P Miss you, Danielle!
Always wonderful to hear what you are doing and your outlook on things... I am looking forward to hearing about your new excursion!
Yum avacado. Aunt Jayne really never liked it in the house huh? She's mission out. Yes soft but not to soft. To soft gets brown. Then they're just gross. Hehehe. Stay safe. Love you.
Hi Danielle, tell us what great thing God is doing in your spirit.
Be blessed and be a blessing, love, kd
talking about offending someone.. i feel offended u didn't come to me for advice on picking an avocado?! it's like a mexican's life profession! Fine, yeah soft, but not mushy! the idea is, if you pick it and as you 'squeeze' it a tiny, your finger front (where the finger gets its print!) should kind of dig in a little, but only right at your finger, not around it. But if you just hold it and do that and it just ALL goes in (even around ur finger where ur not quite pussing, but the tension on the peal squeezes those parts) it's pasts its good time :-). Also, once opened do ur best to devour it quick! (remember it's a fruit so it should be easy) because it browns quite fast with oxygen and heat. :P. Avocado 101.
I have to say, I really admire that you're gagging down food you don't want in order not to offend anyone. You totally get Jesus points for that ;)
I like to think I could do that, but almost every time the situation has come up, I have been able to somehow quietly give the food to someone else (it's usually an outdoor festival-type situation where old ladies press me to take food from them).
Only a couple times did I have to eat squid or shrimp or risk offense. (I have an appetite killing, almost gag-inducing hate of all seafood except tuna)
I'm lucky that most people here ask me ahead of time if there are things I dislike. And of course.... I can't lie :p
All that to say, I don't exactly feel your pain, but I can imagine it. If I had to eat some of the more unusual things that are served here I don't know if I could do it without the horror showing on my face.
I absolutely love liver, but with liver its tricky you have to find someone who cooks it nicely, and it tastes even better if its fried, with onions, tomatoes, royco, dania(cilantro) and any other spices one wants to use but when you have to add water to make it more soupy some go south. I think you will like it better fried than with soup. As for the fish, we call it OMENA luo name for the little fish coz its the luo's stapple food. I love omena,this also is tricky to cook you have to find someone who knows how to cook them and yes you have to eat everything! aaahhh I'm hungry!
Judy O!
oh and when i said "everything" i meant the fish. Its unfortunate in our culture that's the way they do things, you have to eat what's infront of you. And also in my culture its considered rude to ask a guest if they want something to eat or drink, we are supposed to assume that anytime a visitor visits you cook for them. You don't have to eat everything though but you have to atleast taste and let them know when u r full
J.O
I actually like the small fish. I used to eat them 3 or 4 time per week, so I developed a taste for them. Good job eating the food.
Angelina: Thats probably for the better. If it wasn't that someone had cooked it for me and offered it to me, i'd have stayed away from it as well.
Cesar: do you think so lowly of yourself that you equate your self worth with other people's opinions of avocados? :-P
Ashley, that's the kind of eating we're mostly doing at this new location, so I've been able to avoid giant portion sizes and even some foods altogether. Its much tastier. But my dad would say that the other way builds character. :-p
Judy, when I come back maybe I'll taste your yummier version!
Andrew, I hope I never get to the point where I've acquired a taste for them! But more power to you!
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