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Hope all is well with everyone! Matt and I are preparing for the World AIDS Day celebration this Saturday so another post will come soon.

Love, peace, and chicken grease,
Caroline

Thanksgiving

Matt and I have been married 9 months now and we are spending our first Holiday season as a married couple away from family. Although we are both a little bit homesick we decided to not dwell in the fact that we are away from relatives and give thanks for the friends and family we have in our current community. We hosted Thanksgiving 2012 at our house this year and we had around 20 people over to cook, tell stories, sing and play music, play card games and baseball, etc. It was truly an amazing Thanksgiving. Matt and I are so thankful to have such amazing friends and family here on the island who take such great care of us and are willing to help us without question. 

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays for many reasons, but there was something extra special about this Thanksgiving. It felt as though I was able to celebrate twice but in very different ways. I was very much apart of the traditional Thanksgiving I am used to through phone conversations with my family and picture updates that were sent to me by my Father. Sunday was more of our unconventional Thanksgiving but it held the same meaning because I was surrounding with love and people I am thankful for, especially a husband who is patient, loving and kind to me and everyone else he meets. History aside, the true meaning of Thanksgiving is about surrounding yourself with people you love and feel blessed by. I think our first Thanksgiving as a married couple was a complete success!

The food we prepared consisted of: 4 chickens, chapatis, ugali (sort of like bland corn bread), eggplant ratatouille, kale, ginger tea, mangos, bananas, oranges and avocados. It was quite a feast!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are thankful for all of you :)

Fruit basket and freshly grown eggplant!

Matt with the family and our EK intern Tony

Our dear friend Gabby starting a fire for the chicken

Tony and Gabby jammin' out next to the fire

The serious cooking begins...

Chapti rollin' and eggplant cookin'

Servin' up the grub. Elida looks skeptical of the eggplant...it was a hit though :)

George, Lizzy and baby Mackey playing guitar and singing.  Love these kids.

Da' boyz (Matt, Olambo, Tony, Elijah)

Da' other boyz ( Moses and Tony)

Olambo reaaaally likes chicken 

Gabby's daughter Faith led us in a song to end the night where we went around the table and sang goodnight to everyone to bless everyone as we all depart... it was amazing. I held percussion with a rattle and Faith and Gabby led us on guitar. It was a beautiful moment that Matt and I are truly grateful for.  

The Funny Farm

Our animals have gone CRAZY! When you have 5 dogs, a cat, 8 hens, 1 rooster and baby chicks things can get a little funny on the farm. Our young puppy Mario has confidence much bigger than his little body can handle and he is growing more and more confident as each day passes. Here is our precious “innocent” looking puppy below with his partner in crime Omwenzi who is about a year old (also very much a puppy).

This is "Mara Ario" AKA Mario. Mara Ario means my second one. He is a little squirt

Bonnie and Clyde, AKA Mario and Omwenzi... always playing

Its hard to stay mad at these dogs because they are so cute!

Story number 1: A few weeks ago I was going down to the lake for a swim in my birthday suit when I see a beautiful goose swim by. All of a sudden Mario lunges at the goose and the other dogs join in! I am standing in the lake trying to run away from the situation while at the same time yelling at the dogs to back away from the goose! For those who don’t know, geese are VERY aggressive and territorial, so I was trying my best to dodge out of the way so it wouldn’t attack me! Meanwhile all the dogs join in and Mario, the little mess that he is, initiates the final attack and pins the goose down to the ground inviting all the other dogs to join in for the final kill. I couldn’t help but just sit back and watch at that point in order to keep myself safe. It felt like something out of the Planet Earth series as I stood there naked as a baby watching nature take its course.

Story number 2: Last week we let the hens out for their usual nightly roaming routine and we heard a loud tussle behind some bushes on the backside of the house. I looked out the window and much to my surprise (not really all THAT surprised) I see Mario attacking one of our chickens with Omwenzi pacing back and forth in front of the fence. Kelsi and I run out with sticks (being the cave women that we are) to capture the hen and Mario but the fence prevented our endeavor from being successful. All of a sudden the hen takes off with Mario fast behind and Kelsi and I chase after them along the perimeter of the fence. In the mean time Matt jumps on the other side of the fence with a machete to hack away at the brush so he could reach Mario and the hen now resting after the chase. After spotting Mario and the hen further down the fence line, Kelsi is able to pin the hen between her stick and the fence to keep Mario from eating it. I am poking Mario with a longer stick in order to keep him away from the hen and keep him in one spot while Matt continues to hack away at the brush to reach Mario. We couldn’t help but laugh at the scenario. As Mario was whining like a damsel in distress, Matt was approaching with a machete getting closer and closer like something out of a horror film. It was humorous but we were all very angry at the situation as well. Matt finally reached Mario and passed him over the fence to me so I could provide proper punishment and put him in a cage for the rest of the night. Matt was then able to hand over the chicken for inspection. We all decided that the chicken would not survive so we had to finish what Mario started and prepare a late chicken dinner (which took a LOT of time). Here is a picture of our meal cooking in the charcoal oven. We spiced up the roasted chicken with some rosemary growing in the garden and simple salt and pepper. The potatoes and carrots also had rosemary and thyme. Delicious, yet unexpected, meal.

Story number 3:  October 28^th, someone had tied a cow to a tree on our property and upon hearing all of our dogs barking, we rushed to find our dogs circling the cow and barking. Mario, of course, takes the first leap to attack the cow followed by our dog Tonjo taking a first bite out of the cow (not injuring it, thank goodness). The cow began to buck but we were able to safely swat away all of the dogs and save the cow. The animals were properly punished… again. Later that day Tonjo and Mario try to attack ANOTHER hen. Again… punished. We took a vote and decided it is necessary for the health of our hens to tie Mario up during the chicken’s nightly feeding. Hopefully this will prevent future disasters.

Tonjo

Amalay - she is the BEST cat. I hate cats, but I love her. 

Jonja - Alpha female of the pack

Shaka - my favorite dog. He is loyal and super protective

Story Number 4:

This past Tuesday, November 6^th at midnight, I woke up to the sound of one of our hens squawking really loudly, and all too familiar sound. Matt went down to the hen house with flashlight in hand and found a small wild cat inside the hen house!!! The wild cats are smaller than domestic cats with spots like a leopard. The dogs were all going crazy at this point! So crazy that they began jumping on top of the chicken coop roof trying to attack this cat! Kelsi come flying out of her tent with a flashlight to see what was happening while Matt opens the door to the chicken coop to provide an exit for the cat, but the dogs are swarming the coop and the baby chick escapes! Matt goes running after the chick to put it back into the coop when all of a sudden Tonjo, one of our dogs, bolts into the coop and leaps into the air to catch the cat who was pacing on one of the branches where the chicken perch at night. Tonjo shakes the cat vigorously in his mouth and immediately kills the cat! Sadly… the cat had already killed the mama hen to our newest baby chick. Here is a picture of the dead wild cat. Sorry for “dead” picture, but this is life on the farm. Don’t worry we did not cook the cat.

chicken dinner and roasted veggies... yummm

wild cat

Shaka with wild cat

Never a dull moment on the farm.

Love, peace and chicken grease,

Caroline

28th year of life

Speaking of empowerment and sustainability I have decided to set 25 goals which I want to accomplish during my 28^th year of life to empower myself to take on more challenges, which, I think, will sustain character and a habitual positive attitude, or at least I hope. :) I turned 28 on October 18^th and my birthday week was pretty crazy so I am just getting around to setting these goals. Maybe I should end my long unhealthy relationship with procrastination this year… mmm… maybe next year. Here are the goals I have set for myself (Keep in mind I will be in Kenya until May of 2013 so I will have 5 months in SF before my 29^th year of life where a new goal list will be made).

1.     Summit another Africa mountain

2.     Visit 5 new countries or US states I have never been to (finances permitting)

3.     Scuba Dive in an ocean I haven’t explored yet

4.     Assist in 30 births as a Doula

5.     Complete requirements to become Doula certified

6.     Join a swim team when I get back to San Francisco

7.     Learn and practice 5 new hobbies

8.     Learn a new language

9.     Do something crafty/artsy once a month

10.  Compete in my first triathlon

11.  Become more proficient with Microsoft Office (Excel in particular)

12.  Live a more environmentally friendly and economic life (reduce, reuse and recycle)

13.  Volunteer monthly at a clinic or organization that is focused on sustainable farming and another organization focused on prenatal care.

14.  Stay up to date on current events by reading the news daily

15.  Learn about a new culture each month and apply an aspect of that culture to my life that month

16.  Learn more about personal finance from Matt and suggested readings  :)

17.  Become a better road cyclist by tackling my fear of riding in large cities…safely of course :)

18.  Learn more about the techniques, benefits and risks of acupressure and herbal remedies and apply them when necessary during my Doula shifts.

19.  Read a new book each month (any suggestions??)

20.  Be symptom free of Crohn’s through proper diet and exercise

21.  Engage in daily health and wellness activities (i.e. exercise, meditation, yoga, etc)

22.  Start a garden plot in San Francisco and learn to grow herbs indoors

23.  Take monthly classes about gardening in San Francisco at Garden for the Environment and spend time with my friend Olambo each month here in Kenya to learn more about agriculture.

24.  Take more pictures to document my life’s adventures and create digital scrapbooks with journal entries for each adventure

25.  Continue to strive to be the best friend, sister, daughter, wife and individual I can be by showing patience, love, respect, compassion, kindness, curiosity and encouragement to myself and those around me.

 Wish me luck on my yearlong journey to create a sustainable healthy life for myself and empower others to do the same. :)

Love, peace and chicken grease,

Caroline

Life and Death

Our Kenyan cousin Henry was expecting his first child in early November and he and his wife were kind enough to agree to let me support Marilyn (his wife) during her labor and delivery when the time came. Two weeks ago on Tuesday October 16^th, Henry called me around 6:30pm to let me know that Marilyn was having “pains in her stomach”. I asked a few questions around the type of pain and how often she was feeling pain, etc. to get a sense of her labor, and if it in fact was labor. I suggested he keep her comfortable provide her food and water and to keep me abreast of her progress. I followed up again at 11:30pm that night and then again at 6:00 am. During the 6am call, he said she was still the same but the pain was getting worse so he was going to take her to the clinic. I met them at the clinic around 7:30am to observe her as she coped with her pain. The doctor was nowhere to be found but apparently examined her and told her to remain at the clinic. No one seemed to know how far along she was or what the doctor found or observed in his examination. After observing her for a few hours and timing the grimaces on her face, it was my observation that she was not in labor so I proceeded to hunt for the doctor who examined her to get some more answers. The doctor finally surfaced and I asked him how his initial examination went and if she was effaced and/or dilated. I was not surprised to find out that she was not dilated but shocked that they wanted to keep her at the hospital when they weren’t monitoring her. I asked if it was possible for her to go home to rest but they refused to let her leave. She remained at the hospital throughout Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with no change and very little monitoring from the doctors – I was getting frustrated with the clinic at this point. Matt received a call on Friday from the EK emergency boat driver asking for help because the boat did not have enough fuel to take someone to Sindo, a town on the mainland where patients are often sent who need better health care. Come to find out, the doctors at the clinic referred Marilyn to Sindo for unknown reasons so Matt decided to pop in to the clinic to discuss Marilyn’s status with the doctor. The discussion was a frustrating one as the doctor agreed that Marilyn was not in labor yet still referred the family out of pure convenience and laziness. Apparently, he did not want to explain to the family members and family elders that she was in fact NOT in labor because he didn’t think they would understand. Instead of spending time explaining his medical opinion to the family, he felt it was better to refer the family to Sindo, which would have been a very expensive option – this frustrated me even more. The doctor agreed to let Matt “try” to explain to the family that she was not in labor. After a 5 minute conversation with the family also agreeing she was not in labor, Matt and the doctor discussed other possibilities for her pain and decided that maybe she had a UTI, which could be treated at the clinic. Turns out she was positive for a UTI but the hospital wanted to keep her overnight, again, for further observation. During the middle of the night on Friday a local herbalist/ traditional birth attendant snuck Marilyn out of the clinic to manually turn the baby (apparently this TBA thought the baby was sideways?) and administered some herbal treatment to induce labor (not sure which herbs were provided – I plan on doing some detective work to find out what herbs are given to pregnant women). She returned Marilyn to the clinic and early Friday morning Marilyn began to bleed from her vagina. Around late morning the baby was born. Unfortunately no one called me when she went into labor so I was unable to be present during her labor and delivery even after countless reminders to friends and family encouraging them to call me when she went into labor. No big deal except five hours later, the baby died and the only information the doctor provided was “the baby died of chest problems”. That’s it! No more questions, no more investigations, no information on if there were complications during the delivery, nothing.  I felt the wind leave my lungs and my heart skip a beat when Matt disclosed this information to me on the phone. Millions of thoughts flashed through my mind like lightning bolts such as “what could I have done differently”, “what caused the baby to die”, “Should I have stayed at the clinic all week”, “Were there complications during delivery”, “Could it have been the herbs given to her”, along with general frustration and sadness of the situation. I called Henry and our friend Caleb answered. He told us Henry, Marilyn and the baby were at his house and they were going to bury her that night. It was a baby girl. I hopped on a motorbike to swing by EK to pick Matt up and then headed straight to the house. We greeted Henry whose head was focused on the ground and a wooden ax he was carving to dig his first-born’s grave. We proceeded in to a dark candlelit house with Marilyn lying sideways on a sofa looking down at the ground where her baby girl lay. Tears formed in my eyes as I examined the facial expressions of both the baby and Marilyn, equally lifeless. I noticed how much the baby looked like Henry as I put my arm on Marilyn’s leg and looked her into her eyes to say “I am so sorry, I am so sorry this happened”. I sat in the chair across from Marilyn with the baby between us in respectful silence as family and friends entered and left to pay their respects. I walked out of the house to find Henry crying as he dug the grave. All anyone could do was stand and watch and force laughter when friends and family made witty comments to dilute the sadness surrounding the situation. It began to rain as the grandmother brought the baby out wrapped in a blanket placed in a cardboard Lido Soap box. A few friends escorted Marilyn to the grave and assisted her in standing. I can only imagine she still felt sore from the delivery of her baby just hours before. After the burial Henry brought some thorns and stones to place over the grave so the dogs would not be able to dig the body up. I placed some yellow flowers from a tree near the house over the thorns to beautify the baby’s grave just a little – I guess my Western mindset wanted to make the grave more formal than just a hole dug in the ground next to someone’s house. Matt and I shared some tea with Henry and the family before leaving and when we got home I couldn’t help but feel angry about the whole situation. From my observations, after spending multiple days at the clinic, it seems there is a lack of communication between patient and caregiver and vice versa. The patient and family often do not inquire much about illness or the medications given to them, and the doctors and nurses share very little, if any, information with the patients, which has created an oppressive culture in health care here on the island. I am also constantly amazed at the work EK is doing around health promotion and education and its mission to create a culture focused on empowering individuals to take a leadership role in promoting and educating their community on health related issues. It is my hope that the community continues to express interest in gaining more knowledge on how to promote better health care for their community and I am proud to be a part of such a movement. I hope that in the future, situations such as this, will be prevented by better communication practices, knowledge and health promotion.

Love and Peace,

Caroline

Family Matters

Amosu friends and family,

Again, I am writing this blog about events that were weeks ago. This will be my last post from the past, because now it is getting difficult to remember all the events that have taken place. I will begin blogging more frequently to keep events more current. Thanks for all of your patience! Continue to refer to Matt’s blog for other news in our life that is not related to food and sustainable living :) mattandcarolineinkenya.blogspot.com.

We had our Kenyan family over this weekend! It was good to have them over especially because they are always hosting us. For those of you that don’t know, when Matt and I were here 2 years ago we lived with this family during those 2 months. We stayed at their house, took meals with them and we quickly became a part of their family. We love them like our own family and we all work hard to take care of each other. It is nice to know we have a large family here who is willing to do anything to make use feel comfortable and safe. The immediate family consists of Elida - the mother, Sharon - the daughter, George - the son, Mark- the father (Mark did not join us for this meal), and now baby Mackey - Sharon’s baby. I swear… I love this baby like she is my own. I have gone to all of her clinic visits to get her immunizations. People in the community joke that she is my baby and I respond by saying “of course she is my baby! Doesn’t she look just like me?!” This causes much laughter and chatter in the local language Luo, which I don’t understand much of, so I just smile and carry on with “my child” in hand. :)

Cheek pinching cute!

We decided to honor our family by butchering one of our chickens. Sharon taught us how to butcher Kenyan style. First, we had to catch the chicken, which Matt did successfully (can’t you tell how proud he is by his smug smile? )

Way to go Matt.

Then we had to pull out the feathers around the neck where we were to make the “incision”.

Ouch.

Then we had to cut the neck and drain the blood. Way to go Dr. Matt!

Thank you Chicken for giving your life!

 Then we had to boil the chicken to loosen the feathers enough to pluck them out.

After gutting the chicken we roasted the outside to pluck any fine hairs that remained.

The last step was of course to eat it! I got so wrapped up in cooking that I forgot to take a final picture of everything. The final product consisted of chicken stew, chapatti  - a Kenyan flour tortilla,- which is documented below - and an Asian stir fry which Matt and I contributed. The family LOVED the stir-fry, and since this meal they have made it a few times at their house; always good to provide some cross-cultural exchange. :)

Elida (bottom left), Sharon (right) and me making chapati!!!

Rollin' like a true Kenyan woman

Sunday was another exciting day as we received our sofas, successfully cultivated some taro root that was growing down by the lake and we received a call from our friend Bernard who told us another friend had just killed a 10 foot python at our neighboring beach!

Our friends Elijah, Tielen and Evans made our sofas, which we love!!! SO nice to finally have a place to relax after a long day.

for those who appreciate Seinfeld...

yay couches!!!

Our friend Olambo came over to help me harvest the taro and transplant a few of the leaves to grow around the property.

Aaaand here is our friend Owino who killed the python. Yikes. It was still moving a bit while they were skinning it. Biggest snake I have ever seen up close. It was pretty cool! I am glad it is no longer living around our beach though… thanks Owino!

Thats right... they killed it with a single spear.

That night we made some more kale wraps which consisted of blanched kale leaves, a sauté of some local grown carrots, peppers and onions, along with a spiced rice (cinnamon, salt, pepper, masala spice) and a tangy peanut sauce (soy sauce, peanut butter, lemon juice mixture) to sprinkle on top. It was a delicious meal!

My studly husband before dinner :)

veggie feast!

 I will write again soon with some more current events here on the island! Life is always exciting… never a dull moment. We are enjoying our home and community and our simple and sustainable way of life. What a great way to start out our first year of marriage!

Until next time…

Love, peace and chicken grease!

Caroline

Loooong weekend.

Amosu friends!

Sorry it has taken me so long to put up another post! My computer is broken and the internet has been VERY slow. This entry below is from about 2 or 3 weeks ago, ha!

This past week has been loooong but great. Matt and I took a trip to Kisumu, which, between all the boat rides, bus rides and matatu rides, it take all day to get there. We needed to go to the immigration office in Kisumu so Matt could sign some papers regarding his work visa he is trying to get so we can postpone leaving the country at the 6 month mark to renew it. We also stopped in to a large “wal-mart” type supermarket to get a few things for the house as well as some fabric and sofa cushions for our friends Tielen and Elijah (they are making us two sofas!!!). J We were hoping to come back the next day but it took so long to get all of the supplies on our list that we had to stay a night in Mbita on our way back.

On Wednesday morning two women from EK (Pamela and Joyce), who are also our friends as well as community health workers on Mfangano, came with us to Rusinga island (right next to Mbita) for a meeting with the Kawala women’s group to discuss starting a group on Mfangano focused on bringing safe drinking water to the community. Kawala women’s group is connected with an organization called SWAP Kenya, which provides education around safe water practices and its effects on HIV and other illnesses along with safe drinking containers that the groups can sell to members of the community to provide local capital. It is a wonderful organization and we hope to build a partnership with Kawala women so we can soon start some groups on Mfangano.  For more information on SWAP Kenya visit their website! http://www.swapkenya.org/ It is such a great organization!

We arrived on Mfangano late Wednesday night after having been gone since Monday and Thursday we jumped right back into routine. I went to visit my friend Olambo at the EK Farm to discuss aquaponics maintenance and then we met at his personal farm later in the day to discuss agriculture and how to get my farm up and running! The previous weekend Olambo came to our place at Chwera Chwera and helped me build some beds to start planting seeds when I returned from Kisumu. We also finished the chicken coop!!! See pictures of these events below. We now have 5 baby chicks and 7 hens with 1 rooster. We are planning to have more chicks soon so we can continue to eat chicken at least a few times a month.

Baby Chicks!

Evans next claiming his handy work on our new chicken coop!

Welcome to the new Hen Hotel

Today, Friday Sept 7^th, Olambo and my friend Moses came over to help plant some bell peppers, hot chiles, coriander, cucumber, carrots, peanuts and sweet potatoes in my small chamba (Luo for garden).  I can’t wait for these veggies to grow so we can eat right out of the backyard. Watering is tricky because we cant just turn a hose on like at home. We have to walk to the lake and hop on the water pump (which is called “the money maker” – no joke) and step up and down like a stair-master to pump water through a hose pipe. Unless you have a sprinkler system hooked up to the money maker, which we don’t, someone has to hold the hose up to the plants while another person is working the money maker. I am thankful Chas and Jenna have a money maker or else I would have to carry the water up from the lake in buckets and water the plants. Most people in the community water their chambas with buckets because they money maker is expensive – it is defiantly a luxury item that I am grateful to have. 

Olambo and me raisin' some beds!

Moses preparing the plot for our sweet potatoes and ground nuts

The final product

The animals were just as tired as we were. (All 5 dogs and our cat were pooped out.
See if you can spot them all!)

This weekend we are having our family over for a chicken dinner Saturday night. Elida, George, Sharon, Tielen, Evelyn, Steve, Michelle and baby Mackey are all coming to Chwera Chwera to cook, eat and tell stories. Really looking forward to seeing the family J

I will take pictures of the family reunion and post this weekend.

Until then…

Love, peace and chicken grease!

Caroline