Chakula!

Chakula is the Swahili word for food and since I’ve been in Africa I have had several people ask me about the food here. What do we eat? How do I like it? And so on. At Neema House our morning tea and lunch is provided for us. We have morning tea at 10am when all the babies are napping. On Sunday and Monday mornings we have chai (tea) and mandazi, which are African donuts. They are made out of a simple dough which is then fried briefly in hot oil. Usually we eat them plain, while they are still hot, but sometimes I like to sprinkle them with icing sugar. The tea here is just hot milk with spices in it.

On Wednesday and Friday mornings we have chai and chapatti – a type of fried flat bread that is definitely my new favourite food!

The other days we have chai and peanut butter sandwiches. Then we have lunch at 2pm when all the babies have gone down for their afternoon nap.

For Sunday lunch we eat ugali, a cornmeal mush similar in consistency to very firm mashed potato, and cabbage. The cabbage is fried together with carrots, onions and other vegetables and is delicious. They also cook fish on Sundays, although I don't eat it.

Monday we have one of my favourite meals of the week – rice and beans. I never liked beans all that much at home, but I love them here. They are cooked together with fresh grated coconut and seasonings. The only thing you need to watch out for is the odd rock or small bug in the beans! They dry the beans out on a huge tarpaulin in the front yard so sometimes we get some extra crunch or protein in there once it’s cooked. It bothered me a little at first, but now I just close my eyes, eat and it tastes good!

Beans drying out in the yard.

Tuesday we eat ugali and mboga, which is a green vegetable similar to spinach. After trying unsuccessfully to find out from the cook and nannies what type of mboga it is (mboga simply means vegetable), I looked it up online and they appear to be a type of Collard Greens which are known as “sukuma wiki” in Kenya and are often mistaken as being kale. Either way, it appears to be nutritious and they taste very…. green, for lack of a better word. Tuesday is in no way my favourite meal of the week!

Wednesday is makande day, which is a stew made out of beans and maize. It doesn’t look very appetizing, but tastes good. Once again though, you need to watch out for the rocks and bugs!

Thursday is technically dagaa day. Dagaa are teeny tiny fish that are dried in the sun and then eaten whole – eyes, tails and all. They stink to high heaven, but the babies seem to like them strangely enough. Because none of the volunteers will eat the tiny fish, Dorris usually cooks instead. Usually we have stew or spaghetti, which sometimes I eat and sometimes I don’t, depending on whether or not they put meat in it that day.

Dagaa ready to be cooked.

Vegetable spaghetti

Stew and cornbread - I came all the way to Africa to try cornbread for the first time! It wasn't to my liking unfortunately.

Friday is ugali and chicken day. Usually they cook the chicken in the oven and then serve it with ugali, but as I neither eat chicken, nor work on Fridays I don’t eat this meal. Once or twice Dorris has made a chicken soup with rice and I tried it once when I was there, minus the chunks of chicken, and it was quite nice.

Chicken cooking in the oven.

Chicken and vegetable soup with rice.

Saturday is my favourite meal. They make pilau rice with beef in it (big chunks though so easy to get remove) and a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. I don’t usually work on Saturdays either, but I almost always go in specially to eat pilau!

So that’s what we eat here at Neema and is probably a good representation of basic Tanzanian food (minus the spaghetti and chicken soup of course). For the most part I like the food here and I especially like eating the main meal in the middle of the day. We provide our own dinner at the volunteer house, but we don’t eat African food – for the most part I’m too tired to cook anything more complicated than some pasta or make a pot full of popcorn!

Other African foods that I’ve had here are fried cassava and roasted maize on the cob (you can buy both those things from street vendors) and chips mayai, which I mentioned in an earlier blog. After Nicole got so sick eating it though, I don’t think I’ll be having it again in a hurry!

All in all, I like the food here. I suppose you can have too much of a good thing, but at the moment I would be happy eating chapatti and rice and beans forever!

xoxo,

-Hannah

Love Love Love

I found a picture tonight of the triplets – one of the ones that I used to promote Neema House before I came here. It’s an old photo – perhaps taken when they were about 8 or so months old. It made me sad and happy all at once. I remember looking at the photo and wondering which triplet was which. It seems so long ago now.

Was there ever a time I didn’t know these babies? Was there ever a time I didn’t love them? Was there ever a day I didn’t hug them and kiss them, laugh with them when they laughed, cuddle them when they cried? Did I ever know what it was like to have a baby trust you, to lay their head on your shoulder and go to sleep? Did I ever know how sweet they are when they're just waking up, or how cute they are when they've just gotten out of the bath and are all wet and squirmy? Was there a time when I didn’t know how to change a nappy or make a bottle or sing a baby to sleep?

I don’t know. I suppose there was a time. I suppose I only came here 10 weeks ago. I suppose I had a life before this, but most days I don’t remember it. I don’t know who I was before I came here and I don’t know who I am now. What I do know is that I love these babies. I love this work and this life and this country and these people.

I know that the baby with the big eyes is Anna, the one with the pixie face is Deborah and the chunky one in pink is Esther. I know that Deborah sticks her tongue out when she smiles; that she’s cheeky and mischievous; that she steals pacifiers that don’t belong to her; that she loves the “Where’s Deborah?” game; that she’s clingy, and that she has the most adorable giggle. I know that Anna likes to sit facing me on my knee, her little legs around my waist, head against my chest; that she doesn’t like egg, but does like peanut butter sandwiches; that her hair is long enough to put in a tiny braid on top of her head and that she has four teeth on the bottom and three on the top. I know that Esther is the most serious of the three, but that when she smiles she tips her head back and closes her eyes; that she’s the most patient; that she cries the least; that she likes to come up behind me and lean her head on my shoulder when I’m sitting on the mat; that right now she badly needs a haircut, and that her trust has to be earned, but once you have it, she’s yours forever.

I know their cries and their laughs, the way they smell and the things they like – who likes to sleep on their tummy and who prefers to sleep on their back, who likes to have a pacifier and who prefers to suck their fingers.

I don’t know anything anymore. All I know is that I love these babies. I love these three and all the others with everything I have and everything I am. I think I’m beginning to get a glimpse of the all-consuming love God has for me.

xoxo,

-Hannah

Nicole, Sick Babies and the Dala Dala

The past few weeks have passed quickly. I have had lots of things to write about, but little time in which to write them. We have a lot of sick babies at Neema House – four out of the eight in the big baby room were down with a stomach bug at the same time and there were more in the other rooms. That meant a lot of extra work especially with one particular baby who had to be fed 10mls of oral rehydration solution every 15 minutes for six hours, as he could keep nothing else down. I was very tired at the end of that day! The week before that the same baby had strep throat and the last two weeks most of the babies have had a bad cough and cold and three have had malaria. I've lost count of how many are on medication! It seems to take hours each day to dole out the correct medicine to the correct baby. Thankfully last week Michael employed a nurse who has been very thorough and so far is proving to be a great help.

Apart from the on and off sickness, which unfortunately is inevitable – when one baby gets sick, they all do – all is well. The lovely Nicole was left with me after her mum went back to America and we had a fun two weeks together. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, there is a local restaurant where Michael and Dorris often go in the evenings so that they can use the Internet (much faster than at Neema) and eat samosas (apparently their samosas are the best thing you’ve ever tasted, but as I don’t eat beef I suppose I’ll never find out). While Dyan was here we went there almost every night, but after she left our only way of getting there was to walk so we didn’t go so often. One time when we went there Nicole had “Chips Mayai” which is an African dish – essentially an omelette with chips (as in thick cut fries) in it. Sounds weird but it tastes just like eating scrambled eggs and fried potatoes at the same time! It's also good with tomato sauce (ketchup for the Americans) on top. I had it at Players before, as well as at other restaurants, but this time Nicole got sick.

You'll have to believe me when I say that chips mayai tastes much better than it looks! 

That was the same week that the babies all had the vomiting bug so we assumed at first that she had it too. Later on, we realised that it was probably food poisoning. I was sick as well, but not nearly so bad as I had only eaten a little of the eggs. We thought maybe it was just a one off thing and we decided to go back there a few days later after we went to the snake park. We got home and Nicole was sick again that night. We swore never to eat there ever again. However, after Michael and I took Nicole to the airport a couple days later we stopped there. I thought a drink would be safe, but apparently not! We wondered if perhaps the dishes aren’t being washed properly there. I'm not sure, but I can assure you that I won’t be going there again any time soon.

While Nicole was here we did a lot of things together. We went to the Maasai market where we bought souvenirs. The more times I go to the market, the more comfortable I am there. I can bargain with the shopkeepers without too much trouble and I’ve found that if I try and reply to their greetings and questions in Swahili, then they’re much more likely to give me a good price because they realise that I’m not a tourist. I tell them that they must not charge me "mzungu prices" (white person)! We bought paintings from a local artist and in return he sold us a small bowl and spoon set made out of bone for a very cheap price. We returned to his stall later to buy another, only for a different man to demand three times the price for the same thing!

That same day we went to Fifi’s Café as it was near the market and we had an interesting snack. We ordered lemonade, unsure whether their idea of lemonade was the same as American lemonade or whether it would be simply Sprite or some other lemon fizzy drink. It wasn’t either. Instead, it was straight lemon juice. Yow! Thankfully they also brought a jug of sugar syrup so we could sweeten it. We tried their coconut buns and chocolate brownie, but neither were spectacular so I wouldn't go back there in a hurry.

Two days before Nicole left we found our new favourite place to eat. Aldelien had said that a place called “Africafe” was good so we agreed to meet her for lunch there one day. Neither Nicole nor I were feeling very good after our second ill-fated trip to Players the night before, but Adelien was right… if we had of known how nice Africafe was then we would have been eating there every day!

Ironically, Africafe was the least African place I’ve eaten at here. It was very Western – both the look of the place and the food. It seems shallow, but it was heavenly to eat food that tasted like home. Nicole and I loved it so much that we went back on the day she left and all we could talk about for the two days in between was how much we were looking forward to it! Funny the little things that can make you happy.

Delicious meal at Africafe - the best I've had since "the last supper" mum made for me at home!

 As I write it, going out sounds simple enough – we go into town and eat and go to the Maasai market and eat some more and do this and that and so on. The thing is though that we don't have a car and even if we did I would not be brave enough to drive it. That fact means that I go everywhere on the dala dala – a risky (you are at peril from being crushed to death inside or one of the vehicles crashing due to the high speeds they drive at) but certainly interesting mode of transportation. Before Dyan left she wanted me to say that I would take Nicole on the “dali wali” (as she called it), but I wouldn’t as unfortunately most of the time it’s our only way of getting around. I did however keep my promise not to take her on a piki piki (motorbike). I've not yet been brave enough to try that one! The worst influence I was on her was encouraging her to eat Nutella straight from the jar in bed. We did take a picture pretending I was influencing her...

Just as well it was just Sprite we were drinking. :)

Anyway, we had many interesting experiences on the dala dala. At one point the one we got into was so full we weren’t sure how we would fit. Nicole sat half on the seat, half off, directly beside the door that was wide open as we rattled along at breakneck speed. I sat back to back with the driver on top of the engine. The engine was so hot that by the time we got into town I was positive that my skirt was about to light on fire. Nicole was sure that she was going to fall out the door, although soon enough so many people crammed in that there was no way she could possibly have fallen out. There must have been 30 people in that little van, with the condo (short for conductor - the man who collects the money and shouts out the window where the dala is going) actually standing outside, with only his feet in the van. A large man got in and leaned over the top of Nicole and I and we spent most of the trip with our heads stuck in his armpits – not a pleasant place to be on any day, let alone a hot one!

On another trip the driver didn’t want to stop at our usual stop in town and he kept asking, “Wapi? Wapi?” (Where? Where?) and we kept shouting back, “Hapa!” (Here!) but to no avail. When he finally stopped we were miles away from where we were meant to be and had to walk all the way back. I’m not sure if he was just being stubborn or we were having some sort of communication error. Either way, it didn’t matter in the end - I am used to having to walk places here! It's good too because the people who sell things on the street are starting to recognise me so they don't try and harass me into buying their wares. 

Another time we were standing on the corner in town waiting for a dala to come along that would take us back home. I saw one and waved (apparently not the right kind of wave because the condo mimicked me and laughed), only for that vehicle to be packed full. We tried to say no, we would wait for another, but before we knew it the condo hoisted me into the front seat with the driver, and Nicole into the back. I was fine because there was plenty of room in the front, but I was worried about Nicole because of the time when she almost fell out the door so I (without thinking) said to the condo, “She’s afraid she’ll fall out.” He thought this was the funniest thing he had ever heard and from then on he took it upon himself to personally look after her. When she had to climb out so that other people could get off he held her hand the whole time. Then when she was climbing back into the dala, he assisted her by grabbing onto her bottom! At that point I felt very bad – my “young charge” should have sat in the front and I could have dealt with the too-friendly locals. We got close to our stop and so I said to the driver, “Can you stop here?” He replied, “Yes, we are stopped. This is a traffic jam.” Confusing answer, but never mind. “No, can you stop at PPF?” I said. He just laughed and said, “Oh I suppose I could stop in the area.” Frustrating, yet funny at the same time! He looked like he was about to go past the stop so I shouted and the condo poked his head out the back window and motioned for me to stick my head out the front window so that I could talk to him. He told me that they didn’t want to let us out – they would take us to the end of their run and then bring us back home. “HAPANA!” (NO!) we shouted, “We have to go to the airport!” At which they all laughed, thinking it was the funniest joke they had ever heard and stopped to let us out.

Front camera of iPhone + bumpy road + risk of getting phone stolen = very blurry photo on the dala dala!

We’ve had many funny experiences like that and I’ve only been here for two months. I still have six months of riding the dala dala to look forward to! (Note the slightly sarcastic tone, although it is true that it can be fun if you're with other people). Once last week I was on the dala by myself and I sat next to a Maasai man. He was talking to me, asking where I was from (as in where I live in Arusha) and I was trying to tell him about Neema and our 27 babies. After I got off the dala and was walking the rest of the way home I realised that I didn’t tell him that I helped look after 27 watoto (children), but that I had 27 watoto. No wonder he looked surprised! Sometimes I think I will ever learn enough Swahili to even have a simple conversation. Although in saying that, the other day a man asked if I wanted to buy a newspaper and when I replied with, "Hapana asante," (no thank you), he asked if I was a resident. I was very proud of myself when I was able to reply with, "Ndiyo. Ninaishi Arusha," (Yes. I live in Arusha). Baby steps!

The same day as the bottom-grabbing, refusing to let us off the dala, incident Nicole left to go home to America. It was very sad. We went to Neema so she could say goodbye to the babies and especially to her Joel. He’s so sweet. Every day when we went into the toddler room he would shout, “Cole! Anna!” That was the closest he could get to our names. It was so sweet. Then when “Cole” left he would say, “Anna, Anna, wapi Cole?” (Where is Cole?) She’s been gone for close to two weeks now and still he sometimes asks where she is. Last night I showed him a picture of her on my phone which made him grin for ages even though he's unwell at the moment (he has malaria). Before I took the phone away he kissed the screen. It was very sweet. Helena, our other two-and-a-half year old looked at the phone and said, "Cole!" Then she looked around the room and said, "Hamna Cole" (there is no Cole). It was both sad and sweet at the same time.

Joel and Helena aren't the only ones who miss her. Now there’s no one to call me “Miss Buns” or to laugh with about the horror movie cornfields, Emmanuel, the "Weenie Man" song, or the scary kiwi that lives beside my bed. There’s no one to give me a fright by standing over my bed in the middle of the night or to whisper creepily, “The cupboard is open,” or shout, “SOAPY!” at inappropriate moments. Thank you Nicole for being such a lovely lovely roommate. It was fun living with you for a few weeks and I hope and pray a million times over that you will come back in December and we can have more good times then. Sending you a thousand hugs from the babies and more from me too.

Bye Nicole!

xoxo,

Hannah

Meserani Snake Park

Last weekend Nicole and I spent a couple of hours at the Meserani Snake Park, just outside of Arusha. Lori and Lita had a taxi driver, Edward, who they really liked and seeing as they were gone on safari that day, we thought we would ask him to take us. He was a very nice guy, but it was a very frightening experience being in the taxi with him. He had no qualms about zipping through traffic and squeezing through gaps that left not even a centimetre on either side of the car. Nicole and I were constantly leaning in towards the centre of the car – as if that would stop us from crashing into anything! In some ways I found it a more frightening experience than the dala dala, although I frequently think I am going to die when using that form of public transportation.

It was almost an hour to the snake park and we were very glad to get there safely, to say the least. It was purely by luck that we even found the place as Nicole and I only had a vague idea of where it was and Edward had never been there before.

When we went in, I asked if Edward planned on staying or whether we should ring him when we wanted to go home. To our surprise he wanted to stay and see the snake park with us! That was fine, except that he constantly pretended that he was going to throw us into the crocodile enclosure and he disregarded the signs that said “Do NOT tap on the glass”, which agitated the snakes which then made them even more scary to Nicole and I.

Nicole didn't want to get too close to the snake, even if it was on the other side of the glass!

The snakes were terrifying – black mambas and cobras and pythons. One of the pythons was so huge that in its middle, it was wider around than I am – I wondered what it had eaten. There was also a few other animals there – reptiles like huge lizards and crocodiles and tortoises. They had aviaries with vultures and other equally menacing looking birds and they also had one lone yellow baboon who had been confiscated from poachers, but could not be re-introduced into the wild as baboons will not allow an unfamiliar baboon to enter their troop.

If you know me then you might wonder why I wanted to go to a snake and reptile park, considering my great distaste for those creatures. The truth was that Nicole had heard that at the park you could have a ride on a camel and ever since then she had been dying to go. We went for the camels – the reptiles were just a bonus!

While we were looking at the snakes, a young man came across and told us it was time to take a tour of the Maasai museum which was next door. We assumed he worked at the park and followed him inside, only to be stopped by a shouting man telling us we needed a tour guide to go in there. Turned out the young man didn’t work in the park at all! During the tour they told us about the Maasai culture which I found very interesting as I have heard a lot about the Maasai people since I have been here, yet I knew very little about them. The most interesting thing I thought was that the people wear different colours depending on their age and stage of life. Children wear one colour, unmarried women another, those married without children wear a different colour to those married with children and then grandmothers wear an entirely different colour. It was the same with the men.

After the tour we were taken to a mock village where the huts were little souvenir shops with the local Maasai women selling their crafts. We didn’t buy anything though as we can get all the same things at the market here in Arusha. 

As we left the village, we saw what we had been waiting for the whole day… camels!

There were a lot of school children there on a day trip and we watched a few of them take rides on the camel, before it was our turn. It looked quite frightening – I never realised just how tall a camel is before and the camel rocks back and forth quite alarmingly as it stands up and lays down. Nicole and I had a ride together which was lots of fun, even if she did a lot of screaming when the camel lay down! Even Edward had a ride and afterwards Nicole and I thought that it was such a lot of fun that we would have a second ride.

There was a good view from up there and it seemed like it would be quite a comfortable way to travel.

The scariest part was when the camel got up and down - it felt like you would fall off at any minute.

This picture is my favourite - the only word I have to describe the look on the camel's face is diabolical!

On the way back from the snake park we had Edward drop us at a local restaurant which is only a fifteen minute walk from the volunteer house. Nicole and I had both previously gotten sick from eating at this place, but we thought we would give it another go. Bad choice, but that's a story for another blog! Apart from that though it was a very fun day and both of us would go back and have another camel ride anytime!

xoxo,

-Hannah