Housekeeping in Western Kenya

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Early in the morning Mrs. Agesa lets the chickens out of the circular cement chicken house which is also the cook house. Then she gets a few pieces of wood and arranges them inside a circle of stones onto which she places her large sufuria filled from the rainwater collection tank. When that comes to a boil, she pours some off to a teakettle to make chai boiled with milk straight from her cows. The rest of the water goes into buckets, mixed with cold rainwater, and this is what you carry to the bathhouse to wash in. Each person gets about 1/2 bucket of water if she wants to wash, but not all Kenyans wash like this daily.
The chai and some hot water goes into 4 thermoses that sit on the kitchen table all day, so the family can refresh themselves with tea at any time. Breakfast usually consists of bread, margarine and jam with tea. After that Mrs. A or her kitchen helpers heat more water to wash last night's dishes. This takes place outside on a table under a tree, then the dishes are placed on a wooden drying rack (made from saplings) in the garden under her guava tree. Often I've been startled when guavas fall from that tree and hit the tin roof of the house with a loud explosion.
Next Lucy, Mrs. A's maid of all work, heats even more water on the open fire to wash clothes. She works by hand, using strong laundry soap and scrubbing over a round plastic tub placed on the ground. Clothes get very clean but don't last as long when they are washed and pounded in this way.
After this, Mrs. A and Lucy clean rice, beans or corn and cook a meal for the family and farm workers. By the time all have eaten is about 2:30 pm and there is a short rest period before preparation of dinner. Dinner is commonly served about 8 pm. The menu for lunch and dinner consists of these dishes, in rotation: rice, ugali, sukuma wiki (greens), cabbage and tomatoes fried in oil, beans, lentils, beef chunks in gravy or chicken pieces in gravy or occasionally tilapia in a nice tomato sauce. I haven't seen much variation in foods when I visit other Kenyan homes, so assume it is the standard fare. Naturally, poor Kenyans will make a meal of ugali alone or even rice alone. Mrs. Agesa's standard of living is definitely middle class.
If the house needs sweeping, it is done with a homemade broom about 12" tall or even a leafy branch plucked from a bush. There are no trash cans and if somethng is too large to be swept into the dust outside, it is carried to a trash pit under the banana trees.
To keep house as Kenyan women do, you need a strong back and arms. Kenyan women routinely heft 5 gallon water cans and other large objects, some of which they carry on their heads. They generally work barefoot or in flip flops, even when cutting cane or maize with a panga (machete). If they have to pick up a boiling pot, they will grab a handful of leaves and use those as oven mitts.

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Comments

[poonam srivastava]

for lilian nanjala
dear kathi, my name is poonam srivastava. i want to introduce myself to you and to lilian. i am going to co-sponser lilian from last month on. and it is a great pleasure. i loved reading of your experience at V. and the trip with the mattresses reminded me of many trips i had in india.. so. perhaps you will read Lilian this letter for me. thank you, and thank you for your work. poonam Dear Lilian, My name is Poonam Srivastava. It is an indian name. Like Indira Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi. Perhaps you know those names? They were pretty famous good people. I am not a famous person, but i do try to be good. I am Beverly's friend. I live with her. I talked to her about you and she showed me your pictures. I asked her all about you and she told me how you liked to study and what good friend you were to Eunice and how much she loved you. We have been speaking of you since we met, one year ago. I have become very fond of you myself. You are in my heart every day. I am a writer and also a healer. I have a picture of you on my desk. I would very much like to be your sponser along with Beverly. I would like to write you letters, and perhaps you would write to me? I did some of the shopping for the clothes that you will receive. The red hooded jacket, I thought would suite you well. I hope you like it. You seem an intelligent and kind and thoughtful person. Also, I think you are interested in knowing more books. I love books. I have always loved books. both Beverly and i share a great love of books. That is a basis of our friendship. We are both writers. We share our writing. She does a lot of work with the writing of others'. Correcting their mistakes. its called editing. it requires very excellent grammar skills. sometimes i help her. mostly i write for magazines about books and films i like. this is called reviews. i tell people what i think about what i read or see in the movies/films. then they can decide if they want to spend the time and money to buy the book or movie. its a fun way to make a living. ofcourse its work too. we hope that you and kathi have a fun day when you go out to lunch. we wish we were there with you. and in our hearts we will be. perhaps kathi can take a photo and send it to us. that would be very nice. i will try to send you a photo of me very soon. lots of love to you Lilian. oh, please do tell me if you wish me to be a co-sponser with Beverly or not. i am leaving that decision to you. your friend, poonam

[Kim Pendley]

Food & Housekeeping
HI Kathy. We miss you but eagerly read your blog. It is wonderful! I announce your adventures, and your blog site to all the TJ gang each Wednesday evening at "Open Campus". We have a new caterer and 9 classes going! Most of the Africa travelers are taking Hula from Marie Cassady. The African daily chores seem to consume most of the day, even with a lot of women helping. Chickens living in the cook house sounds really yumyum too, although I guess they have to protect such valuable livestock. I hope the children are thriving. I hear they love love love the swing set. Good. I'm sending my girl the Robert Louis Stephenson poem "The Swing" about the joy of playing on a swing. It's only 3 verses, so I hope she will memorize it. I still remember it from memory after 50 years. It's such a classic, Bullwinkle used to recite it to Rocky on that old cartoon show. haha Barak Obama will be here for a Democratic rally tomorrow, Sept 14, at Slugger Field. I am in the "Singing Dems" chorus created literally last week to welcome him. It will be a lot of fun. I've encouraged some of the Africa group to attend and try to reach Barak Obama. Interesting that he was in Kisums only aoubt 3 weeks ago. Connections abound! Tell us more about how you've gone natural Kathi. What are you teaching the children? You are having quite an extended adventure. Take very good care of yourself. You are a wonder! Kim Pendlewy