Home Visits - Kuwatembelea watu nyumbani

These past few weeks I've been doing many home visits.

We are preparing for our annual board meeting where we will discuss how many new children we can assist next year. We already have 44 new families looking for assistance - most of them for secondary school, as that is when school becomes out of reach for many. The average we've paid for a student to enter a public high school this year was almost $200, including school fees, uniform, and basic reference books. Most of our clients live in simple mud homes or are struggling to pay rent of $10 to $20 per month and put food on the table.

Since many things are still new to me, including this process, I am struggling to get as much information as I can to help the board in what will be a very challenging discussion - which ones we will be able to support, and which we will put on a waiting list until we get additional funds, and which ones we believe can manage without our support.

This visits give me much to think about - from the conversations about shared responsibility, the hope of not giving false impressions or making promises that cannot be kept, attempting to understand the situation, the struggle to find the right words in Swahili and not to forget to ask one of the many questions I have.

The larger HIV-support program I work with, CBHC, Community Based Health Care, had visitors this past week from a donor organization. As I was working with the social workers who accompany me on the home visits, I was surprised and disappointed by the arrogance and unprofessional behavior I saw from the visitors. It made me wonder how I can be a better guest when I visit people in their homes.

I didn't have anyone come trick-or-treating this Halloween, since it isn't celebrated here. In honor of the festivities back home, I thought I'd post my first recipe from Mombasa. Sorry it doesn't include chocolate. Cashew nuts are grown here along the coast of Kenya.

Cashew Nutty Green Beans by Mary

Ingredients

fresh green beans, 1-2 cups, cleaned, ends trimmed

fresh ginger, about ½ inch square after peeled

onions, 2 medium size or 1 large

sherry or red wine, if you have it, 1 Tbsp

soy sauce, 2 Tbsp

sugar, 1 tsp

oil, 2 Tbsp

water

unsalted cashew nuts, 1/3 cup or more if you like them

honey, about one big spoonful

Directions

1. Clean the green beans so they are ready to go.

2. Chop the onions into thin rings or small pieces.

3. Chop the ginger into small pieces. If you have a garlic press, you can use it, too.

4. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onions, and stir. After a few minutes, add the ginger.

5. Mix the soy sauce, sherry/wine, and sugar in a bowl.

6. Add the green beans to the onions and saute. After a couple minutes, add the soy sauce mixture.

7. If the onions, etc, seem to be sticking to the pan, add a little water and cover to allow the green beans to get to desired texture. I like them a little crunchy.

8. In a separate pan, heat the cashew nuts until they start to brown. No oil is needed, but keep stirring them or shaking the pan. Add the honey to cover the nuts and continue to stir until they are well-covered.

9. Add the cashew nuts to the beans and serve.

Enjoy a piece of Halloween candy for me!

Gratitude - Shukrani

It's October and I am missing the season of fall.

Here in Mombasa, the weather is getting hot. Jua ni kali is often said now - the sun is hot. But I'm told the heat is yet to come ... December, January, February should be the worst of it.

Tonight I am feeling gratitude. For many things, here's a few to share:

For the ocean breeze

• For the price war between phone companies that made it affordable to call my little brother on his birthday today
• For being allowed into people's lives and homes
• For being here in Mombasa
• For friends
• For the time to learn a new language
• For the patience of many
• For a comfortable home
• For the children I am getting to know
• For the many people who volunteer their time for others
• For the children's counselor who doesn't give up hope
• For the donors who enable me to be here
• For those sacrificing to pay school fees for children not their own
• For faith to believe in possibilities

• For the kids living with HIV who have the courage to talk about it

• For the unique and interesting cultures in Mombasa and throughout the world

Oct 17th was Vijayadashami, the Hindu celebration of good over evil.

• For peaceful moments to marvel at the goodness around me

Happy Birthday to all the October people!
Mary

Dreaming and a Bucket Brigade

Dreaming of Peace - with a "problem tree" with root causes and the resulting branches

I've had some crazy dreams since arriving in Kenya, but last month I was part of a strategic planning meeting where we were asked to do a bit of day-dreaming. We were to dream of what we saw as the ideal church - and not meaning just the church building, but the church as people, as what we experience, who we are, and what we offer. After dreaming, we shared our dreams with each other and talked about what we saw as priorities.

I heard many commonalities and exciting suggestions, some of which are already in the works. I could also see within the vision, the work I am doing in serving vulnerable children and helping them grow to be self-reliant through education.

Part of my dream didn't have such a clear connection to my work. In this dream, I see the church as to be a place of reconciliation, and we, as church, using the grace that allows us t0 figure out how to have right relationships, to be compassionate and understand each other in spite of our differences. Something more for me to think about: in our world full of disparity, seemingly endless conflicts, and differences among people for so many reasons, how can I be a person of reconciliation?

In my work, I am now doing a number of home visits, which I'll talk about another day. One local product which one of the community health workers had in her home was a lantern made from a tin can and a piece of a rubber sandal for the switch. Impressive!





Last weekend, I participated in a Children's Mass with over 1000 kids. It was pretty amazing. They had one little guy directing the choir, girls carrying pots of burning incense on their heads, and boys dressed as traditional warriors with cardboard shields in the procession. Afterward, they served all with pilau in what you could call a "food brigade." There were two lines of 30 adults passing hundreds of plates of food hand to hand until everyone was served.

The conductor was standing on a table so everyone could see him,

the girls were dancing while they processed,


and these guards took their roles very seriously.

the bucket ... or food brigade

Other interesting sights from Mombasa: Fire dancing! A group of young men are trying to make a living by performing with balls of fire on chains.
It's beautiful, mesmerizing, and a little stressful for those in the front row.


Tonight I'll be dreaming of an ant-free kitchen - at least free of ants that bite. I suppose I have an unfair size advantage, but they appear to be winning. Tomorrow I'm buying chili powder to see if that works.

Wishing you all pleasant dreams!