Sleeping in the mud hut of the 2nd wife

So I went to my friends ancestral home in a village called Maseno. It was a compound house, with the man's main house in the middle, each wife's house on either side. Each son had started to build their house on the outskirts of the compound. The houses are ingenious, made of mud packed up to form walls and rooms and hardened with a water/cow dung compost. The roof was grass thatched and provided a cool environment all year round. The compound was on a huge plot of land where the family grew avocado, papaya, guava, bananas, tea, maize, etc. It was beautiful but can you imagine working the shamba everyday, on such vasts area of land? Luckily they had enough bulls to help them manage the garden. And their chickens had free range of the compound, coming inside the houses at night to sleep and brood. Each grandma and mother expected me to join them for dinner and I was not forewarned, so of course I ate too much at the first dinner thinking it was my dinner, but low and behold I had 3 more rounds to make, enjoying the chicken stew (each slaughtered on my behalf) and ugali. Heavy rains crept up in the evening thus making it impossible to leave the area so we spent the night. I slept on a nice comfy pad in the floor of the 2nd grandmothers house and awoke at 6am when the roosters started crowing. The whole compound was awake and working including the very young children. I had to make the four rounds again that morning, taking tea and mandazi with each family. This time I was prepared but I was wired from all the tea. All in all it was a good experience to see how rural families live and get by with no electricity or running water. Life was good that weekend!

Since returning, I have gone back to work and continued to crank out reports and documents for the MUE project. We still haven't gotten the miso from Cairo. Apparently it is being held in Nairobi at the customs office because the amount of medication looks like we are importing for distribution. So Monica has traveled to Nairobi to explain that it was donated for private use, fill out documents and get the process moving again. I still have not received the monthly data from October so I cannot continue with analyzing the data and making sure the project is on track to meet its objectives.

I got the package from my mom with all the fixens for thanksgiving dinner and we managed to find a frozen turkey at the local butcher. It was extremely expensive but worth every penny. Luckily we didn't have to buy a live one because we Americans have no clue how to slaughter, clean and prepare a turkey for baking. There will be 15 people at our dinner this weekend (we have to celebrate it this weekend because its not a holiday here and the clinic where the oven is will be closed so we have private use).

So today, I am on a hunt for new contacts. Mine are really bugging me and of course I came ill prepared with enough supply. But I heard they are here somewhere. I am also going to the immigration office to see about getting a residents card because with one I am able to get Kenyan rates on the touristy stuff instead of the tourist price. With my Dad coming and the amount of traveling I will be doing with him and by myself at the end of my stint here, that will come in very handy. Soon I will be a Kenyan resident! YAY!

So my PC peeps are coming into town tomorrow for the dinner. I am stoked, mainly to have some company at my house. It really sucks living there all alone, and when Monica is not around in the main house it makes it even more lonely.

The rains have started to be more heavy and longer, and the bumpy Kenyan roads are becoming worse with mud. But its still hot. Hardly feels like the Holiday season is upon us!

More next time.