During the past week, we have sadly said farewell to our professors Ed, Jennifer and Kim. Ed and Jennifer departed last Wednesday (June 6th) and Kim left early Monday morning of this week. We all missed them initially (they performed well as substitute parents), but we are now content to begin our next phase here.
The seven of us- including the Business, Nursing and Nutrition teams have become a great little family here. We have instituted ‘family game night,’ (including homemade snack, of course), and ‘movie night’. We also have many adventures planned for the weekends ahead- we are all eager to try new things and make the most of our time here!
We, the Nutrition Team, have been quite busy throughout the past few weeks. We visited Machaka Children’s Home with the Nursing and Business students last Thursday. In addition to the orphanage, the facility also operates a day program which allows young children from the community to receive schooling, breakfast and lunch. After touring the expansive (and gorgeous) grounds, we were all keen to help in feeding the very young ones. Although many of us have found that babies will fear the sight of us because of our white skin (they literally start wailing!), it was not the case at Machaka. The babies were so pleased to be held by us and did not fuss as we fed them their uji (maize porridge). A few of the babies were obviously quite premature and showed signs of malnutrition due to their inability to eat all that they require. We have been told from previous students that the hardworking Sisters and staff of Machaka work miracles to nurse these most fragile children back to good health. Our visit warmed our hearts that day and we are all looking forward to returning each week (Nursing students) or every second week (Business and Nutrition students).
Looking back at this week, we (Nutrition Team) have continued to make progress in our data collection of food security/food diversity research by doing several home visits in the Kiirua and Mikinduri areas. Several of the women we visited this week were struggling significantly. Although we are all quite comfortable conducting the interviews, we still feel so distraught and heartbroken when the women state that they didn't eat lunch to save food for their children, or were without food for days or weeks at a time.It is definitely apparent that Ruuju women experience great food insecurity. Many of them walk miles away from their houses each day to rented land where they grow crops, and only a few have access to screen houses or drip irrigation. This growing season is not going well at all due to lack of rainfall and infestations or crop diseases. On a positive note, other women that we visited were doing fairly well and were proud to show us their bountiful kitchen gardens and shambas.
All of the women here work so very hard. They exert such effort and it is all to merely survive, not get ahead. It is a difficult concept to wrap our heads around- at home, we do not have to really work to obtain food. We can simply go to Sobeys and pick up what we need without hesitation. We have imagined what it would be like to be forced to grow our own food for our families. We most likely would not be able to sustain ourselves whatsoever or have even one-tenth of the success the Kenyan women have with their crops even with adequate growing conditions. These women have impressed us in every way- their dedication to their families as hardworking mothers and farmers, their hospitality that they always show to us and others, and their sheer vibrance that emanates from their smiles! These women are true role models for us.
The great highlight of our week occurred yesterday at our first Family Nutrition Session with our ‘Champs’ from Ruuju. This year, we are teaching women about the importance of Vitamin A and its relation to good eye health and preventing illness. We are teaching the women that by incorporating orange sweet potatoes into foods such as githeri (maize and bean stew), uji (porridge) and chapatis (flat bread), they will obtain Vitamin A. We are also teaching the women about ways to increase iron absorption through additions of vitamin C-rich foods. We have suggested adding tomatoes and green peppers to githeri to aid in the iron absorption from the beans. Another suggestion we have given is to have fruit with their meals. While these messages seem simple to us, they are new and beneficial to the women we are working with. We have also attempted to encourage the women to not consume tea with their meals, as the tannins in tea interfere with iron absorption. We often get laughed at over saying such a thing though. Any time is tea time here- Kenyans consume it like water!
Before the teaching session began, we arrived at Ruuju School to find our 5 Champs busy behind the cookhouse preparing the food. Janet got to work with the uji while I (Sam) helped prepare the chapatis. While rolling the chapatis, I worked with one of the champs, Mary, who wanted to marry me off to her son and send us and some cows back to Canada! Later on, Janet was cutting tomatoes and I was cutting carrots. We were using large chef knifes to slice everything up without cutting boards. We looked pretty pathetic beside the expert Kenyan women who sliced through the vegetables with ease and no worry of slicing their fingers off in the process! We all had some great laughs!
By 3pm we had everything prepared and had a good showing of the Ruuju women- all decked out in their 'uniform' of white shirts and navy skirts. Janet introduced us, I reviewed the prior messages from 2010 (from Kaylynne and Christina) and asked how many women adopted the teachings (pretty much all of them!). Fergie spoke about the new messages. After we addressed the crowd, everyone ate and enjoyed the delicious food. When we finished eating, the champs all spoke about how they prepared the food. The crowd was really engaged and interested. At the end, we were of course invited to dance with them as they sang songs of praise. It was so much fun and we couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear!
These next few weeks will also be busy for us, but we are nonetheless excited and eager to do more teaching sessions and home visits. We are also hoping to eventually be able to dance as well as the Kenyan women! Their hips can really move...our’s- not so much! Oh well, we will try! Stay tuned for more updates from the Nutrition Team!
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