FOOD&WATER ISSUE
It is not fully true that there is no food in Africa. Some countries, like Kenya that are in the equatorial climate zone are the most green places that we can imagine and plants are growing there all the year. Seeds sprout in few days when wattered and after few months you can harvest already. Fruits like mango, papaya, banana, avocado, custard apple and passion fruit are growing freely everywhere which places this country on the top of my list :D Although, it is true that people are hungry and thirsty but it is money issue. What I've noticed is that Kenyans have mastered eating and drinking very little at the same time keeping their body fit and strong. I've heard from my friends who train acrobatics and dance in Nairobi, that they usually eat one or two meals a day, without lunch. I was wondering: how is this possible to exercise for so many hours without food and still have so much of fiery energy? For them, lack of food and water is so common that it doesn't stop them from being active and as my friend Mike said "When you eat a lot, your body gets heavy and lazy, so it is better to eat little". Hard living conditions are explained to create a "healthier" lifestyle, this is what I call surviving abillity! And I have to admit, Kenyans are inbelievably strong and fast and they seem to be build only of muscles. To be honest, the westerners are the ones that are eating much to much food in comparison to how much we actually use the energy during the day.
photos from the farm next to Nanyuki where I volunteered
"PRIMITIVE BEHAVIOURS"
I really don't like this expression as it has negative marking but this is exactly how people would describe eating with your hands or squatting in the toilet which are just normal in Kenya and many other countries. When I was living with my african family on the island I was often said to "use my five spoons" which after a while became my only way of eating. It might seem grose but there is so much logic in it! First of all, locals claim that using cutlery creates a barrier between them and their food. I can understand that as it is similar to walking barefoot. Just remember this liberating feeling when you take off your shoes and step on soft fresh grass :) It gives so much more to the meal if you can feel the texture and temperature also with your fingers. Not only it creates the connection, but also you avoid getting your tongue burned as you can feel the heat before putting the food in your mouth. Another reasonable point of not using cuttlery is lowering the amount of things to wash. How smart is that? Especially, if you have 6 or more children, which in Kenya is just right or even not enough. Eating with your hands also forces keeping the hygiene more - hands are being washed very carefully before and after each meal.
I appreciate so much that many Kenyans cultivate this part of traditon, not letting the western way of living sneek to deep into their reality. They know that their ancestors knew better and they follow it as it still fits their reality. "Cuttlery free" mindset shows the african closer connection with their surrounding.
pimpkin stuffed with sukuma (kale and tomatoes)
straight from the garden!
pumpkin bread made of our own ingredients
This connection is visible also by letting the nature inside the house. Kenyans I've met are not affraid or disgusted with insects or bigger animals walking around their property. They accept other living creatures and give them permission to live, not appropriate all the space for themselves as they were kings of the world.
In one of the houses I was invited to in Kisumu, I had this situation: We were eating the dinner and I saw a mouse walking above the window in the kitchen. When I told about it to the family, I heard "yes, we know, so what?". I was amazed with this reaction as I would expect switching on some figthing and killing mode, but no. In the house on the Mfangano island we had two nests of paper wasps that are extremely dangerous, but we just accepted them, knowing that it is higly forbidden to get close to their home. There were some plans of getting rid of the nests but they weren't so urgent, because for three weeks at least no one took care of it and also no one got hurt.
The same attitude worked with chickens entering the house and eating food leftovers. By living so close with nature those people shortened the distance between humans and animals. Even though they are mostly meat eaters, they have bigger respect to the animals, because they share the space with them and they observe animal's life at close range, which gives the opportunity to notice similarities to human's lives.
african paper wasp...
being hosted in a house with happy mouse
It seemed for me as if life in Kenya was less filled with fear than it is in western countries. As hunger, thirst and dangerous animals are commonplace, locals got toughen by their living conditions and they have learned how to overcome it and cooperate with it. Experiencing it made me rethink all the situations when people in my country are complaining or getting angry, sometimes even furious because the dinner is not ready or they didn't have time to get lunch...
My biggest lessons connected with the issues I mentionted are:
- try eating less then you are use to
- get friendly with living creatures surrounding you (we don't have to kill each bug we see in our houses)
- decrease the amount of dishes to wash, use your hands when you can ( or try it some time just to check how it feels like).
