Posts Tagged ‘food’

Good eats!

January 15th, 2012

C4KK now has kitchen space to hold bulk items

and that’s exactly what’s been done.  Today I thought I’d give you an approximate break down of how much food C4KK uses on a weekly basis.  The amounts will vary depending on how many kids are there….right now the 10th-11th graders are away at school and in February 5 more kids (the new 9th graders) will be leaving for secondary.  But in April all the secondary students (9 kids) will be at C4KK so amounts will increase.

Tea leaves – .2 lbs  The kids have tea every morning for breakfast and Ann makes tea 6 nights a week after dinner.  This is “British” tea, meaning they make it with milk, water and tea leaves

Milk – 5 gallons  This is mainly used for tea purposes.  The kids normally drink water with their meals or juice if Ann purchases it

Bread – 25 loaves  They will eat 5 loaves per day for breakfast and a couple of days Ann makes donuts instead of having “loaf” (that’s what they call bread)

Wheat flour – 26 lbs  This is used for making chapatti (which they have once a week) and the breakfast donuts

Eggs – 90  They will begin to have eggs approximately 3 times per week for breakfast

Rice – 29 lbs  This is a staple food and is eaten about 4-5 times per week

Soy pieces – 3 lbs  Soy is a new item for the kids and they really like it and I like they are getting another source of protein

Spaghetti – 12 lbs  No pasta sauce for the kids, they simply boil the spaghetti and add tomatoes, onions, etc. for flavor

Beans – 26 lbs  They either have red or black beans throughout the week.  Githeri (another staple food) is normally served on Sunday and it consists of beans and maize

Maize flour – 21 lbs  This flour is mainly used for making ugali (flour and water cooked together to form a cake-like consistency)

Maize – 11 lbs  Used in githeri

Green grams – 9 lbs  A veggie much like a pea, but smaller.

Meat – 7 lbs  Ann purchases beef (bone in) once a week for the kids.

Sugar – 18 lbs  This seems a bit high in my opinion and we are working with Ann on bringing the consumption of sugar down.

Then throughout the week there is the purchase of onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic, ginger and other spices and veggies.  Also from the shamba (garden) they get tomatoes, sukuma and cabbage.  Ann will also begin purchasing fruits, she’s partial to apples, for the kids to have during the week.

We are estimating the food we purchased in bulk to last at least a month and that (along with the cost for cooking the food) was approximately $890.  Which, of course, doesn’t include the fresh stuff (i.e. fruits).  As we move forward we’ll get a better grip on those costs and at that time I can give you all a better monthly estimate of food costs for C4KK.  If you’d like to help with this monthly cost, either with a one-time  or recurring donation, please visit our secure donation site to set up your gift (please choose “Children’s Shelter (C4KK) and Farm Project” from the Allocation drop down list).

Thanks everyone!

Stocked kitchen!

January 12th, 2012

Now that the kitchen is almost complete (cupboards and drawers are being fixed as we speak) it was time to stock it.  We worked with our friend in Tala, Sumil at Sunny Lucky, to get bulk items and he always gives us the best price.

The kitchen is now stocked for about a month…that, of course, doesn’t include the daily needs of fresh items like garlic, ginger, potatoes, etc.  But as we get the crop rotation going in the shamba they won’t need to buy sukuma, cabbage, tomatoes, spinach and soon bananas.

getting stuff organized (that's Mary in the photo, Ann's helper)

Bags of beans, sugar, flour and maize

Milk, tea, spaghetti, flour, salt, soy pieces and green grams

Haul it all in!

Jacinta and Doris arrange the dishes

I brought magnetic letters recently and this is what the kids have done:

They also have enough clothes washing soap, bathing soap, toothpaste, valon (a lotion they use on their skin) and shoe polish to last the month.  Thank you Lord for the providence of a month’s supply of food and non-food items for the kids here at C4KK.  It looks great looking into the full cupboards!

I like!

January 11th, 2012

Lately I’ve noticed the kids we work with are “changing” their preferences.  I say change but it might actually be broadening their tastes.  When ugali was the main food available (ugali is flour and water mixed and cooked until it becomes a cake-like consistency) we told them we just couldn’t eat it, tasteless basically, but they said how very much they loved eating it and it was their favorite food.  Also, if they saw Chuck or I drinking our water or soda with ice (ice that we made with bottled water!) they couldn’t believe we could or even would drink cold drinks.  They preferred room temperature.

That seems to be changing….electricity is now here at C4KK and it seems they like putting their water bottles in the freezer!  Wait a minute, I thought you liked room temperature drinks?   And when Ann said they would be having ugali one night for dinner it was like she spoke fighting words.  They were getting used to spaghetti, rice and soy for their meals, what was she suggesting…ugali!?  Now hold on, you told me that was a favorite food!

I love the fact they are experiencing different foods and cold drinks and I believe as a people we all convince ourselves at times that something we have is the best simply from not having any other option.  I see that a lot here with the kids.  They are not exposed to the world, let alone the village next door, so their vision for the future is very limited.

Slowly we are teaching them there is a big world out there….encouraging them to open their mind to different experiences, tastes and ideas.  I’m praying for a couple of laptop computers to teach the kids, Ann and Bosco how to use them and to see the world through the world wide web.  What a thrill it is to hear their questions like “what’s the use of having an email?” or “what does a boat dock look like?” or “how does Facebook work?” and to see their understanding kick in, which sometimes leads to more questions!

Ugali isn’t on the menu much anymore and water bottles continue to fill the freezer and for that I am thankful.

Chapatti time!

January 2nd, 2012

Today the kids (and Ann) made chapatti for lunch.  Fresh chapatti is simply yummy!  As you can see it helps to have many hands helping to make it and Naomi seems to really enjoy rolling out the dough!  She’s on the left.

It really is a blessing too that they can make chapatti more often, not only on special occasions.  The Lord blesses with fresh chapatti!

Pizza, Kenyan style

December 13th, 2011

Before I get into the real pizza issue in the blog you need a bit of background info.  First, there is NO place in Tala to get pizza…no restaurant makes/sells it, grocery stores don’t sell the ingredients and we haven’t found pepperoni ANYWHERE in Kenya (hence the reason we love you all for sending us the stick pepperoni!!)  So one day when we had to go into Ruai for supplies for C4KK we saw the local grocery store had opened up a very small take out place inside and yup, they sell pizza!

Now before getting all excited for us let me explain some more.  Ruai is approximately 20 miles from where we live (it’s past C4KK) and it takes about 45 minutes to drive that (yea, road conditions are horrendous here).  The only time we go into Ruai is if supplies are needed which we can’t get nearer to C4KK or in Tala.  But when we go we like to sample the pizza (which isn’t half bad even if there is no pepperoni).

The other day was no exception.  We ordered our pizzas and were told to wait 20 minutes.  No problem, I could get a few items there.  I came back 20 minutes later and he said there was still a wait, 10 more minutes.  Ok, we looked around the store a bit more, came back and I began waiting.  Then I noticed he was just beginning to make our pizzas!  Literally rolling out the dough right then!  I told Chuck and Bosco what was happening and they decided to head out to the hardware for another item they needed.

I stood (no place to sit down and wait…a table and chair would be nice for just such an occasion) watching the guy roll out our pizza dough on their chest freezer, answer his cell phone, not wash his hands and come back to working on our pizzas.  That’s when I had to just open up my Nook Color (got this a while back, but thanks friend!), ignore the proceedings around me and pray the baking process would kill anything he was putting on the pizza.

We eventually got our pizzas with apologizes (which really surprised me) and we were off to eat in the truck, remember no chairs or tables to sit at to eat.

That’s pizza Kenyan style!  Oh and I noticed on the menu board….peanut butter pizza. Haven’t had the nerve to try that one!

God’s abundance!

December 8th, 2011

Time for a shamba update.  The kids have been eating the cabbage, sukuma and tomatoes from the shamba…yeah God!  Looks to be a plentiful season!

this is just a portion of the cabbage!

and they are a nice size too!

lots of tomatoes at various stages to eat and pick later

one lone eggplant....not sure if any more will actually grow.

a view through the tomatoes

(from left) Lewis, Chuck and Roman discuss the newer portion of the shamba on what needs to be done

 

And Ann received another piece of furniture…a wardrobe.  Since I’ve known her (3 years) she has always stored her clothes in suitcases, now she has a nice place to hang her clothes!

She was pretty happy to unpack the suitcases and rearrange her clothes in this nice wardrobe!

 

KFC Kenya!

October 6th, 2011

KFC has arrived in Nairobi!

Whenever we go into Nairobi we try to eat at a restaurant that serves Italian, Chinese, Mexican or burgers because we can’t get any of that here in Tala unless I make it at home.  If a Kenyan friend is with us they will, 9 times out of 10, order chicken and chips (fries) no matter which restaurant we are at.  So it really wasn’t a surprise that the first US fast-food place to come to Kenya would serve chicken and chips!

Not sure when we’ll check it out…maybe I’ll wait for MickeyD’s!

 

 

Shamba time!

August 25th, 2011

Before getting into the “meat” of this post (ha, pun for the shamba/garden) here’s an update on C4KK Children’s Shelter construction:

the middle section will be where the gate is with walls on either side

 

the pathway along the clothesline will be filled in more to make a smoother walkway

 

veranda walls are getting plastered...can't wait to have tables out here to sit and read!

 

digging on the well continues...no water yet but they are anticipating soon!

Now it’s shamba time!  C4KK recently purchased some fruit trees (sorry don’t know the English word for these fruits as I am not familiar with them) along with more skuma (kale like veggie) and began a nursery with eggplant, cabbage, onion and tomato!  All vegetables that are normally bought on a regular basis…now there should be enough to feed the kids (once they are ready to be harvested)!

First thing to do is get manure.  Here’s Bosco shoveling it into the truck.  The wind was blowing and by the time he was finished he was covered in poo…poor guy!

But once he was finished he was king of the poo pile!

Then it was time to fill in the spots for the trees with a mixture of manure and soil and plant/water the trees.

the trees will line 2 sides of the shamba...so lots of fruits!

 

this one makes me a bit queasy because of the angle...but I like the photo!

 

you wouldn't find me digging in that crap...literally!

 

Roman then watered all the newly planted baby trees

 

shhhh....the nursery!

 

That brings you up to date…I will be going to the shelter tomorrow too so I’m sure more photos are forthcoming!  Annastacia (house mom) has already picked some of the skuma that was planted a few weeks ago.  Yeah God!!

A very different Christmas Eve

December 25th, 2010

I know I’m posting 2 posts on Christmas but I wanted to tell you about our very first Christmas Eve here in Kenya.  It was quite different from how we’ve celebrated in the US!

We started the morning (after being without water for about a week) with water running in the taps!  Yea we were excited too until I ran the water…

Oh well, at least there’s water in the taps, right?

Then we were off to the farm.  After dropping off the water pump we ran into “town” to get sodas for this afternoons celebration with the kids from Mercy and look what passed me by…

After some work on the farm we went to pick up the kids from Mercy and bring them back to the farm for our Christmas Eve lunch celebration.  While Chuck and Annastacia went for chicken and chips I stayed behind with the kids.  I read the Christmas story from the book of Luke, answered some questions (we ran the gamut on questions…why does God want us to be fruitful?  Which led to a discussion on sex.  Did Jesus have brothers and sisters?  Which led to a discussion on the ultimateness (is that a word?) of God.) and had my hair played with and braided.  Then we just sat under the tree and relaxed, waiting for lunch…

Once lunch arrived everyone queued for chicken, chips and soda and sat in the shade enjoying lunch…

After lunch Chuck needed to walk to the river to check on the water pump so we all went along…

We came back to the tree, relaxed and talked for a bit then took the kids back to Mercy…

After the kids were all back home Chuck and I stayed at the farm until around 7pm.  We stopped at our local grocery store on the way home and it was a madhouse…it actually reminded me of the stores back home (sniff, sniff) on Christmas Eve, crazy!  As we drove home we realized the electricity was out…again!  But we got in the house, made some tuna (no electricity needed for that) and ate by candlelight and discussed how different this Christmas Eve has been.

No matter how different though I have to remember the reason we are celebrating, not the external circumstances (lights, music, parties or lack thereof).  Our God came down to Earth out of Heaven to be among us.  Jesus Christ is totally the reason for celebrating today and every day!  Merry Christmas :)

Christmas party…Part IV

December 23rd, 2010

(Find out what happened in Part I, Part II and Part III)

After the movie everyone found a seat and Chuck said a few words,

Gideon then addressed everyone to wish them a very merry Christmas,

Pastor Mutie prayed for the food then it was time to wash hands…

and eat!

no one left hungry or thirsty!

Watching the kids enjoy the chicken, rice, cabbage, potatoes, chapatti and soda was was fun.  Many had not had chicken in a very long time and being told they could go up for second helpings was a real treat.  Although many were full with the heaping plate of food they received the first trip!  However some of the older boys took up the call and went up for more chicken!  It was truly a blessing to be involved with this outpouring of love towards these kids…and the day wasn’t over yet!