Tag Archives: food

God’s abundance!

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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!

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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!

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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

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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

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(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!

Christmas party…Part III

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Before you get started on Part III of the party I wanted to let everyone know Saved By God’s Grace has an anonymous donor who will match ALL donations made to the Land & Water project from now until December 30th!  Last minute Christmas shopping…click here for more details and to donate.  Thank you donor and thank you for your prayerful consideration to this project.

(You can catch up on the Christmas party details here and here.)

The oven fires were stoked,

the whole chickens were brought to the kitchen in buckets,

then cut into smaller pieces,

Puss was keeping a close watch on the chicken and he actually snagged a wing and ran,

then the cooking began,

The kids from Mercy arrived and greeted everyone,

As we waited for the movie to begin…

tea was served – to the kids first!

Then it was time for the movie, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,

So far everyone was having a great time and all through the movie they were smelling the yummy smells from the kitchen and waiting for what was to come next!

Christmas party…part II

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The last post gave you information on beginning preparations for the Christmas party last Saturday and this post will continue with those preparations.

Veggies were chopped and set aside for cooking…

Serah chops veggies like an expert!

Ann coordinates "her" kitchen!

These 2 happy faces helped with various jobs…water for the kitchen, firewood, desks moved etc….

As more kids arrived they were put to work setting up the chairs…

Next time you’ll see more kitchen work…boiling, cutting up chicken, frying and mixing large cooking pots of food and tea!

Christmas party…part I

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Since I’ve already put you off for a couple of days on getting you information and photos on the Christmas party last Saturday I decided to bring it to you in pieces…doesn’t everyone love the suspense!?  We took so many pictures and I didn’t want to over stimulate you at one time with all the wonderful folks who helped and attended the party.

Preparations began actually a few months ago with fund raising from North Point Ministries in Midland, MI for gifts for all the kids.  This process took us about 2 weeks to get all the outfits (shorts and shirt for everyone) and Rose helped us with this…

Rose is a mom to a sponsored secondary student...she is hoping to find a home (right now Rose lives with her sister's family) with the money she's earned from this project

Then several days before the party it was organized to have 70 chicken slaughtered and prepared for cooking…

Thanks Nzomo for prepping the chickens and delivering them Friday night!

chair rental…

Thanks Roy for delivering Saturday morning and thanks Richard (pictured) for organizing

ordering soda and setting up delivery for Saturday morning…

a parent from Nice View owns this store

and scheduling rides for the kids at Mercy to come to the party…

2 matatus for all the kids

That brings us to Friday when veggies were bought during the day, then Friday night food preparations began.  Sorry I do not have any photos of them cooking ALL NIGHT LONG…but they did a fantastic job and yes they looked very tired Saturday morning but still had a smile on their faces to greet everyone!

Saturday morning Chuck and I arrived at the Academy around 8am and the movie room was set up…

Chuck and Lewis bring the movie equipment to the "movie room"

Desks were brought into the "movie room" for more seating

Wambua and Richard hang our movie "screen"

Thomas, our gate man at the Academy was our bouncer for the day (side note-he was helpful because we had heard several groups of kids who do not attend Nice View were planning on coming for the free food and one child actually came in a Nice View uniform and she isn’t a student here.  This was a Nice View function and we wanted to make sure we had enough food for the sponsored/orphaned students) had his table set up just inside the gate…

Thanks Thomas for being our #1 bouncer!

During this time the kitchen was rocking…

everyone worked together like a well oiled machine. Thanks group!

and the cooking smells wafted all around the compound…

everyone was hungry by the time lunch was ready

The next party post will show more details from the kitchen…what an experience and a far cry from the food preparation areas in the US, but I have to say a big thank you again to Jane, Ann, Serah, Richard, Christopher and Wambua who worked tirelessly Friday night and all day Saturday chopping (food and firewood), cooking and serving all the watoto (kids) who came to the party.  God provided EVERYTHING for the day to run smoothly…the people, funds, food and friends.

Delivery?

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This was the scene outside my front door this morning as I sat reading my daily devotional (and these aren’t all the chickens):

Guess it’s going to be chicken all around for Christmas dinner!  And talk about delivery…we have one chicken who is so bold to walk into our house whenever the door is open.  He’ll be the first for dinner :)

Tala style shopping

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Today Pauline and I went shopping for items for the Nice View Academy staff & sponsored kids Christmas party to be held this Saturday.

First stop was purchasing bulk items like flour (for chapatti), oil (again for cooking chapatti), milk (for tea) and sugar (50kgs!)

outside of the store

inside the store

items being loaded into the car

Next stop was the coke store where we ordered the soda to be delivered on Saturday:

Then we stopped at our only real grocery store for paper plates, spoons etc., unfortunately they didn’t have enough (no Party City store here) so it was off to Nice View to deliver the items and check to see if they had any plates, cups and spoons:

Richard and Wambua unload the food

Success on the plates, cups and spoons (ok these aren’t the spoons being used to eat with but to cook with).  Sorry I forgot to get a picture of the spoons but I think everyone knows what a spoon looks like, right?!

Checking out what we have available - from left: Pauline, Wambua, Christopher, Sarah and Richard

various colors of cups

various colors of plates

cooking spoons

Then Friday will be market day to purchase items such as tomatoes, cabbage etc.

The gifts are wrapped (thank you again North Point Ministries in Midland, MI for raising funds to purchase the short sets) and the “chicken guy” will have all the chickens slaughtered and ready for Ann & Sarah to cook.

Now to fine tune the schedule…but hey it’s Kenya so let’s just say “it will work!”