Happy Birthday, Watoto World Center!

I had plans to shop for the children today, but when Tony told me he was going to a town called Thika and asked me to come along to pick up cabbage and visit his mother, I quickly dropped my plans. Today is our 4th Anniversary, and what better way to spend it than with Tony, reviewing the past four years and planning the next four.  Thika is about 70km north of WWC, most of the drive being on a "super highway", as they call it here...on the edge of the Great Rift Valley.  


We stopped at a little vegetable stand at the junction of Tony's Mother's road and the highway. Tony introduced me to his friend, who he buys cabbage for, at 10 bub a piece, less than 10 cents.  We do not grow cabbage at WWC, because it requires a lot of water and space.  Because it is a staple food and we are in a very unfortunate drought in our region, Tony heads to Thika twice a month to load up.  In Kiserian, right now cabbage is 60-70 bub a head, so this is a considerable savings. Tony placed the order and we headed to his mother's home.

Mama Tony lives in a bucolic and wonderful area outside of Thika. Pure solitude in the back drop of the Aberdare Hills and Aberdare National Park.  The altitude in this area is about 7,000ft, so the air is crisp and cool. 

In Kenya, it is tradition to refer to a mother as "Mama (insert name of her first child)".  Tony is the first born.  When we met, I became very emotional as we hugged one another hello.  This was a momentous occasion for me, I have never met anyone in Tony's immediate family other than his children and wife. I gave Mama Tony a bag with sugar, cocoa, uji (porridge) and ugali flour (Tony said she was very particular, so best to stick with the staples). Mama Tony took us into the house, where she had prepared tea, boiled arrowroot, passion fruit and another exotic fruit that tastes much like cantaloupe.  She does not speak any English or Swahili, so I spoke the four words I know in Kikuyu which had nothing to do with anything, but made her laugh.  Tony then showed me around his mother's property, and I now understand why he is so knowledgeable about agriculture. Their shamba was a full two acres, full of cabbage, sekuma, spinach, carrots, maize and various fruits. And a view of the Aberdare Mountains to die for.

In case you are wondering, this is boiled arrowroot. It is similar in taste to boiled yams and sweet potatoes, just milder.

Another tradition in Kenya is if you take a bagged gift to your host, the host will fill this bag with his/her own gifts to give to you upon your departure. I was given a bag of delicious fruits, grown in the back yard.  All of us at WWC will share these on Thursday, my estimate when they will be ripe.

Tony, remotely checking in on WWC, through CCTV.  "I don't see anyone doing anything. Hakuna kazi. (No work) "This thing is not working either, it gives me stress."  I laughed: "Welcome to my world and internet in Kenya, Tony! Frustrating, isn't it!? There's a signal, yet nothing happens." He finally saw motion, but it was intermittent.  We will take the router back tomorrow, as I am fairly sure this is the problem.

                                                              Huge spinach crop

 This area gets so much rain that Mama Tony can live off of water supplied in one 6K liter tank, all supplied by mother nature. This tank rarely gets below the second rung down on the tank, so water is treated monthly.

On the way back to Kiserian, we passed some beautiful and interesting traditional Kikuyu homes.  This one is made from mud and water. Oftentimes, the construction is so smooth that once painted, one cannot tell what the home is made of. 

Here, a vendor sells sod and various vegetables. Out of curiosity, I asked how much the sod is: 200ksh or $2.00.  Absolutely amazing. 

The drive back to WWC was easy, until we got to the junction outside of Nairobi where we head south.  Traffic had come to a standstill, due to a huge demonstration 20km ahead of us. We maneuvered back roads to avoid the mess, but lost about 2 hours.  The Kenyan election results of August were nullified(first time on the African continent) citing irregularities, and will be held again on October 27.  In the meantime, these protests are largely expected, and protesters are getting more savvy by using the "super highways" to make their voices heard.  Tony and I spent pretty much the rest of the trip home talking about what a waste of time protests are, and fumed at the inconvenience of circumventing them.  I guess that's part of the point?

I was happy to get out of the car and back to WWC and the children.  After helping them with Math homework (yes, me) I called it an early night.

All is well! 

Kwa na jioni njema ~

Simmie and the children