Start reading from the blog post titled "Rural Week!" below
Though the previous night was chilly and the children made noises throughout it, I slept well. I woke up at about 6:45 and quickly got ready. I saw my host mom off as she left for school and watched as Caroline cooked tea over the wood fire, get the children ready for school, and do dishes. I offered to help her with chores but she just told me to rest, so I awkwardly sat and watched her work. She gave the girls a quick bath and I rubbed them with oil and got them dressed in their school uniforms. They were so adorable in their little checkered jumpers. After the kids left for school, I drank chai and ate white bread with butter. We walked to the school to drop off bottles of chai for the girls for their snack and within seconds of arriving, I was swarmed by the tiniest, cutest faces all shouting Mzungu! Mzungu! They crowded around me each wanting to shake my hand and greet me. After I shook as many as I could, they sang me several songs they had been practicing, which was probably the cutest thing I have ever witnessed. After waving goodbye we stopped at the market for a few small things and many more greetings.
Back at home we got ready to mop the house. This essentially consisted of sweeping wet rags across the floor. I helped with the first room, but I don’t think I was doing a great job because when she moved on to the next room she just told me to watch and rest. After lots of resting she told me I could do the dishes. This was something I was good at so it would become my contribution throughout the week. When I was almost through, the girls got back from school and helped me with the last two things. We then played for a while until some of their neighbors came over to play. Velma was so cute as she washed their toys the way they wash the dishes and cut up leaves the way Caroline cuts sukumuwiki. Eventually I got out my camera to take so pictures and the girls were immediately all over it. I tried to show them how to take pictures on my iPhone, not the easiest of tasks, but they had lots of fun trying. A few times Nicole started crying because the older girls weren’t giving her a chance to try. As soon as I grabbed her hand, though, she would calm down and jumped on my lap to snuggle. Later, I offered to help Caroline with the laundry, but she declined, so I kept playing with the kids.
We ate heaping portions of rice and beans for lunch before a teacher stopped by to visit and meet me. We chatted a while before they switched into Luo. Then, we went to meet Angie at her fathers business in the market to tell her the details about the health survey tomorrow (Caroline would be her translator), but she wasn’t there so I just met a bunch more people and then stopped in the extended families houses to greet them. One of the babies we saw had its leg completely burned. Caroline told me its mother had accidently spilled hot porridge called Uji on it. While Caroline called her careless, no one seemed to be extremely worried even though the burn looked very bad. Back at home I bathed for the first time in the space next to the indoor bathroom. The hot water in the bucket was scalding and since there was nothing to pour it with, I kept burning my hands as I tried to scoop it onto myself. Nonetheless, it was refreshing and felt good to wash my hair. Immediately after, Allie and her dad stopped by for a visit, though they didn’t stay long.
I played with the girls for the remainder of the afternoon until my host mom came home from work. We went out to the field to pick vegetables and she showed me how to properly pick kale. She also pointed out all the other crops and explained how each one was planted and harvested, which was incredibly interesting. It was so cool to hear so much about women's farming as I had just finished an extended research essay on women farmers in Kenya. Back inside, I helped her prepare the kale and we talked about life, marriage, bride prices, divorces, land inheritance, her career aspirations, and more. I think talking to her was one of the greatest parts of the experience; she was so eager and willing to talk about elements of her culture and wondered how they differed from those of my culture. Through our talks throughout the week I learned so much about Luo and African cultures. For dinner we ate chicken, ugali, and sukumawiki. When I was serving myself chicken from the pot I accidentally picked up the chicken head (beak and all) and put it on my plate before realizing what it was. I quickly scooped it back in there and picked another piece, trying not to make a scene. My host mom just laughed. Dinner was absolutely delicious and I was actually able to finish this time! Afterwards we enjoyed the customary post-dinner chai before heading off to bed.
I played with the girls for the remainder of the afternoon until my host mom came home from work. We went out to the field to pick vegetables and she showed me how to properly pick kale. She also pointed out all the other crops and explained how each one was planted and harvested, which was incredibly interesting. It was so cool to hear so much about women's farming as I had just finished an extended research essay on women farmers in Kenya. Back inside, I helped her prepare the kale and we talked about life, marriage, bride prices, divorces, land inheritance, her career aspirations, and more. I think talking to her was one of the greatest parts of the experience; she was so eager and willing to talk about elements of her culture and wondered how they differed from those of my culture. Through our talks throughout the week I learned so much about Luo and African cultures. For dinner we ate chicken, ugali, and sukumawiki. When I was serving myself chicken from the pot I accidentally picked up the chicken head (beak and all) and put it on my plate before realizing what it was. I quickly scooped it back in there and picked another piece, trying not to make a scene. My host mom just laughed. Dinner was absolutely delicious and I was actually able to finish this time! Afterwards we enjoyed the customary post-dinner chai before heading off to bed.