Every culture has its own food. When you grow up with it you think nothing of eating lutefisk or haggis, but the rest of the world may not have your taste buds… thus it is with Omena.
Omena are tiny fish that you eat - scales, eyeballs and all. They are dried and then fried and they smell…lets just say, I’d rather spend a whole day in a garbage dump then anywhere near the smell of frying omena.
My son is a Luo. That’s a tribe in Kenya that lives near Lake Victoria and whose main staple diet is omena. Never having eaten it, I let him by 80 shillings worth (about a cup and a 1/2) of omena one day before Christmas. It stunk in the market when we bought it so I made him carry it home instead of putting it in my cloth shopping bag. The smell was making Judie and I nauseated so I told him he would have to cook it on the jiko (charcoal stove) in the back yard.
Little did we know that omena when cooked is much worse smelling than before it’s cooked. Needlesstosay, my poor son was asked to eat his supper in the back yard! And was told in no uncertain terms that the only place he would eat omena was when he went to visit his grandmother in Nyaoga. Living in a cross-cultural family does mean making sacrifices…but this is one I’m not prepared to make!
More for less
While the economy bounds out of control, and people everywhere are complaining about rising costs… I have to say that in comparison to what I would pay at home for the amount of food I bought in the market the Wednesday before Christmas I am exceedingly grateful to be in a place where good food is plentiful and cheap!
Judie and I were just barely able to carry all this food the mile home from the market. All the vegetables and fruits in the photo below cost a total of about $8 USD.
Apartment shopping
No rental brokers exist for apartments here. It takes a lot of shoe leather to find a good apartment and some friends who’ll keep their eyes open. The next problem is that there are a huge number of apartment buildings that are only partially constructed. Builders run out of money and instead of selling the property as is so that someone else can finish the building they wait until they have money. I’ve seen ivy growing on the scaffolding outside unfinished apartment buildings. It’s not just one or two here or there – they are everywhere. We have looked at a lot of two bedroom apartments, but nothing that was workable. Judie would like her own room even though she’s in boarding school. I don’t blame her, but three bedrooms are hard to find.
We found a nice once that is under construction, but who knows when they will finish…they supervisor said they would be ready for occupancy the end of January, but with the construction track record in this town I don’t want to wait around.
Apartments are relatively cheap. A two bedroom rents for around $150 to $170 a month plus utilities. A three bedroom usually starts around $180.
But you have to have all your own appliances, which is where the cost comes in.
We currently live (all three of us during school breaks) in Grace and John’s house in town. It’s a tiny two bedroom. We have one bedroom in the house. The room is about 12x6. Omondi sleeps in the living room. Judie and I sleep in a 4x6 bed in my room. Grace and John stay at their farm in the Rift Valley most of the time, but once every week or two they spend a night or a few nights here with us usually unannounced.
We only have running water two days a week here and we haven’t even had that for the last month.
More space is definitely needed. When I was running regularly I didn’t feel so claustrophobic but the walls seem to be closing in…here’s hoping God guides us to a new home in the New Year.
Footnote: We looked at another 3-bedroom apartment yesterday. It was huge and only $180 a month. The problem is that there are only four other apartments in the unit and one is rented by an American man married to a Kenyan woman. They have already been robbed once at this location and have only been there four five months. So having two mzungus living in the same building means we would be an even bigger target! There is no guard at the gate or even dogs in the compound.
We saw a two bedroom today. It was small and a bit far from town, but the owner turned out to be a great guy. He works for a joint government/EU project and is does ministry with high school youth. He said he would be interested in being on the board of Wezesha By Grace! Where God closes a door - he opens a window!
The apartment search however continues!
Christmas
I met with Grace about a week before Christmas and we agreed that the King’atua family would spend Christmas apart. Each with their own family or friends - (We had just had everyone together at the Celebration of Thanksgiving on December 10.) But there were two older orphans who had nowhere to go.
“I’ll take them!” I said..
Raymond and Ruth came Friday night and Judie and I made dinner and then we read our Advent Calendar text and scripture for the 23rd and then I let them open the gift I’d bought for my kids. The board game, “Life.” We had a blast playing the game. I’d forgotten how fun board games can be.
My friend Wawira and her husband Joe had invited all five of us over for Christmas Eve. They live in an estate in Nairobi, so we all piled into a matatu Christmas Eve morning and headed to their home, which is right next to Kenyatta Market (a big open air market with everything under the sun for sale).
Judie was in need of a new pair of sneakers and there were some vendors selling used sneakers near the street so we took a look. The first vender wanted $30 for a pair of used Nikes. We said no thanks and went to the next vendor. That vendor started at $25 but I talked him down to $15. And we walked out with an almost new pair of Merrill sport shoes…I whispered to Judie as we were walking away… We just bought shoes that cost around $100 in the US for $15! A Christmas miracle indeed.
We continued on to Wawira’s house. She has two children. Ivy who is 14 and Matt who is 4. They are both characters. The kids watched a movie while Wawira and her mother and I cooked lunch.
We ate outside in their courtyard and were accosted by monkeys’ - about four of them who were looking for a handout. There is a game park the borders Nairobi and the monkeys discovered long ago that stolen food is plentiful and easy to come by. You don’t leave your back door open if you live where Wawira does or you will have uninvited guests. The kids had a good time watching the monkeys and guarding their desserts.
At about 6pm they drove us to a bus stage so we could catch a matatu home. There was a movie theatre at the shopping complex by the bus stage so we decided to go check out what was playing. The movie “New Year’s Eve” was playing at 7:10pm so we stayed for the movie. Raymond, Ruth and Omondi had never been to a movie theatre before. Judie had only been once with me last Christmas. It was a very fun day.
On Christmas I got up early and was throwing the tea grounds out when I saw my neighbor Githingi in the yard. His wife Hannah had a baby boy on Christmas Eve. I congratulated him and asked him what they named the baby. “Joel!”
I said every so proudly. “That’s my dad’s name.”
Well Githingi said, “Then you have a father in the compound.”
We went to church. It was a combined service. Meaning it was done entirely in Swahili (They usually have an English service and a Swahili service after that). So I didn’t get a whole lot out of it, but it’s just nice to be in church on Christmas!
Then we went home and ate a huge lunch of almond/gram Marsala breaded tilapia, garlic mashed potatoes, honey glazed carrots, sesame greens beans and salad. After lunch we read our last advent calendar text and scripture verse and opened presents.
Then the kids watched a movie and I went for a run. My first run in over a month and a half! I went about 4K. It felt great. And it was timely as it rained most of the night. So now the dust is gone and the mud is back…at least through this afternoon!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are as excited as I am for the year ahead!
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