Dinner at Cantar's and community clean up

Last Friday Cantar ( the program officer for the Sports program) and his family graciously invited us to 'cooking lessons' and dinner at their house in Kibera. On the menu was Pilau; a wonderful mix of rice, potatoes, cardemon, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, onions, garlic, ginger, meat, and sweet lovin. We learned from step one of sorting through the rice grains looking for small stones (see picture). Umi, Cantar's little girl graciously helped us and was honestly better at it than we were. Everything was sauteed and cooked in a metal bowl atop a small charcoal 'jicho' which is kinda like a camping stove. We also helped Umi with her homework, which was writing the letter 'E' over and over again (remember doing that?). She could very well be the cutest and least shy little girl I have met thus far. She talked to us in kiswahili and we would talk right back in English; but we had a great time and for the most part understood each other. Cantar's wife, Zubeta, is an incredible cook (as well as being beautiful, smart, funny, and very hospitable) and we all were full to the brim after dinner. We had strong tea, and barely made it home before we fell asleep. I am convinced Pilau could double as anti-anxiety or sleeping potion. It was really neat to see Kibera at night and to spend some time in Cantar's home. We are lucky enough to to be invited to their house for every Thursday the rest of the summer :)

Saturday morning after one of the best sleeps yet, I woke up early to go to the community clean up hosted by the sports association. Each soccer team gets points for showing up to community clean-ups and those points help them win the championship, which is pretty motivating for the youth. There were at least 100 people there and piles of rakes, shovels, garbage bags, gloves, and jerseys. We rallied the troops and walked into Makina, one of the villages in Kibera. At first I thought that shovels and rakes didn't seem like very effective clean-up tools because any clean up I have been to has gloves and maybe a pincher claw thing to grab garbage. But I soon realized that the only way to manipulate the clogged sewage trenches was shoveling and raking them into the streets to be shoveled into plastic bags. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't gross, or that the smell of stirred up waste (human and otherwise) was not enough to make you gag. However, much of the community vocalized their thanks to the youth and we made a visible difference. Unfortunately, without government regulated trash collection or garbage facilities, the community literally has no where to dump waste other than the street in front of their compound (or maybe their neighbors).

After the clean up was finished we sat on a hill waiting for attendance to be recorded. A little girl came up to me and just starred without inhibition. I laughed, picked her up and put her on my lap. She just sat there happy as a clam until her sister called her saying it was time to go. I can only imagine what someone might have said to me if I picked up their kid in the states and put her/him on my lap! The kids here are really independent and walk around Kibera to and from school without any adult escorts. Everyone holds hands with everyone (including little boys with other boys) and watches out for one another. It's fun to see and surprising how well it works.

I love you and miss you all. Email me when you can!

much love

Alisa