Becoming a true Kibera resident

On Tuesday of my seventh work week, Daisy, Molly, and I all stayed at Mama Jane's (a lady who works for CFK) house in Kibera. She has a one room house with a sheet dividing the bedroom and the dining room/living room/kitchen, and then another room a few feet away with bunk beds and a 'kitchen'. Her house is in a little group of houses that all share a latrine and a little showering space. She has three sons, George, Sam, and Moses, who are 18, 22, and 25, who live down the street from her. She also has a 13 year old daughter, Linda, who sleeps in the room with the bunk beds. Her husband lives with her although he was very quiet, and I think she had another child who passed away. 

After buying some flour, fruit juice, and pineapples to bring over, we walked with Mama Jane to her place, and started preparing dinner. Since there was only one room to sit and cook in, the whole family took part in cooking and hanging out. We made somaki (talapia) in a stew, sukuma, ugali, and rice. It took at least 3 hours to cook, and they even had two jikos to cook on at a time. Sam, one of her sons, offered to take me around Kibera at night, because I told him I had been wanting to see what it was like. Even though it was dark out, the streets were packed with people, and all the shops were still open selling food and other trinkets. Everyone says that people in Kibera never sleep, they just walk all night, and I guess it is kind of true. It is also perfectly normal for a family in Kenya to eat dinner between 7-10 pm. I definitely would not have felt safe if I had gone out at night alone, but with him, it was completely fine, although we did get a lot of attention from his friends. We tried sombusas (fried dough filled with lentils) and he showed me all around. One of the ladies at a vegetable stand gave me a free banana, and then we headed back home because Mama Jane said we had to be back by 8. 

At around 10, we finally finished cooking, and we enjoyed a big meal. They don't have a refrigerator, so everything had to be eaten - which meant we, as guests, just had to keep eating. We then ate lots of pineapple and fruit juice, and took many pictures. 

Staying in Kibera kind of felt like camping. You dump water right outside your front door and it just runs down to the nearest sewage river - so when we brushed our teeth, we could just spit out the door. They offered to boil water for us to bucket shower in the morning, but it was so cold when we woke up, we just didn't shower. Molly and I shared one twin bed, and Daisy and Linda shared the other. It was very cold at night - only metal sheeted walls (with holes in them) and a rickety wooden door separated us from the chill night air. While we slept, we were able to hear noises from all over Kibera - neighbors' tvs and music, dogs howling, babies crying…in the morning we bought mandazi with Sam and had it with chai, and then headed back to CFK. I really enjoyed the experience, and it helped me to understand Kibera more than I ever could from just working here everyday. 

Looking outside of Mama Jane's door. The ravine outside is where you dump all of your water.

Cooking fish stew!

Daisy, Molly, Mama Jane, and I

Me, Moses, Molly, and George.

With Mama Jane and her daughter Linda.

The next day, Daisy and I went to the restaurant (hotel) we usually eat lunch at, called Mama's and they taught us how to cook chapatti! Last week we learned how to make the dough, and this week we made the dough, rolled it out, cooked it, and made dengue (lentils). It was delicious - and tasted as good as the native Kenyans cooking. We used the food to feed the Zulu youth group and they loved it! After we finished cooking, we waitressed at the hotel. The way the hotel works is a constant stream of hungry men walking in from 12-2 demanding food immediately so they can eat, and get back to work. So you can imagine their shock when two young mzungus were asking them their order. Most of them wouldn't give it to us at first, until they realized we were helping the waiter Ann that day. They were all laughing and enjoying it, and all talking about it, even though they were all from different tribes. Who would of thought that working at a hotel one day would help to end tribalism? haha It was pretty hectic, but fun and exciting, and worth helping the hotel out for free since they gave us cooking lessons. 

Making chapatti at Mama's hotel!

That night, Jeffrey, Daisy, Molly, Andrew, his host brother, and I went to see the Dark Night Rises - which I enjoyed a lot and didn't even fall asleep during! Now I just need to see the first batman movies (Sessoms I am guessing you will take care of this…)

On Thursday, Daisy and I had an unpleasant meeting with some of the leaders at CFK because they had an argument with the Takachar leader. It was annoying to feel stuck in between it all, yet kept in the dark. It was pretty annoying…but I am glad it happened in my second to last week. Hopefully we can work past it so I can enjoy my last week!