KENYA: KivaFriends Forum's Honorary Country of the TwoWeeks #3

[Guest]

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[Jill]

     There’s some great Kenyan art out there in Internet Land, and some of it, actually, is for sale….

Deadly Smile photo of croc Muoki Kioko   http://kenya.africancolours.net/muoki/portfolio

And the Beanstalk – Simon Kariuki  http://www.insideafricanart.com/Artists%20Main%20Pages/Banana.htm

African Women – Mary Ogembo  http://kenya.africancolours.net/

Nairobi Street Scene - Joseph Mbatia Njoroge (Bertiers)       http://kenya.africancolours.net/

Karuna Moiben Uasin Gishu – Anne Berenge
http://www.insideafricanart.com/Artists%20Main%20Pages/Anne_Berenge.htm

SHOP KENYA: (Neat Stuff!) http://www.worldfolkart.org/countries.php?id=78


The Last Two, When Clicked Upon, Will Get Substantially Larger...

[Jill]

          This guy’s stuff is pretty neat.  Daniel Kinyanjui is his name.
http://www.insideafricanart.com/Artists%20Main%20Pages/Daniel_Kinyanjui.htm

King Elephant

My Blue Pony

Tender Care–

from Colourful Stories – a Show of the Work of Daniel Kinyanjui and Rahab Shine

[Natasha]

Found this great 5 minute clip on You Tube:

A five minute highlight reel of Nipissing University's (Ontario Canada) trip to teach children in Kenya:

[Jill]

        Okay, a Map and a Maasai, and then that’s all for Kenya from me for the night.
And Kenya’s time hasn’t even started yet….

[Natasha]

The Maasai
The Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well-known African ethnic groups internationally. They speak Maa, which is a part of the a Nilo-Saharan language family - similar languages include Dinka, Nuer, Turkana - and Songhai, and are also educated in the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania: Swahili and English. The Maasai population has been variously estimated as 377,089 from the 1989 Census[1] or as 453,000 language speakers in Kenya in 1994 and 430,000 in Tanzania in 1993 with a total estimated as "approaching 900,000". Estimates of the respective Maasai populations in both countries are complicated by the remote locations of many villages, and their semi-nomadic nature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai

African Community: The Maasai (1.43 minutes):


Maasai Tribe Dances in Masai Mara (1.39 minutes)


Maasai Children's Hand Clapping Game (12 seconds)


Maasai Children Singing& Dancing(1.04 minutes)


Maasai Female Circumcision Dance (2.16 minutes)
"This is a dance by the Maasai of Kenya to celebrate the circumcision of a girl (12 yrs old.) Circumcision is considered a coming-of-age where the entito (girl) becomes a woman"



Field Visit Maasai (2.45 minutes)
"This is a field visit with Women's Economic Empowerment Consort to the Masai Beneficiaries in Kenya. From paved road, to dirt road to no road..."

[Natasha]

Ugali (Cornmeal Porridge) - The National Dish of Kenya
The national dish of Kenya is a cornmeal mush called Ugali. It is cornmeal cooked with water to a thick consistency and poured out onto a board or plate for everyone to eat from. The following recipe for ugali could be made over an open fire outside, or in a kitchen. Beef broth with vegetables can be poured over it, and on special occasions chunks of meat are added to the broth.
Yield: serves 4 to 6
Ingredients:

1 cup cold water

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt, more or less to taste

3 cups boiling water
Equipment: Medium-size saucepan, mixing spoon or whisk
1. Put cold water in saucepan, and, mixing continually, add cornmeal and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, and, mixing continually, slowly add 3 cups boiling water to prevent lumps.
2. Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for about 8 minutes, mixing frequently to prevent sticking. Add salt to taste and mix well.
Serve ugali in individual bowls with cream, sugar, syrup, ghee, or butter poured over it. 

[Natasha]

A Whole Dinner Menu for 8 from Kenya!!
Shopping List for Eight

3 Ibs. filet mignon or lean steak
3 dozen oysters (smallest available)

Dairy
1 Ib. butter
1/2 pint heavy cream
1 Ib. margarine

Beverages
1 bottle Chablis
1 bottle white rum

Fruits and Vegetables
1 bunch parsley
6 lemons
2 oz. fresh garlic
1 small cabbage
1 Ib. Bermuda onions
1/2 Ib. green pepper
1 bunch carrots
4 or 5 mangos
1 fresh pineapple

Groceries
1 16-oz. can peas
1 16-oz. can kernel corn
1 package instant potatoes (large)
1 package onion-soup mix
1 can condensed milk
1 16-oz. can pineapple juice
1 packet pistachio nuts

Recipes

OYSTERS MOMBASA
Baked with a Wine Garlic Sauce
Yield: 8 portions (4 oysters per person)
Nowhere are oysters more delicious than on the east coast of Africa (except for the tiny Olympia oysters you get at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco or in New Orleans).

In Kenya, the oysters are opened and each one goes on its own tiny china ramekin or tiny container which looks like a miniature coaster. Twelve of these little dishes are placed on a large platter with a bowl of dark, dark-red cocktail sauce and slices of lemon. Mombasa, that lovely city on the coast of Kenya, boasts the very best of these small oysters.

Open 32 SMALL OYSTERS (Bluepoints or Olympias if possible).

Leave them on the half shell and place on baking sheets.

Wine Garlic Sauce:

Combine: 1/2 cup MELTED BUTTER

4 cloves GARLIC very finely minced
1 cup CHABLIS
4 Tbs. CHOPPED PARSLEY
1 tsp. SALT
1 tsp. FRESHLY GROUND PEPPER
few drops TABASCO
Ladle half of above sauce (1 tsp. per oyster) on each one.

Bake at 350'F. for 6 to 8 minutes.

Ladle the remaining sauce uniformly over the oysters again.

Serve immediately, four per person, with LEMON WEDGES on a 9 inch plate (or on hot rock salt if available).

NYAMA NA IRIO
Steak and Irio
Yield: 8 portions
The Irio:

Drain 1 16-oz. can PEAS and measure the liquid.

Put the peas through a vegetable mill or sieve to make a puree.

Drain 1 16-oz. can KERNEL CORN and add the liquid to that of the peas.

In a 2-quart saucepan:

Prepare 4 cups INSTANT MASHED POTATOES following package directions and using the vegetable liquors as part of the required liquid.

Add: 3 Tbs. BUTTER

1 tsp. SALT
1/4 tsp. PEPPER.
Blend the puree of peas into the mashed potatoes until a smooth green color results.

Fold in the drained kernel corn.

The consistency should be that of firm mashed potatoes.

The Steak:

In a large skillet:

Cut 3 Ibs. FILET MIGNON (or any steak) in a 2 x 1/2 x 1/2-inch strips.

Saute in 4 oz. MARGARINE OR OIL, until lightly browned.

Remove the steak from the skillet.

Blend in 6 Tbs. FLOUR to make a roux.

Add 2 cups ONION SOUP made from a packaged mix and cook to medium-sauce consistency.

Correct the Seasoning with salt, pepper, and a little Tabasco.

Return the steak to the sauce.

Make a large mound (about 1 cup) of Irio in center of dinner plate.

Form a hole in the center about 2 inches in diameter.

Fill the hole with 1/2 cup of the sauteed steak and gravy.

Smooth around edges of the Irio so it looks like a volcano.

SALADI- East African Salad Relish

Yield: Relish for 8 salads
This salad relish is added to and mixed with the hot spicy food by the guest a little at a time to "cool" the spiciness of the dish and change its texture. If the hostess feels that her dinner is not "hot" enough, a small hot chili pepper is added to the relish.

She may also serve individually or in a bowl additional pilli-pilli or hot red pepper dissolved in lemon or tomato sauce. See page 128 for Pilli-pilli Sauce and its variations. For your Kenyan dinner you might have a cruet of a white French dressing on the table for those who might want to add it to their salad.

In a 1-quart bowl:

Combine: 2 cups CABBAGE, finely shredded

1/2 cup CARROTS in very, very thin slices
1/2 cup SWEET ONIONS (Bermuda or Spanish or scallions)
1/4 cup GREEN PEPPER in fine strips.
Fluff the mixture up.

That's it. There is no dressing or seasoning.

Fill small sauce dishes, allowing about 1/3 cup per person.

COUPE MOUNT KENYA- Mango Ice Cream
Yield: 1 quart ice cream
Any fruit ice cream will serve for the Coupe Mount Kenya, especially peach ice cream. Fruit sherbet may also be used. Canned pineapple may be substituted for the fresh, but it does not have the same zing.

Mash 4 or 5 RIPE MANGOS, peeled and pitted. There should be 2 cups.

Whip: 1 cup HEAVY CREAM with

1/2 cup SUGAR until stiff.
In a 2-quart bowl:

Combine: 2 cups MASHED MANGOS

2 Tbs. LEMON PEEL cut in tiny ribbons
1/2 cup CONDENSED MILK
1/2 tsp. SALT.
Fold in the whipped cream.

Pour into freezer trays or a 6-cup mold and freeze.


PINEAPPLE RUM SAUCE

Yield: 1 quart sauce mixture
In a 1-quart sauce pan:

Simmer: 1 cup PINEAPPLE JUICE (canned) and

1 cup SUGAR until it dissolves and a syrup is formed.
Add 1/2 cup WHITE RUM. Cool.

In a 2-quart bowl:

Cut 3 cups FRESH PINEAPPLE in 1/2-inch dice.

Pour the Pineapple Rum Sauce over the pineapple.

Marinate for several hours.

Place 1 scoop MANGO ICE CREAM in a 6-oz. wine glass.

Top with 3 to 4 oz. PINEAPPLE RUM MIXTURE

Garnish with 1 Tbs. PISTACHIO NUTS, coarsely chopped.

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Cookbook/Kenya.html

[Jill]

         Go to the following thread for News of the Impact of the Rioting in Kenya on at least one of Kiva's Field Partners, Ebony Foundation. http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,1632.new.html#

        Too painfully, we can be pretty sure that whatever Ebony Foundation has described about the effect of the devastation on its clients, more likely than not, would also be representative of what Kiva's other Field Partners, including Irene Kamau's Action Now: Kenya have also been seeing.

                                                            This non-religious person doesn't know any more to do than to hurt and pray for them....


EDIT: Please note, also, that the Forum has another thread devoted to Kenya, the rioting, the resulting chaos, and Kiva Friends' reactions to same at this link, as well: http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,1558.0.html
Additionally, there is likely to be more discussion of the riot's impact on some of our much cared about Entrepreneurs in the thread about the Mark Agwonah Fund, beginning with Reply #256 @ http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,682.msg20117/topicseen.html#msg20117

[Jill]

           I’ve been thinking about what’s been going on, over in Kenya, a lot, lately, especially since we just received the achingly troubling news of the impact of the rioting on some of our Kenyan entrepreneurs, http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,1632.0.html.

           In an e-mail I needed to send Diane, just now, about other things, I found myself writing, almost as though I couldn’t help but write, about the situation, there:
     I keep thinking about what it might feel like to be living all your lives in a country where there was peace and a feeling of security and then, all of a sudden, to have death and destruction and absolute terror become your daily existence.
     

          And I was thinking about it last night, totally caught up in the contrast between what I was doing, then, and with how I was/how I am living in near total comfort and how I still, am blanketed by a relatively enduring feeling of safeness and security, the contrast between that and what I can only imagine is the day-to-day fear and anguish and insecurity that now has become the reality for the people we have grown to care about. ***
     

        Though I posted the following poem, months ago, in the Interesting Quotes thread, http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,396.10.html I thought I would post it again here, now,
as the eternal question it poses keeps returning and keeps returning to my consciousness, just as it did, again, last night,
when I was thinking about Kenya.
 
                 
                  RAGGEDY GIRL
     
      There's a raggedy girl in raggedy clothes
      With snarly hair and a runny nose
      And she lives in a raggedy person's kind of place.
      We're both of us about the same size.
      We've both got bangs and dark brown eyes.
      We've both got freckles polka-dotting our face.
      But I go home to cookies and milk,
      And a cozy comforter soft as silk,
      And she goes where it's scary and sad to be.
      Is this an accident?  Was it planned?
      Can somebody help me understand
      Why the raggedy girl should be her,
      And I should be me?               
                                                        Judith Viorst

*** And, of course, that’s not even talking about the people in all the other parts of the world, including in my own country, who have been and who are experiencing tragedies and chaos just as undoing, just as devastating as that, that is being experienced by the people in Kenya, right now.

[Peter S]

Part 1 of a new BBC radio documentary series called "A Dollar a Day", focuses on Kenya.

The series starts in Kaimosi, Western Kenya. Poverty was a key issue in the recent elections in Kenya and the unrest that followed.

It is here that Mike meets Isaiah, his disabled wife and six grandchildren, who live on the little they can grow on their small plot of land and the paltry seven to ten dollars a month he makes from growing tea.
. . .
Mike Wooldridge visited Kenya before the recent troubles caused by the disputed presidential election.

MP3 download here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2007/12/071227_dollar_a_day_1.shtml

and a linked news report here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7179019.stm