How To Make Mandazis

One fine Saturday morning Jacob picked up Pamela, her two sons and a nephew along with a bike that belonged to her late husband. While the guys fixed the bike, and the little fellows played, I had Pamela "teach" me how to make mandazis. Here are the instructions :

Dump one bag of flour into a large bowl. Take out 2-3 handfuls. The size of your hand will enter into this. Just guess.  Dump in about a quarter of a (90 gram) box of baking powder. Add approximately 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar and a big spoonful of salt.  Mix well with your hands.
  Next we need a glass of oil. Find one the right size..like, oh..1 and 1/2 cups. Mix it in with your hands till clumpy.

 It's a good idea to keep a Dholuo/ English dictionary handy. Hand gestures are also helpful when working with someone who knows just a bit more English than you know of Luo. Both of you having a good sense of humor can aid in keeping frustration at bay. And when someone fluent in both languages (her nephew) comes in, you jump at the chance to get some things straightened out. :)
 Now back to the recipe:
 Once your dough is nice and "clumpy" , take about a quart of warm water and add it about one cup at a time till your stuff has a nice "doughy" look (5-10 minutes of kneading). Mix the peel of one lemon (I used a grater. She uses the cap off a glass pop bottle.) with a bit of flour, water, and oil. Add to dough mixture and mix in well. (This was only the second time I've had them made with lemon and they are the BEST!) Knead another 5-10 minutes. Cover and let rise 30-60 minutes.
 Meanwhile get the jeko going using charcoal. Stuff kindling in there with your fingers and move the hot jeko with your bare hands to a spot that suits you. (Seriously, these women have TOUGH hands!)
 When dough is ready, roll out bits at a time, maybe 1/4 " (???) thick and cut into desired size and shape. Triangular is the norm.

Fry in hot oil till golden brown. Try to control yourself and wait till they have cooled off a least slightly before devouring. DELICIOUSNESS !

As this makes a huge batch you can share with a couple other families and stick some in your diaper bag for a snack during the Sunday service...uh, for your toddler. My mouth is water just thinking about these. I really should get my work done and mix up a batch. BTW if you are familiar with sopapillas, these would be pretty similar.

Beauty All Around

Heidi in Nakurur

 More than one person has said that when they think of Africa they think of desert. Here in Kenya where we live, there's hardly any desert. But there is diverse beauty all around. There are the flat rice fields, the mountains, the rolling tea fields, the hills where stones and boulders jut out bigger than small houses.There are the vast savannas. The coffee farms. I love traveling in Africa and never tire of the changing scenery. Then there are the people. Little children with smudged up faces, running to wave as you go by. The old men napping in the sun. The grandmas wrinkled but hardy. The busy mothers scrubbing clothing in a watering hole...Friendly people. Beautiful Souls. All needing Jesus.
 Jesus. The Author of true Beauty.

There is usually cooler weather and more rain in Nakuru. It is a lovely place.

We were going to Freeman Bylers for supper but when we heard they had gotten the flu we ate at this place overlooking Lake Nakuru. So lovely and peaceful.

Jediah and Mary at the marriage seminar.

Jennifer's Gardens where we had the annual pastors outing with the native pastors and wives

Hi, My name is Precious and I am 3 years old.

There is beauty in Laughter which crosses all language barriers

Large Calla Lillies

Nelly and Jediah

My handsome Joshua. He loves to push his brothers' bikes all around.

Sunset over the savanna

The purple flowered trees are a favorite of mine tho I have no idea what they are called.

I always Love the bright green of the tea fields

Beauty in friendships...tho Mahlon does look a bit uncertain here

 

Jacob's parents, John and Christina Gingerich were here for just over 3 weeks. We packed our days full and I think there was just one day where us women didn't go somewhere. Christina agreed to write for me this time. Thanks Mom !
                                                                     **************
       Janice asked me to write her blog and I don't know where to begin! We are really in Africa! We arrived in Nairobi Sept. 6, travel worn and weary but so happy to be here! We thank the Lord He allowed us this wonderful experience. The next morning we had breakfast at Java House, the closest thing to an American coffee shop/cafe here. Then the 5 hour trip to Kisumu began! The main roads are paved but no speed limits are posted. They put speed bumps randomly on the roads and if you are caught unawares the vehicle flies over these bumps, causing loud harumphs and groans from the occupants. Jacob is a good driver and most of the time he is able to spot the bumps.  Driving in Africa is challenging. I noticed extra mirrors on the van and learned they are to help see the left corner and the back end of the van because they drive so close. Brakes are much used and turning on a dime is a must.
 The views between Nairobi and Kisumu are breathtaking. In my 58 years I thought Africa was all desert, hot and sandy. What a surprise to see mountains and greenery everywhere. The only time I have seen anything close to a desert is when we visited The Mara, a resort where you sleep in tents and go on safari rides with a guide. The Savannah is grassland, not really desert either. We were there Sept. 15 - 17. How nice to have our tents furnished with wonderful beds, meals cooked and ready, clean towels and beds made every day. We saw lionesses close up, stood a few feet from a rhino, watched elephants from 10 feet away and listened to hippos grunt and growl through the night. A few monkeys made themselves guests in one of the tents while we were out on safari but thankfully no damage was done. These monkeys were in the yard as we walked by on the sidewalk. The Lord was so good to provide us with animal sightings that even our guide had never seen before. It was a cool, rainy Thursday afternoon when we went out the first time, a bit miserable and hard to see with the sides down on the rover. But a lioness was spotted walking toward what the guide thought was a rock, only to discover it was an ex-wildebeast and the lioness was feasting on it - in daylight! A rare thing indeed! Anthony, our guide called dead animals, ex-so and so which made me smile. Another rarity was seeing another lioness eating a freshly killed zebra. Seeing three elephants and one baby doesn't happen every day or watching a lioness move her three week old cubs from one tree line to another across the Savannah. Ah, what a thrill!
Here at home in Kisumu we keep busy taking care of family needs as well as church needs, buying items and food for the compound pantry, shopping at "Wal-Mart" and the little shops along the roads. Eating chapatis, a tortilla shaped bread, but not as thin, and ugali, a stiff corn meal mush, two staples of the Kenyans along with beans, rice and lots of chicken has been interesting. The first Sunday we were here they had church dedication followed with a meal. No problem until they ran out of plates so they washed or rather rinsed the plates off in cold water and proceeded to fill our plates. The greasy plate still contained red juice from the tomato sauce and I found it hard to eat. John and I both managed to get part of the meal down!
The thing I am most impressed with is the expressions of the Christian Natives. Their faces glow with a peace not seen on others. It makes me tear up just writing about it. Most of the Kenyans are also very friendly. I fear this is becoming a book. You'll find a few pictures below which barely conveys seeing this in person, but we'll give it a try.

a special treat watching this lioness move her 3 week old (approx) cubs

Another exciting spotting.. a lioness with her kill. She was having a hard time trying to drag it further into the bush away from all the observers.

Cape Buffalo. One of The most dangerous animals we saw.

    The two white rhinos are protected 24/7 year around as guards follow them to keep them safe from poachers. Just an ounce of their "horn" is worth many thousand $$s especial in Asia where it's considered medicinal.

visited a Masai village

Our crew back at our "home away from home"

Masai market

Our tents were by the river and we could hear these hippos grunting and bellowing thru-out the night.

Chuliumbo's First Fellowship Meal

  Sunday was the long anticipated Family Seminar Day at our little church in the cow pasture.

Native Bishop Eric Olgwae (?) had the first sermon in the morning on Marriage. It's a blessing to see him and his wife faithful to each other for 31 years. The morning service was followed by our first carry-in meal. Not just a food carry-in, but also jikos, wood and charcoal to burn, water for lemongrass tea, water for washing, and water to make rice and also ugali and cabbage. Tomatoes and onions, and ingredients for other dishes.

Cooks wearing thier lessos

Plates, cups, silverware, tables, and serving spoons, and oil, salt, and basins and  whatever all else. I had made the chicken on ahead, we bought some chapattis, and the rest of the food was made on-sight. 
  On a typical Sunday we may have around 60 people in attendance. So we figured we'd do food for 80. (Seriously, these people EAT !!!!) and hopefully we'd have some visitors. Our attendance this morning was over 100. I'm guessing the free food brought in a bunch of those. A bench can comfortably hold (ok so maybe the comfort part is stretching it a bit) but, oh, maybe 3 adults and 2-3 little children. But on the men's side, the back bench had 7 or 8 men. I had Heidi go ask Jake for one of the empty chairs the ministers use. That gave a little more breathing room for those men till yet another fellow came and squeezed on the bench. Didn't seem to bother them. 
 One fellow who attends frequently seemed to be just a wee bit drunk. At one point the minister asked a question and tho I don't think he was really wanting a verbal answer, one of the old widows started saying something. "Let her talk" the "drunk" yells and the minister complies after which this fellow starts rambling something about his wife leaving him after he became a drunk. The minister kindly replied that he's not quite finished with the message but afterwards someone would be glad to help him (drunk guy). Jeremy (I think that's the drunk guy's name) was become very agitated and soon jumped up and disappeared. Soon he returned, sat down for a little and then grabbed his things and almost ran out of there. Later in the afternoon he returned and "kept score" for some of the games being played which, beings he didn't understand the game and his scores were way off, was a bit annoying.
 But back to the food. Approximately $27 was spent to feed 100-ish people. I told Jake we should challenge the food committee at home to beat that :) The church passed an offering maybe 4 different services to help out with that.
 

Serving lunch. Jake was serving the cabbage and I the chicken. Joshua was sticking close to my side.

We did run out of cabbage and chapattis and the chicken was down to the last spoonful of broth

Starting on the left and going clockwise...rice with "soup" (chicken broth stuff), chicken, cabbage, chapattis, and ugali ( maize flour mixed with sorgum to give it more flavor and it's brown color)
And by the way, most of the "food" pictures are thanks to Stacy Byler.

Heidi and sweet friend

I was delighted that 2 of the women jumped in to help the children play games.

I told Jake I think Joshua and Jediah were about sick of people. Joshua would start screeching when yet another person wanted to pick him up. I finally took Jediah and told the girls I think he'd like to just lay down for awhile but then little Valentine came and just had to keep touching him ;}

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Little Joseph with his swollen leg

Doing up all the fellowship meal dishes

Jake had a good message in the afternoon. Some of the visitors had left but still we had a nice attendance.

After the second service the numbers dwindled some more and mostly it was just some of the regulars left for the games. Jake had brought along can-jam, corn-hole, and also a couple of soccer balls. It was a nice relaxing time and was topped off with a huge pan of pop-corn. It disappeared in no time..I saw some disappearing into a purse also..maybe that was for their children at home. It topped off the day when one of the women exclaimed, "It's like Christmas !"

Jake took a load of the further ones home and some of the rest of us walked to the Chuluimbo stage to wait for his return. While there someone told Joshua "you are my bruther frum anuther muther". Another fellow wanted me to come teach English at his church. Another, whom I believe had been drinking, came and was quizzing me on Israelite Bible history.

 We got home 6-6:30 and still had all the lunch dishes from carry-in to do. No, we didn't use paper plates an the water we could've used at church would've been from a dirty stream. When we went to drop off Brian (25) and his little brother, Joseph, Brian offered to come wash up the dishes for us. BLESS His Heart. So Jake, him, and the children did the dishes while I got some supper, washed up other dishes, an fed baby.

 I need to bring this to a close. A whole week has gone by and it is once again Sunday evening. Today we had a van load here for lunch. One fellow had to get back to go to work this evening so most of them didn't stay long. They did seem so happy to come. The one woman said that all her 56 years she has heard of Millimani (our part of Kisumu)but had never seen it till today.

 Joshua, another young fellow that recently started attending church and lives closer, stayed till Jake got back from taking the others home. When Jake returned, they played some croquet and Gerold Miller's youth came down and hung out awhile too. I popped some popcorn before they all left and Shonda Yoder brought a pan of yummy breadsticks down for us.

 Thanks for stopping by, I need to get some tired little people to bed.

Just a bunch of pictures

WHO NEEDS A U-HAUL ?

 

Waiting for Bile study to begin

Jediah   4 months old  ** Photo credits go to Clarissa Yoder

Thanks Katie Troyer for the adorable outfit !

5 months old

 We took the "water" girls from SMBI to do some visiting one day. Eunice Ombam showed them how to "shell" maize and make chapattis.

good helpers :)

church nursery

Jr. is one of the friendliest little guys at church. His handshake is always more like a hearty whack accompanied by a big smile.

                              A school where Jake passed out some Bible story books.

Loaded up and ready to go. I think this was for an addition on a widows house..?

                        A morning at the park with 11 little people and my friend Glenda (that's her Tiffany with Joshua)

Jake made Chapatis for us, Sunday evening.