Again in the arms of Africa

"Once you stepped the African ground you will shake it's dust off of you feet" told me once my dear friend Erna Weimar.

El Prat airport of Barcelona. PICTURE PRIVATE.

So, there is me heading back to a new challenge and new discoveries in the arm of Mama Africa.

I'm with the red ones. PICTURE PRIVATE.

A great mission with "Medecins Sans Frontieres" is waiting for me.

#Blessings

That's for free

"Right now my life consists of a constant celebration of freedom."- M.C.

    Hiking on the Mount Elgon, Kenya. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

                             ***DONT FORGET TO LEAVE A CLICK***

<Give your support to this blog by clicking on the advertisements you see on the side and below this post. With each CLICK the blog will receive some fund. It will be much appreciated.>

I got "uji"

Finished the day yesterday with a great surprise!

I was taken, literally, to a friends house and got those log promised, delicious cups of "uji" (kiswahili for millet porridge) accompanied by some "mandazi", the local homemade bread.

You must try it. Made my day! :)

Cheers peeps!

                                  ***DONT FORGET TO LEAVE A CLICK***

<Give your support to this blog by clicking on the advertisements you see on the side and below this post. With each CLICK the blog will receive some fund. It will be much appreciated.>

Along the way on Luhya land

Some of you may have asked what have happening since there has been a while since my last post. No worries! Mácio Simyiu Mzungu is alive, safe and sound and keeps "along the way."

So, here I am back reporting a little about what happened during the last few weeks after a lot of traveling, exploring and photographing. 

Stone pickers in the Kibisi river. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

Whether in the cabin of a lorry loaded with stones, on the carrier of a pikipiki (Kiswahili for motorbike taxi) or squeezed in a matatu (Kiswahili for small bus) I've been roaming around the western region of Kenya visiting a number of cities and villages.

From the shores of the Victoria lake, through the stony landscapes by the river Kibisi, up to Kipsikrok at 2600 m height on the Mount Kenya I've been diving deep into the Kenyan countryside, into the local traditions, getting to know the people and learning what to live in those vicinities is about.

Around here one doesn't have to cover long distances to experience the extreme differences on the scenario, people and traditions. During a short excursion to the land of the Sabaot on the Mount Elgon I've visited their bamboo and mud houses, a perfect combination of the locally available resources and climate adapted constructions. In Kisumu, at the Victoria lake, I tasted the clay stones eaten by the Luo people as a source of iron. Yes! They eat earth! In Chwele, the place I currently call home, I started greeting the locals in their local language, Kibukusu, a language I first got to know it existed two years, ago. 

Meanwhile I also got used to the variety of the Kenyan cuisine. I became a huge fan of Ugali, a kind of porridge or polenta prepared with maize flour and considered the Kenyan national dish. There is also Gidheri, originally a Kikuyu meal, an simple mixture of boiled beans and maize. But my favorite till now is Pilau, brought to the East African coast by the Arabs, it consists of rice prepared with meat and spiced with cinnamon and cloves. That's tasty!

I can not try to describe my hosts without mentioning their hospitality. I was received Chwele, land of the Bukusu, with open arms and after a short while accepted as one of the them. They expressed their wish to have me as a member of their community by giving me a seasonal name as all other members of this community have. So, lately I've been called by the name Simyiu, which in Kibukusu means "drought" and is related to the fact that I was born during the drought period.

As a proud new member of this community it's my duty to know it, its traditions, its people, language and its environment. As if my inherent curiosity wasn't enough! Here I am now, exploring villages and cities, mountains and rivers, getting to know the different tribes and sub-tribes, languages and dialects and contributing for the development of it through my volunteering work (stuff for a future post ;)).

To dive in this new and fascinating world with its contrast-full nuances has been overwhelming. It's been inspiring to see this people tackling everyday life with determination and simplicity on these scarce neighborhoods. Fact is, this immersion is kinda pushing through a sobering process after so many years living in European standards and showing me how life in most, emphasis in "most", countries in the world really looks like. This feels like stepping the ground bare feet again after a long time.

'm learning the lessons and welcoming all the changes inspired by this unique experience. This is how it's supposed to be when you're "along the way" and the main reason why I decided to be on it.

For the great moments I've had and for those still to come for they are worth living.

Bying it on!

Cheers everyone!

***DONT FORGET TO LEAVE A CLICK***

<Give your support to this blog by clicking on the advertisements you see on the side and below this post. With each CLICK the blog will receive some fund. It will be much appreciated.>

A Question of Water

Who doesn't know that water is an issue in African countries?

The scarcity of water in Chwele. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

There are geographic and climatic factors which define the seasonal scarcity of water in the different landscapes across the African continent, in some cases the lack of water can be related to precarious level of development of an specific country and, in some other cases it can even be related to conflict situation and the refugee flows caused by them, but in the majority of cases populations have to go through the hardship of having no water due to maladministration, incapacity and the bad will of the politicians supposed to represent them.

Queue for fetching water in one of the wells. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

The inhabitants of the village where I live, Chwele, in Western Kenya, have been suffering for a few weeks with the lack of water in their taps for a ridiculous reason. Actually, Chwele has enough water in its underground and enough reservoirs to store and distribute it. The one thing missing is the electricity to put the pumps to work and bring all this water up to the ground. Now comes the best, the electricity is missing because the local political administration didn't pay the bill and after a few months of public debt the local electricity supplier, the company Kenya Power, cut the lines leaving the population without water. Baaaah! What a shame!

Queue for fetching water in one of the wells. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

Children queuing for water at one of the wells. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

Schools, hospitals, the market, the second largest open market in Kenya, have no water. The ordinary population, most of the times children, must walk long distances to the few boreholes and wells available, face incredibly long queues and pay at least twice as the normal price in order to have some liters of water for theirs basic needs. The 20 liters jerry cans can be seeing in every corner of Chwele being dragged by children and grown ups, from early in the morning till late in the evening, weekdays and weekends.

I am glad to be living and working voluntarily in Chwele as part of an German organisation, Open Hearts e. V. (www.openhearts.jimdo.com), which is diminishing the emergency of the situation. At the right time we just finished the drilling works of a new and very central borehole facilitating the access of the population to water with better quality and, truly, for a symbolic price. We have been supplying market facilities, schools and ordinary households with clean water for two weeks now with an average of 200.000 liters/day.

To start a speech criticizing the incapacity of the politicians, the corruption in the country, the abuse of power and the exploitation of the misery of the population for political purposes is, as hard as it my sound, useless. Till now there are only speculations and no official position taken from the local administration predicting the return of the water supply. In the meantime the citizens keep on chasing after water to fill their jerry cans and praying for the pumps to start working again setting and end to this crises.

***DONT FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR CLICK***

<Give your support to this blog by clicking on the advertisements you see on the side and below this post. With each CLICK the blog will receive some fund. So, your CLICK counts and will be much appreciated.>

Plantains for matoke

Matoke is the Swahili word used to describe both, plantain as well as a meal prepared with it. The locals boil the plantains covered with the own leaves and mash them after that. Easy, nutritional, cheap and really tasty. Give it a try!

I recently took this great shot of a lady preparing “matoke” (Swahili mean. plantain) for a wedding in the church of my friend Job Matimbai, in Chwele.

Plantains to prepare matoke. PICTURE: PRIVATE.

Cheers peeps!

**DONT FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR CLICK***

<Give your support to this blog by clicking on the advertisements you see on the side and below this post. With each CLICK the blog will receive get some fund. So, your CLICK counts and will be much appreciated.>

On the way to Africa!

Soon I'll be touching African ground for the second time. Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are in the plan! Can't wait! Two days to go! Yay!