I have just two days left to raise $4500 to support the work of MIMA! The money raised will go toward providing loans to our clients, most of whom are women running microenterprises in Likoni. All you have to do is click on the link to the right!
Thank you for your support!!~Mary
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Ramadan
The most interesting change in my life here has been the holy month of Ramadan. It has affected every aspect of life here in Likoni. It started on the 2nd of September and will continue through the end of the month. There was a great deal of talk about Ramadan in the weeks leading up to it. Everyone at work, at home, strangers on the street, asked me if I was going to fast. My response was "I am going to try." But then I found out that it also meant no water. Now maybe this is common knowledge to the rest of the world, but I didn't know you couldn't drink water during Ramadan. I thought it was just no food. Considering it is getting to be the hot time of year and it is nearly 90 out everyday, I said I was going to drink water. Some people thought this made sense for me. After all I didn't grow up fasting for a month each year, I am not Muslim, and everyone wants me to be safe. There were a few people who essentially called me "weak sauce", but I was ok with it.
So Ramadan started and I did fast for a few days. However, several uncomfortable things started happening to me, including almost passing out on the ferry ride home one day. After that, my host mom told me not to fast anymore. So I tell people I am "half fasting", which really just means I skip lunch. I have been torn over it. On one hand I am living here and I want to try the traditions and customs and be a part of the life here. At the same time, I discovered when not eating, I felt sick, tired, and was much more prone to crying. Thus, the half-ass fasting.
At work, things have been pretty relaxed. Ok, the work environment here is always relaxed, but this has been different. There have not been very many meetings, women leave the office early to go home and prepare Iftar, the evening meal. There are frequent breaks during the day where people go to the mosque nearby to pray or out on to the veranda where they have mats set up for praying. In fact as I sit here typing, I can here the call to prayer at the mosque. I think they are teaching a small child how to do the call to prayer, because it is the voice of a small child. It is really beautiful. Oh, the regular guy took over now. Apparently that was all the kid could handle. Anyway, it has been an adjustment for me on a personal level. I have a lot to do in the next 3 months of being here and so my inclination is to push to get things done. But Ramadan is not time for getting a lot of work done, it is time for fasting and prayer.
Home life has been different too this month. First, we have a woman, Mariamu, who come to do the cleaning, laundry and cooking. It is a semi-common occurrence to have "house-help", especially in middle class homes here. It has meant that now I have someone who waits on me in the morning and cleans up after me. It is strange for me, but normal for everyone else. (Side note: when I told people that my parents didn't have house help they were very surprised. "If both parents work, who stays at home to cook and clean?" they asked. Then I told them that my parents also do small scale farming for fun! This was also met with mixed reactions).
I think the have it the toughest during Ramadan. The cooking starts much earlier and the meals are more involved than normal. The other day I came home at 1:30 and dinner preparations were already started. I don't know how they manage to cook for hours and are not able to eat or sample anything. That takes a will power that I just don't have. So because there are 5 women who do the cooking at home (Tuma, and Helima, Mariamu, My host mom and Auntie), they usually finish by about 6:00pm and we have to wait around to hear the call to prayer which is the signal that the sun has set and you can now end the fast. I have heard that you are actually supposed to pray and then eat, but whatever. We start with chai and an appetizer of sorts. Last night we had a little cake, the day before it was fried potatoes, sometimes it is bagia, which is deep fried nuggets of dough with onions and spinach (mmmmmmm). So that is the first course. Then we eat. This week there has been a lot of chipatis with beans made with coconut milk. This is one of my favorite meals. What is not to love about deep fried flat bread and milky beans? One of the other favorites is pilau. The closest equivalent I can come up with is pilaf (notice the name similarity), but pilau would kick pilaf's ass. It is rice with ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes, lots of spices and meat. It is served with salad which has some hot peppers in it.....Ok it is lunch time now and I have to stop talking about food. Oh and we have fresh juice too. Tamarind juice is excellent!
Then once we have finished everybody lays around and talks for a while. Everyone is exhausted from a day of not eating, working and now everyone needs to digest, so we just sit outside on the front porch. Suleiman usually entertains us with reciting the songs he is learning at school. We still do his homework together every night. Sometimes we sit and watch TV (I have to do a post about the TV over here soon). Anyway I have a lot more thoughts on this month, but this post is getting long and I need to get going. Hope all is well. I promise to throw a few more thoughts up here next week.
So Ramadan started and I did fast for a few days. However, several uncomfortable things started happening to me, including almost passing out on the ferry ride home one day. After that, my host mom told me not to fast anymore. So I tell people I am "half fasting", which really just means I skip lunch. I have been torn over it. On one hand I am living here and I want to try the traditions and customs and be a part of the life here. At the same time, I discovered when not eating, I felt sick, tired, and was much more prone to crying. Thus, the half-ass fasting.
At work, things have been pretty relaxed. Ok, the work environment here is always relaxed, but this has been different. There have not been very many meetings, women leave the office early to go home and prepare Iftar, the evening meal. There are frequent breaks during the day where people go to the mosque nearby to pray or out on to the veranda where they have mats set up for praying. In fact as I sit here typing, I can here the call to prayer at the mosque. I think they are teaching a small child how to do the call to prayer, because it is the voice of a small child. It is really beautiful. Oh, the regular guy took over now. Apparently that was all the kid could handle. Anyway, it has been an adjustment for me on a personal level. I have a lot to do in the next 3 months of being here and so my inclination is to push to get things done. But Ramadan is not time for getting a lot of work done, it is time for fasting and prayer.
Home life has been different too this month. First, we have a woman, Mariamu, who come to do the cleaning, laundry and cooking. It is a semi-common occurrence to have "house-help", especially in middle class homes here. It has meant that now I have someone who waits on me in the morning and cleans up after me. It is strange for me, but normal for everyone else. (Side note: when I told people that my parents didn't have house help they were very surprised. "If both parents work, who stays at home to cook and clean?" they asked. Then I told them that my parents also do small scale farming for fun! This was also met with mixed reactions).
I think the have it the toughest during Ramadan. The cooking starts much earlier and the meals are more involved than normal. The other day I came home at 1:30 and dinner preparations were already started. I don't know how they manage to cook for hours and are not able to eat or sample anything. That takes a will power that I just don't have. So because there are 5 women who do the cooking at home (Tuma, and Helima, Mariamu, My host mom and Auntie), they usually finish by about 6:00pm and we have to wait around to hear the call to prayer which is the signal that the sun has set and you can now end the fast. I have heard that you are actually supposed to pray and then eat, but whatever. We start with chai and an appetizer of sorts. Last night we had a little cake, the day before it was fried potatoes, sometimes it is bagia, which is deep fried nuggets of dough with onions and spinach (mmmmmmm). So that is the first course. Then we eat. This week there has been a lot of chipatis with beans made with coconut milk. This is one of my favorite meals. What is not to love about deep fried flat bread and milky beans? One of the other favorites is pilau. The closest equivalent I can come up with is pilaf (notice the name similarity), but pilau would kick pilaf's ass. It is rice with ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes, lots of spices and meat. It is served with salad which has some hot peppers in it.....Ok it is lunch time now and I have to stop talking about food. Oh and we have fresh juice too. Tamarind juice is excellent!
Then once we have finished everybody lays around and talks for a while. Everyone is exhausted from a day of not eating, working and now everyone needs to digest, so we just sit outside on the front porch. Suleiman usually entertains us with reciting the songs he is learning at school. We still do his homework together every night. Sometimes we sit and watch TV (I have to do a post about the TV over here soon). Anyway I have a lot more thoughts on this month, but this post is getting long and I need to get going. Hope all is well. I promise to throw a few more thoughts up here next week.
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