the good ole days

When I want to get more eggs, I go out to a shed where the animals are kept with my basket.  I fill it up and then take them back to the kitchen and wash them (a step omitted when we buy commercially produced eggs - when you crack your eggs you don't want some of the hen house falling in your bowl) and then put them in another basket and set them on the shelf until I need them.  They are never refrigerated.  The cow is milked twice a day.  When they bring in the milk, they strain it (eliminating some stray hairs) and then boil it.  Most of it is made into chai - they add sugar (lots) and loose tea and boil it again and then strain it and it is ready to drink, toddlers and up.  It is never refrigerated because it is consumed within a couple of hours of being boiled.  At night they boil the milk and then leave it on the stove or the countertop (sometimes it is used at night, sometimes not until the morning.)  This milk is given to the babies (those under 2)  The milk is never refrigerated and most Kenyans will tell you that the thought of drinking cold milk is definitely unappealing.  The Mzungus use powdered milk in their coffee and buy a little commercially processed at the grocery store if they want to have cold cereal in the morning.

When I went to get eggs a couple of days ago, they had not been gathered yet.  So I helped gather the eggs, never admitting to her that I was a bit nervous around all those chickens.  Lydiah and I discussed the fact that when women gather the eggs, none are broken, but when men gather the eggs, many are broken.

The next day, Daniel was gone to buy parts for the van when it was time to milk.  Kennedy who is 13 or 14 wanted Steve to milk the cow, assuming that Steve did not know how to milk the cow.  But, of course, he did.  Steve has developed a reputation for being able to do anything, and this was just one more thing on the list.  Kennedy has been at home waiting to go to high school (boarding school) for his first year.  He has been Steve's shadow for much of the time.  Steve has been very patient with him, and I think Kennedy has learned a few things in the process.  Steve has also had some "man to man" talks with Kennedy (including when to take a bath).  Kenyan boys are circumcized right before they go to high school.  After that they are considered men.  Kennedy has some, well, different ideas of what it means to be a man, and how men are supposed to treat women.  (He only respects his grandmother and his wife to be)  He is not highly motivated and doesn't see the need to help a house mom carry heavy propane bottles or a case of pop bottles.  He reminds Steve that he is now a "man" and gets mad if he is called a "boy".  Steve explained to Kennedy that if circumcision is what makes you a man, then he became a man when he was less than a week old.  He jumped out of his crib and was chasing the nurses.  His first wife left him because she was tired of changing his diaper.  So here is a picture of Steve, Kennedy and the cow.  (Note the smile on the cow; she has just been milked.)