Sunday, May 24, 2009

Beating the Maize

This is Curtis,

It is the season for harvesting. Over the last few weeks we have been harvesting all the maize from the field and piling it up in the courtyard. This maize will be ground into a fine powder, so that it can be turned into the staple food here, which is called Nshima. Nshima is maize flour mixed into boiling water until it becomes about the consistency of mashed potatoes. It is always eaten with some kind of “relish”, which is usually either vegetables, tofu, or beans. We knew the same food in Kenya, there it was called Ugali. Some of the teachers taught Katie and I how to prepare Nshima with an eggplant relish, it is quite good. We also eat with the kids a few times a week, and get Nshima then. Eating it is an art that we are still working on. Nshima is eaten with the hands, and can get very sticky.

Saturday, it was time to beat all the kernels off the cobs, which was a good job for the kids. They grabbed some nice beating clubs and went to work.


Here is a picture of Nelson (5th grade) in action, and also a video of all the kids working in the courtyard right outside of the dormitories.





5 comments:

  1. Wow snakes, ants, fire outside your house - and the two of you are still smiling! :-) UR

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  2. The Maize looks like field corn here... and sounds like the end product is like polenta, which you can cook the same way. Or, form it into a tube, slide and fry. Yum! You're having lots of new experiences. Very cool!

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  3. Hi Curtis & Katie,
    Thank you so much for the wonderful blogs about your adventures at Upeme. We can hardly wait for the next chapter. Mike and I love the pictures of the children and hearing about their lives. Our prayers are always with you and the children.
    Stay away from the snakes and ants. We were there when the ants envaded the house in 2007.
    We used several cans of bug spray.
    In His Name,
    The Bums

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  4. Oh MY!!! Watchful eyes are needed for snake patrol. I love the video...so good to see the action in real time!! The blogs are wonderful...thank you for sharing....any word on the paper?
    Blessings
    Deb!

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  5. Tegan and Tayte said WHAT KIND OF SCHOOL DO THEY HAVE WHERE THEY GET TO BEAT THINGS?
    I told them it was corn on the cob! Tegan said she doesn't like snakes either but caterpillers are o.k. (YES, grandma found them crawling on the kitchen floor). Tayte does not want to hold any of them!
    NOKLEBYs

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