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