Around the house and shamba, December 2013

Duane and Zach absolutely love it when I bring crayons and a coloring book for them!

Adu fetching water

The dog has really gotten big since I last saw it!

Agnes making a dress for her friend, Eliza

This is an 'iron box'. Hot coals from the cooking fire are used to make it hot.

The sun is just above the horizon on Boxing Day, December 26th. A great start to a new day.

Arrowroot is a common staple food in Kenya, typically eaten for breakfast. 

Sukuma wiki ('push the week') is how Kenyans refer to kale, cooked as greens.
It's a relatively cheap food and helps to stretch the weekly food budget.

Agnes has planted several sugarcane plants like this young one.

She also has several healthy pumpkin plants.
We had boiled pumpkin one morning for breakfast.

Seed beds for more kale plants.
The mosquito netting keeps the chickens away from the seedlings.

Adu and Tony started a rabbit project. Eight babies were born while I was there.

Cool shot of the sky at dusk, looking past the outhouse sitting on top of an ant hill

Tony just added water to a pot of boiling milk, to make chai (tea)

Agnes had part of the house 'plastered' and a new veranda added to the front. Both give it a more finished look.

Duane and Zach seem to never run out of creative ways to play!

They're sliding down an ant hill in a piece of an old tire. Simple pleasures!

Christmas in the village, December 2013

This was my fourth time to celebrate Christmas in the village (or rural areas of Kenya). I was with Agnes and her boys last year for the holiday, as they had just moved into their new house on Christmas Eve. In past years, I've also spent two Christmases with Mary Alu and her family.

Christmas in the village is a simple affair, without all the glitter and glitz of the Western world or the big city of Nairobi. The emphasis is placed on attending a church service on the morning of Christmas Day, being with family, and having special foods that aren't affordable the rest of the year. Gift-giving doesn't really factor into the celebration.

Duane and Zach, dressed in their new outfits, try to construct a 'house of cards'.

The stereotype for this part of Kenya is that people always have chicken for Christmas dinner.
However, Agnes bought a duck from a neighbor for the special occasion this year.
Adu slaughtered it early in the morning and Pope was the one to cook it over a three-stone fire.

Pope tending to the duck

It was a simple meal - duck, soup, ugali, and soda. Quite yummy, I might add.

Even the kitty got to have a bit of the special Christmas dinner :)

Agnes, just home from the market

Adu, with a snack of orange slices and biscuits

Tony, catching up on the previous day's news