The FOOD Blog!

 If you ask me what I’ve been up to the past few weeks, I would say, “Ninakula” (“I am eating”).  During my first three months here I ate mostly local Kenyan food every day.  I actually really like the food here, but after eating the same thing every day for several months, I’m ready for a change.  Usually I pay someone to cook for me twice a week, but lately I’ve been learning to make more of my own food.  With the limited variety of foods here, it takes a little creativity and resourcefulness to come up with ideas to cook.

A dish of lentils, avocado, and tomato.

Huddled against the wall to escape the rain.

Just a couple weeks ago I hosted all the neighbors at my house for a homemade meal of chicken, soup, stuffing, and guacamole (the avocados here are about twice the size of our California avocados).  It was a great dinner, except for the fact that halfway through the meal we had the biggest storm I’ve seen yet, with crashing thunder and lightning that lit up the evening like daytime.  The rain came in sideways with the wind and we were all forced to crowd to one side of the table to escape the wet.

Anita's apple pie.

The next day Anita cooked us a feast of curried chicken, meatballs (for our Swedish neighbors), and smoked salmon, along with an apple pie for dessert.  Jenny (the gynecologist resident) provided cinnamon rolls which she baked from scratch.  As if that weren’t enough, just a few days later our Swedish gynecologists cooked yet another meal of fried rice with sausages, an avocado salad, chickpeas, and sweet potatoes.

Per and me excited for cinnamon rolls.

Stress Free Resort

After everyone else had had their turn at cooking, our Swedish dentist, Per, decided it was his turn to host a meal.  Not knowing how to cook himself, he treated us all to an evening out for dinner at Stress Free.  It was a delicious traditional Kenyan meal, with chicken, goat, potatoes, chapatti bread, kale and spinach, tomatoes, and fruit.

Dinner at Stress Free

Shopping for food for American breakfast.

A couple weeks ago, Jenny got the idea that we should have an “American breakfast."  She discovered our breakfast foods when she visited California last year and had breakfast at Denny’s.  So last weekend we went to the market for groceries and prepared yet another giant meal: hash brown potatoes, scrambled eggs, and American pancakes (our pancakes are fluffy compared to both Kenyan and Swedish pancakes, which are thin like crepes).  It took the rest of Sunday to digest such a heavy meal.

  

Jenny's birthday dinner party.

Burger and fries.

Last Friday was the last day in Mutomo for the Swedish doctors.  Jenny’s birthday is in just a few days, so we celebrated her early birthday and their departure with one final dinner party.  Anita had a supply of ground beef in her freezer, so we decided to make another “American” meal (which means really heavy food)… hamburgers!  Dr. Marianne designated me the “grill master” since I’m American.  But we didn’t have a functioning grill, so I was forced to "BBQ" burgers on the stovetop.  Jenny made French fries to go along with the burgers.  It was a great meal.  The only thing missing was a bottle of ketchup.

The "grill master" at work.

Maybe hearing about all this food isn’t so interesting for all of you back home, but when you’ve been eating rice and cabbage for three months, it’s really exciting stuff.

Now that I’ve gone on and on about food, I’ll talk about something a little less appetizing: childbirth.  For the past couple weeks I’ve been busy on the maternity ward up to my elbows in uterus… well maybe not my elbows; just my fingers.  I’ve delivered a few babies so far with assistance, but I still don’t feel comfortable doing it alone.  Having the gynecologists around as I start on this new ward has been a huge help.  I have a long way to go, but I’m learning a lot.  I’m growing accustomed to assessing things like gravidity, parity, maternal blood type, fetal heart rates, apgar scores, and cervical dilation (which is actually really hard to feel).  

When a baby’s head is too large to deliver without the risk of a perineal tear, the nurses frequently do episiotomies.  I had to do one last week, though the scissors are of poor quality and it took a while to cut through the tissue.  I’ve started learning how to do sutures to repair the tissue after delivery, but I have yet to suture an actual patient.  So far I’ve just been practicing on a banana with instruction from Dr. Jenny.  I don’t know if I’ll ever look at bananas the same again.

I’m shocked when I see the cultural differences between new mothers in Kenya and new mothers in America.  At home, parents are very emotional and excited when they see their new baby.  People here generally aren’t very emotional.  When I show babies to their mothers, they usually don’t show much of interest: no smiles, no tears, nothing.  “Do you want to hold your baby?” I asked after we’ve assessed the baby.  Most of the time the answer is “No.”  I’m sure these women are happy to be mothers, but the lack of emotional display is always surprising to me.  I guess it’s just a cultural difference.  

Fathers are never ever present for the deliveries.  In fact, they rarely come to the hospital.  Usually the mother arrives on the public bus or on a motorbike and goes home the same way the following day.  The nurses here explain that that is normal.  I’ve told them that if my wife at home gave birth and I wasn’t there, I would be in BIG trouble.

It’s been fun having this latest group of Swedish volunteers with us.  I’ve really enjoyed working, eating, traveling, and taking long walks with them.  The doctors left yesterday and the dentist left today, but we have another team arriving in a few days, including two more gynecologists.  Hopefully I’ll be able to continue my education with them.

A day in the market.

Out for a walk to the water hole, one of my favorite spots around Mutomo.