| I'll be honest: I was terrified of visiting Bondo. Up until then, I'd had no mosquito bites. Now I was heading to a malarial area where I expected to get eaten alive. Up til then, I'd even had running water, hot water, and electricity, with the exception of the three days I spent camping near Machakos. Most of the time, I'd had a toilet with a real seat to sit on. And delicious food to eat, always.
Bondo was going to be the real deal. A mud home with a grass roof, no running water, and - from what Amy told me on the phone - food was scarce since it was now the end of the dry season. She warned me to bring whatever I wanted to eat, but I just could not force myself to buy bread that listed "Permitted Class II Preservative" on the label in the store in Kisumu. I ended up with organic Kenyan coffee, organic macadamia nuts, peanut butter, acacia honey, a small loaf of preservative-free whole wheat bread, a few Cadbury chocolate bars, a bunch of bananas, about six mangoes, and an container of drinking water. Please let that be enough for me to survive for five days in the middle of god knows where while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, I thought.
But Amy and Malaki's home was incredibly pleasant, and my stay with them was perhaps the best part of my whole trip. Amy and Malaki live in Malaki's "simba" - a small home that Luo boys build in their parents' compound when they are teenagers. They are in the process of clearing bush to build a larger home next door, and then the simba will become a home for interns that come to work with Grow Strong, they hope. The simba is a two room home made of sticks and mud with a thatched roof that the termites find delicious. It stays cool during the day and warm at night, and it has electricity! One room is like a living room, with a couch, a few chairs, and some shelves that contain the family's clothes. The other is a bedroom, with a small kitchen area as well. The whole family sleeps in one bed, covered by a mosquito net. Perhaps some day this won't work out so well, but while the kids are very young, it's just fine.
Malaki's simba
Inside the simba
Malaki clearing the bush with a panga (machete) in the area where Amy and Malaki will build their new home.
Malaki wakes up early and leaves to go plow with an ox team. Amy and the kids rise a bit later, and Amy starts the washing to keep ahead of it so the dirty clothes and dishes don't pile up. Her youngest, a little boy, is still in diapers, and Amy is constantly washing the cloth diapers he wears. Disposable diapers are not really an option when you are responsible for your own trash and there's no garbage truck to take it away.
The plow team, returning from plowing that morning.
Letting the oxen go after they've finished plowing
The harness for the oxen, made from a tree they cut down by a local man who does basketry and wood carving.
The plow
Amy, doing the washing. Because all of the water must be purchased and carried here, Amy is very frugal with the water. First, she'll bath the kids in the water, then use it to do the laundry, and then perhaps use it to mop the floor.
When Malaki returns from plowing, the entire family joins Malaki's parents and other extended family for breakfast. Breakfast is uji - a fermented hot porridge that is drunk out of mugs - and always something else - sometimes peanuts, and sometimes boiled cassava. Amy's daughter's favorite breakfast are mandazis, which are made from fried dough. The family always drinks tea with breakfast, but Amy, Malaki, and I shared the coffee I brought with some heavenly milk from Malaki's mom's cow in it. The family has four dairy cows, but three are now pregnant so only one is giving milk. That makes milk a scarce and precious food, and I am very grateful that a little bit has been provided to feed my coffee addiction.
Uji made from sorghum and cassava. Uji can be made from a number of different grains.
Cassava.
Mandazis
Malaki's parents home, made from mud with a metal roof. Personally, I prefer the thatched roof since it keeps the home cooler during the day.
The living room inside Malaki's parents home. They have a large home, with a small room that serves as a sort of kitchen (although they have a separate building where most of the cooking is done), a living room, a dining room, and more rooms I didn't see.
Malaki's mom, Florence, showing the huge basket where her last harvest of maize is stored. She's a wonderful - I wished I could take her home with me.
Maize, all from the last harvest.
Huge basket for storing maize.
Another basket, where someone has just shelled a bunch of peanuts, it appears.
The kitchen, which is always full of smoke. I worry a lot about the health consequences of inhaling smoke from cooking in a place like this.
After breakfast, everyone gets to work. Fetching water is considered women's work. So is cooking and washing the dishes. I felt fortunate that Rose, who is the family's hired help, was going to get the water, and I never had to carry one of the huge 20 liter containers of it myself.
Going to get water.
Malaki's parents enormous water catchment tank, which stores rainwater that falls on the home's roof. Only it's been dry so long now that this water has run out.
Doing dishes
Malaki lives near several relatives, so it's not unusual to see them at meals or run into them throughout the day. Also staying in his "simba" is Malaki's older brother, Peter. Malaki's youngest sister Ruth is also around, and several of his other sisters are often around as well. Of his five sisters, only one left the village to work in the city. She's a teacher in Kisumu.
Peter's simba
Then, of course, there are the nieces and nephews. Peter has a seven year old (Flo), Malaki's sister Olivia has a four year old (Vero), and his sister Rachel has a ten year old. All are girls, and they run around playing with Amy and Malaki's daughter all day long, or at least when they aren't in school.
Vero and Flo show me the delicious, local passionfruit variety they love to eat.
Travel to neighboring homesteads and you'll find various other relatives. Next door is Uncle Martin, and a little further away is Uncle James. On your way to James, you'll pass the homestead of Malaki's grandparents. His grandfather is now dead, but one of his wives is still alive. (The Luos still practice polygamy, although Malaki and his father Joshua each have only one wife.) Beyond the relatives named here, I lost track, but as you walk around Nyakasumbi, you run into Malaki's various relatives everywhere you go, or homes where his relatives lived before they died.
Malaki and Uncle Martin
A few of my favorite characters in Bondo were Uncle Martin's turkeys. Turkey is not a very traditional food at all, but Uncle Martin and Uncle James each have a few. I got the impression that Martin's turkeys had managed to kill off most of their offspring, so even though he had intended to breed them, he only had three. These three silly birds would come over to Malaki's parents compound every single day. The two males spent about 90% of their time with their feathers puffed up, trying to impress the female, who could not care less. Amy and I tried to convince the family that they would be delicious, but Malaki's dad did not think that turkey looked like it would taste very good.
Uncle Martin's silly turkeys
Several years ago, Amy and Malaki built a composting toilet, which is used for #2s only. #1s are just done outside, wherever. The composting toilet works wonderfully. I was grateful to have a place to go do my business that did not smell at all, did not serve as a breeding ground for insects, and did not pose any danger of splashing me (which has been the case with squat toilets I've used on other trips!). They keep a big bag of dead leaves and soil in the loo and after you go, you put a scoopful or two in there to cover things up.
The toilet's behind here.
The toilet
The family also dines together for lunch and for dinner. The food, while simple, is delicious. Often, lunch is the leftovers of the previous night's dinner. Almost all of the food is grown by the family. Very little is purchased.
Ugali
Greens, probably kale
Eggs
Before dinner, the entire family bathes. Amy and Malaki heat some water, and then they mix hot water with room temperature water until it's the right temp. First they bathe the children and then they take turns washing themselves. For an adult, you cannot really call it a bath or a shower, because it's neither. You take a basin of clean, warm water and bring it next to the house, behind a screen Amy and Malaki put up for privacy. Then remove your clothes, and start tossing water on yourself with a little cup. I didn't bother washing my hair or shaving the entire time I was there. When you're out there in the dark, naked, with a bucket of warm water, there are just more important things to worry about than hairy legs. Like how many mosquitoes might bite you while you've got your clothes off, for example.
Bathe behind here.
Once baths are done, it's time for dinner. By this time, it's dark, and you practically need a flashlight to make the short walk to Malaki's parents home. I loved dinner in Bondo, both for the great food and for the excellent conversation.
Making chapattis.
A chick living dangerously. They will cook dinner on top of here.
Another meal - beans and kale
After dinner, the family might hang out for a little bit, but sooner or later, everyone heads off to bed, or at least to their own homes. By then, it's dark enough that you definitely need a flashlight. Amy and Malaki put the kids to bed and then enjoy a little bit of time with the kids asleep before going to bed themselves.
It's not an easy lifestyle here, but it's so wonderful to be surrounded by loving family and supported by a strong community as they are, that it makes me think that perhaps there are more important things in life than large homes, easy, comfortable lives free of physical labor, and luxuries (that I never knew before were luxuries) like running water.
I don't want to over-romanticize life in Bondo, because it's far from perfect. The HIV/AIDS rate is high, and locals attend more funerals in one month than most Americans attend in a year. Alcoholism is a problem. The climate crisis is a major issue. And there are plenty of other major problems that should not be trivialized. But on the other hand, I think the American inclination to assume that someone living in a mud home without running water has a terrible life is not necessarily correct. I think we overestimate the importance of our material things and underestimate the value of community, love, and family. Because the value of coming together each night with Malaki's entire family for a delicious, made from scratch, homegrown meal, is just so much greater than the value of the material wealth we have in the U.S.
For previous diaries in this series:
Travel and Arrival
Day 1, Part 1: Elephants and Giraffes and Crocs, Oh My! (Part 1)
Day 1, Part 2: Elephants and Giraffes and Crocs, Oh My! (Part 2)
Day 2: Kibera, Nairobi's Enormous Slum
Day 3, Part 1: From Nairobi to Thika
Day 3, Part 2: Helping Women and Farmers Out of Poverty (G-BIACK)
Day 3, Part 3: G-BIACK's Livestock
Day 3, Part 4: Grow Biointensive (G-BIACK)
Day 3, Part 5: Traditional Kenyan Food and a Visit to a Farm
Day 4, Part 1: Del Monte Pineapple
Day 4, Part 2: Robert's Farm (G-BIACK)
Day 4, Part 3: A School for Special Needs Young Adults (G-BIACK)
Day 5, Part 1: One More Morning at G-BIACK
Day 5, Part 2: Sustainable Ag and Rural Development Initiative (SARDI)
Day 5, Part 3: Workshop on Nutrition, Farming, and HIV/AIDS
Day 6, Part 1: A Small, Biointensive Farm (SARDI)
Day 6, Part 2: The School That Broke My Heart (SARDI)
Day 6, Part 3: Farming in a Wet Region, Part 1 (SARDI)
Day 6, Part 4: Farming in a Wet Region, Part 2 (SARDI)
Day 7: Nairobi
Day 8, Part 1: Wildlife and Poachers
Day 8, Part 2: The Machakos Market
Day 9: Removing Poachers' Snares
Day 10: Removing Poachers' Snares
Day 11, Part 1: Intro to Pastoralism and Maasai Culture
Day 11, Part 2: Interview with a Maasai Man, Part 1
Day 11, Part 3: Interview with a Maasai Man, Part 2
Day 11, Part 4: Interview with a Maasai Man, Part 3
Day 11: Part 5: Visit to a Maasai Home
Day 12: Nairobi
Day 13: Travel to Kisumu
Day 14: Malaria, the Climate Crisis, and the Kisumu Yacht Club
Day 15: Travel to Bondo
Day 16: Farming in Bondo (Grow Strong) |
