Yikes, I've met a far right wing Christian!

I can't really do the presentation I attended today with Rose, Magdaline and Joyce justice without lots of gesturing, shouting, eye-rolling and possibly an adult beverage. But some highlights:

(Rose was told that there would be a community meeting of women who would be getting a presentation on HIV by a visiting American woman. We thought it would be interesting to attend, so we headed over to the orphan home which was the site of the meeting. It turned out to be a training session for teachers at the affiliated school, but we were welcome to stay, so we did.)

The presenter was a seriously right wing Christian who was there through a "Pregnancy Resource" (read anti-abortion) clinic in Salt Lake City.

First, obviously, we must all be saved through Jesus, and having sex before marriage is not god's plan for us. So far so expected, once I realized her orientation.

But then she kept telling the Kenyans how America is depraved because we have rejected god, 80% of girls get pregnant in high school (not fitting well with her statistic of 18ish being the average age of first sexual intercourse), "don't get me started" (she said) on American kids, who uniformly don't like to learn and don't do homework.

Also, American parents don't care about their kids, and a very high percentage of parents lived in sin before they got married, and set a bad example of godlessness for their kids.

When asked by one of the Kenyans why we "allow" homosexuality, she said that it was caused by early sexual abuse and absent fathers, which were both signs of how depraved America is.

I was appalled and riveted at the same time. I'm really really sorry now that I didn't stand up at that point and say that hers is a minority view in America, and that science has proven otherwise, but I didn't. I think it was partly because I was there by invitation of Rose, who was there by invitation of the director of the school and orphan home, with whom Rose is trying to establish a professional relationship. Mostly, maybe, since I was attending a right wing presentation by invitation and choice, in the moment it felt like it wasn't my place to criticize. I think I was wrong once we got to the topic of homosexuality - leaving her ridiculous statements about America untouched was one thing, but when we got to homosexuality I wish I'd spoken up.

Then, the same guy asked about "swinging" - he was told about it by an American friend. She told the others that swinging was having orgies in a big group, and that although young people sometimes did it, it was largely American adults who engage in big orgy parties where "everyone is having sex with everyone."

THEN, they turned to a page in their workbooks that showed them how to have the kids do a mock marriage! Such fun, she said, and it helps motivate the kids to stay pure until marriage. They choose a bride, groom, parents of the couple, wedding party, menu. . .  then they dress up and conduct a mock ceremony.

We then heard about how well her son Joshua has responded to the purity and abstinence training. He's a senior in college. He wears a "purity" ring on his ring finger, and his girlfriend Emily does, as well. She reminds him periodically not to do anything with Emily that would make her ashamed and guilty when she walks down the aisle with him next year, and reminds Emily of the same thing vis a vis Joshua. Sometimes when they're "out on the town" (yes, she actually talks like that. plus, Kenyans have no frickin' idea what that means, I'm sure) she calls Joshua to remind him about his purity pledge. Because that is what good parents do.

THEN, she tore into "women's lib" - I kid you not, that's what she called it. She doesn't care for it. It elevated women and tore down men, and now only weak men are ever portrayed on television.

So,

I hope this is just part one. Wrote a hugely long post yesterday, with lots of photos and captions, and my iPad blogger app has crashed and is only giving me access to the couple of photos that I had saved online at the beginning. Unfortunatley I saved the rest of the draft locally, and don't have access. Sigh. Anyway. . .


This guy is king of the roost around here, though jet lag, and not he, woke Matt and me yesterday.

We cooked bacon and eggs over the wood fire in Rose's kitchen.

Location:Shilongo, western Kenya, chez Moon

Left Evanston and Arrived in Kenya!

Okay, a speedy tour through the last few days so I can get caught up, get to bed, and make breakfast with Matt tomorrow morning - bacon, eggs and fried potatoes over a wood fire in Rose's rural kitchen, for seven people!

Summary - my nephew Matt and I are off to Kenya for a working holiday. We'll be there from June 19 - July 30, and hope to do everything from teach about biointensive gardening (Matt) and the importance of condoms (me) to a balloon ride over the Masai Mara!


Matt takes a quick nap, having helped pack, weigh and label six 50-pound boxes and duffels.


Becky and her friend Leslie give us the traditional Mary Ann and Lee send-off.



Packing light. One suitcase and one duffel for Matt and me, and 5 boxes and one duffel of library books, training material, games, etc. for the 5 projects we're visiting.


Layover at Heathrow - yummy breakfast at the Giraffe in Terminal 5.



Fishmarket in Nairobi.


Some ex-Lavenda students and a friend gave us a quick tour of Nairobi University. I took a brief moment to appreciate being in the same space that was once occupied by President Nyerere.


If you look closely, under the archway is Matt with Beatrice and Stella, ex-Lavendians, and Beatrice's friend Simon.


Stella, Beatrice and Simon looking at Julie's wedding photos.



Had a puncture before we started off to Kakamega - repair being made.


Some flowers in the parking lot of our lunch stop in Nakuru.


Matt at the Rift Valley. We'll go back again, as it was too foggy to see much.


Rose buying potatoes for the girls's home at a roadside stand.


Heaving the bag of potatoes into our poor, overladen car.


If you can zoom in, can anybody tell me why it looks like Matt is taking a photo in the rear view mirror, but has his hand in his lap in the body of the photo??

Why I Won't Go to Kenya in the Summer Ever Again

As excited as I am to be leaving a week from today for Kenya, I am sad to be missing some of the best months of my beautiful garden. Sheena John, my wonderful garden designer, has helped me have a garden to enjoy all through the growing season here in the Chicago area. I may be heading to work, literally, in the jungle in western Kenya, but other than banana plants and avocado trees you can't beat my garden for jungley lushness.
















And by "lush" possibly I mean "desperately needs attention".


My newhew Matt was planting my veggie garden for me, but we both gave up when it became clear that only the bunnies will enjoy the harvest.


My compost bins.


Where's my machete??











Spenser at the side entrance into the garden.

Location:my garden!

Day 5 - reflections

It's still Friday morning, but I have a few thoughts about why this was easier for me this year. And also why it is SO much easier for a healthy person to do this for 5 days without the incremental health degradation that a poor person who always eats this way faces.

First, I over-budgeted for the fillers - rice, beans and lentils. So I was more full than last year, but traded off the little variety I had - broccoli and a kiwi a day - for carrots, which were cheap and I figured wouldn't spoil, like my broccoli did.

So interesting to me that I did this without thinking, because when I'm working in Kenya I preach the gospel of more variety and less ugali (boiled corn meal). In my defense my beans and lentils balanced with rice give me a complete protein, and corn has scant protein or nutrients, but that urge to go to bed full overcame even my knowledge of nutrients.

Second, I continued to take my vitamins and supplements (and thyroid meds), which probably took care of any nutritional deficiencies, which obviously poor people can't do.

my daily supplements

So, off to Rockford to pick up my speaking partner, then on to Quincy, where we'll spend the night. Giving a presentation tomorrow morning on the importance of switching to a graduated rate income tax. So, I'm going to pack up lunch and dinner, and hope for a microwave for my dinner. My plan is to eat in the hotel room and then go out to dinner with my friend, but only have tap water. Going a day away from home without being able to have a handful of nuts or a piece of fruit to get me from one meal to the net will be a challenge.

Day 3 of Live Below the Line

getting ready to drain the carrots and get rid of the repulsive sludgy bean broth

lunch day 3 - black beans, lentils and rice with cooked carrot, salt and olive oil

So I've discovered if I heat the beans using some of my olive oil allotment for the day, and sort of crisp them up a little, they carmelize a teense and taste much better. Two things (among many other realities) really poor people can't do - refrigerate their food so that they don't need to cook every day, and squander valuable cooking fuel (wood, which had to be carried perhaps for hours, or charcoal, which is costly) to crisp up their bland food.

I measured out 2 tablespoons of oil per day (10 T), and one teaspoon of salt (5 tsp) so that my 5 day allotment was ready to go. I budgeted quite a percentage of my money - 22 cents a day - on oil, because last year my lips got cracked and dry, and I was itchy. One friend suggested that it might have been too much salt rather than too little fat, so I also measured out my salt for the week so I didn't oversalt the bland food. So far, I seem to have quite a bit of both oil and salt left, suggesting that I'm not actually using the daily amount that I'm "entitled" to. And have neither cracked lips nor itchy skin. Hmmm. Maybe the air was drier that week last year?

I feel okay, pretty good energy levels and not too hungry. Last year I actually napped, and also went to bed early once. But I also had both a vegetable (broccoli) AND a fruit (a kiwi) every day. And maybe I got a better deal on the legumes and rice? Have to check back.

Day 2, AKA "throw away the bean soup"

Okay, yuck! I threw away the water the beans were soaked in, of course. But I read up on the cooking water, and it seemed that it would be perfectly fine, people use it as a stock for stews, soups, etc. Which makes sense - if you make bean soup, you're eating the water it was cooked in, right?

In my case, oh so wrong. So, yesterday mid-morning I decided to have a nice pick-me-up of the carrots simmered in bean-cooking water, that I had so frugally saved. I'd had breakfast at 5:30 am so I could go to a polling station at 6:00 for a candidate friend of mine. Get home hungry about 9:00 am. Decided to warm up the carrot soup instead of digging into lunch.

One nice big bowl of bean-broth carrot soup later, and I was canceling my afternoon plans. Maybe I simmered it down until it was too intensely beany? Anyhoo, no need to describe further, other than to say I stayed close to home until late afternoon.

Upside? Lunch never did sound good, so I had a nice big dinner and went to bed full!

Day 1 Live Below the Line 2013

For the second year I'm taking part in Live Below the Line, a poverty and hunger awareness campaign that also raises money for poverty-related projects. 

It takes some planning, and the insights just keep coming. I shopped at a fairly cheap urban grocery store yesterday, and realized that whatever veggies were available were what I would get - decided not to make another trip to get something different to add variety. For one thing, poor people usually have to sacrifice variety for a bit of an economy of scale. And last year my broccoli was sad and limp by Thursday and Friday, so this year I decided on carrots.

food for the week, not including olive oil and salt

I'm using half of the beans, and 5 of the eggs. This is a cheat, because we're not supposed to buy more than we would eat in the 5 days unless we go in with friends (like low income people do in some areas of the world). But I just priced it out by portion - and I'm having all of the rice and all of the lentils.

(My other cheat: coffee in the morning. The headaches and constipation that go along with my addiction withdrawl do not bear contemplating.  Or discussing. But no rice milk in my coffee!)

all of the food, rice, beans and lentils  cooked, carrots
cut up and ready to simmer in the cups of bean cooking water,
olive oil and salt in little bowls

simmered the carrots in the bean water so I can have some "soup" in the afternoon

5 days of rice, beans and lentils. add an egg and a bowl of carrot "soup" each day and I'm good to go.

sold one serving (1/4 cup) of dried beans to Sheila for 16 cents!

My calculations for daily intake: (one serving of each dried food is 1/4 cup)

    .25      1 free range egg

    .26      2 servings rice

    .44      3 servings black beans minus a few tablespoons

    .26      2 servings lentils

    .12      .2 lb carrot

    .22      2 T olive oil

    .01      1 tsp salt

$1.50 !!!/day

Ashamed to Ask About Registering?

I had a success for President Obama's campaign that ultimately made me pretty sad the more I've thought about it.

I went to the somewhat rundown home of a 90 year old man in a small town today. The front door was completely sealed off with plastic sheeting (for insulation; I've seen a lot of it on the poorer homes around here). I went around the back to a broken porch, and went up the steps. A man was just starting out the door when I got to the top step.

I told him my name and that I was with the president's campaign, and asked for the man whose name I had on the list, thinking that it could be him. He told me that the guy was inside sitting at the kitchen table, and that I should go in. He accompanied me inside.

I introduced myself, and had a really pleasant chat with the 90 year old life-long Democrat. He told me that the country couldn't afford Romney's policies, and of course I agreed. He always votes on the day, and just has to go a couple of blocks, so I didn't bug him to vote early and promised not to bother him again as he votes in every election. When I asked if I could put an Obama-Biden sign on his lawn, he told me to put out as many as I wanted.

I asked the other fellow if he was also a supporter of the President, and he told me that he doesn't vote.

Then, he followed me outside and took me aside. He said that he wasn't supposed to vote. I assumed (I know, I know, makes an ass out of you and me, but it turns out I was somewhat right) that he was referring to a felony conviction, so I said that even if he'd been convicted of a felony he might be eligible to vote. (Iowa did let felons vote automatically after they'd served their time, but the current Republican governor rescinded that law last year, and now they have to pay all outstanding obligations to the court, serve a period of parole, supply credit reports, and then apply for the right, which may or may not be granted.) He looked at me in shock and said no, he didn't commit a felony, but he had a DUI 30 years ago and was told he wasn't entitled to vote after that.

I explained to him that he could vote if he had identification (he pulled out his driver's license) and could prove where he lived. Well, he told me that the old guy was his dad, and he himself was 58 years old, and he lived there with his father. Younger than I am, and I was ready to think that he was 90! He had a bad facial skin condition of some sort, infected eyes, and just seemed as though he got no medical attention, which I suspect is the case.

Anyway, I got out a voter registration form to show him what he'd need to bring with him, and he agreed to go to with his father to the polls on Tuesday, with his ID and proof of residence (in Iowa you can register on the day, and someone who knows you can actually vouch for your address. a state of such interesting contrasts. Of course, Governor Branstad would love to make it harder to vote.)

So my canvassing colleague and I practically high-fived each other over the lawn signs on a big corner lot, and an extra vote for Obama.

Then we used her hand sanitizer because we had both shaken the guy's hand, and he looked pretty infected.

Then, I started to think about how sad it was, to me, that all these years this guy had thought he couldn't vote, didn't try to find out, even in a household that values voting. And took me aside out of the hearing of his father to admit to me that he "wasn't supposed" to vote. He seemed so ashamed. People have such hidden struggles.

Yesterday, I gave a couple the information they needed for their disabled 26 year old son to vote. They had asked me if he was allowed to vote if he was disabled. He wanted to vote for President Obama. I said that if he wanted to vote he was entitled to vote. (citizen, resident, at least 18. . .) I gave them a registration form, and we discussed the logistics of going in on Monday to get it taken care of. I'm pretty sure they will follow through, and they also let me put up multiple signs for Obama-Biden and Christie Vilsack (running against the vile Steve King).

But who has a 26 year old son and doesn't know his rights as a citizen? They were nice people and strong Democrats, in a fairly run-down trailer park. I think that it can just be so hard struggling economically, with the added challenges of a disabled child, and maybe afraid of being rebuffed by the bureaucracy (speculating here) that only because someone literally showed up at the door to help could they bring themselves to ask? Also: evidence of untreated medical and definitely untreated dental issues.

Life is so frickin' hard for so many people.

Behind the Scenes: Saturday, November 3

I left Denison at 7:00 am (before light) to drive to Onawa for our first day of GOTV, bringing the folders of walk and call packets to Ken, who is the staging director (or some similar title) and is also hosting the staging at his house. I started the morning scrambling eggs from his chickens for the small group of us there early - including two young guys from Chicago who arrived at his house last night to help canvass in Monona county. The eggs were really big, and heavy, with thick shells. I always buy free range chicken eggs, but they are nothing like these. These seem to be particularly happy chickens, but I'm not sure how that translates to large eggs.

Then two women from Kansas, around my age or a bit older, arrived to help canvass until Monday morning. They're staying in a motel in Onawa. Now that I don't need to go back and forth between Onawa and Denison, the hour and fifteen minute drive each way seems stupid, and I'm considering joining them. Anyway, they're fabulous, ex-middle school teachers, right up my alley. Fun and smart. One of them was the canvassing captain, kept everything organized, and also canvassed a turf. Her friend went out with me, and we did one rural and one semi-rural turf. She came along to a few doors with me, and then I drove and she walked up to the houses while I plotted the next stop.

When we converged back at the house at the end of the day, the names of people who've already voted got "struck." I didn't stick around for that, because I needed to drive back to my hotel in Denison. But the idea is that after the Secretary of State posts the names of people who've voted that day, we "strike" them from our call and walk lists.

And tomorrow we go out again! And Monday! And Tuesday! The idea is that we have lists only of pro-Obama voters who haven't voted yet. We go to the door, ask to speak to the person on our list, ask if they support the President, and remind them to vote. We also ask them to consider voting early, which they can do through Monday. This not only puts their vote in the bag, but allows us to strike their name and not go back again to remind them to vote.

And we wonder why people are frickin' sick of us!

If no one is home, we have very elaborate, kind of colorful and lovely, tree-killing door knob hangers. For today, Sunday, and Monday they say "Vote Tuesday", and each one has the address of their local precinct, so we have to be careful with the packets. For Tuesday, they're a darker blue, and say "Vote Today."

EVERY TIME we go to someone's door and they're not home, unless and until they are struck from the list, they get a doorknob hanger.

Here's how you got off of our master list up through and including yesterday: 1. die; 2. move; 3. be a Romney supporter; 4. VOTE.

Here's how you get off now: VOTE.

We're keeping notes and won't actually go back to people's houses who've told us that they support Romney, or that someone has died. But the call lists won't be changed. I'm determined not to get sucked into calling again. Everyone hates it. I hate it.

Here's how you stymie us: put a dog pen outside your front door, completely surrounding the entrance to your house, and then put a big dog in it. Seems to be a bit of a thing here. Maybe only during campaign season?