Mango season is coming to an end. A season for new fruits is surely taking its place, but mango season is my favorite and I'm sad to see it pass. Every time I travel to a new place in Kenya, including Mugona, I discover a different type of mango. Outside of my door is a mango tree that produces mangos smaller than your palm. They are yellow inside, juicy and extremely fibrous. These are not a 'first date' appropriate mango, or one you would want to eat on the way out the door. No matter how dainty you try to be (and lets face it, I should not even try), bunches of mango fibers will always lodge themselves in your front teeth. It is better just to embrace the mango mouth. The mangos I buy in the market are bigger than grapefruits, orange on the inside, and by far my favorite. I can only find them in Chuka town. With the move, I now live a 20-30 minute walk from the main road, then a 15 minute matatu ride to chuka. It has taken some adjustment to learn how much food to buy to last a week, and how much I can carry. I've learned my lesson with mangos: when the market mamas told me they were going out of season I freaked and bought 10 of the biggest I could find. It was quite the workout to walk up the road to my house, but completely worth it.
The first few nights in Mugona were accompanied by electricity from a generator, but it has been on and off (mostly off) since then. I have not grown out of the excitement I used to get when the power went out during storms at home. I happily light my candle and read with a mug full of hot chocolate. It would be far more efficient to buy a lantern, but I am too stubborn in my ways.
When I first came to kenya my one request for site placement was to be in a place where I can grow my own food. Namanga was a lot of things, but a place to garden was not one of them. I feel like I've been given a second chance. So far I've started tomato, kale, and spinach plants, accompanied by two mango trees. I have learned that I am an impatient gardener, or maybe I was just too excited. The day after hiding the seeds in the soil I kept looking outside to note their progress. There wasn't any, of course. The day I saw them reaching their little arms up to the sky for the first time, I couldn't help but smile to myself. There is something so rewarding in seeing your garden grow.
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6 comments:
Ah Mango Mouth!! A new vision of Kenya! Great to see an update. Be patient grasshopper - the seeds will grow.
pops
Hi,are you willing to help me, a graduate student in University of Minnesota, understand the electrical needs of the people in Kenya?
Victor, would be willing to help with what I can. I'm teaching at a school, so I only get out during the holidays.
Thanks Carly!
So can you give me your email address? Mine is mininew@gmail.com. So that I can send a invitation to you to look at the web page that we created about the product concept and share your insights.
Thank you.
I LOVE YOU!! ...even with mango mouth!
Alfonzo mangoes are the best in India, so buttery in texture as to defy belief. I, too, gorged on their succulence, but found I had an allergic reaction... a red line up a nerve in my arm... so I had to learn moderation. I am looking forward to seeing you back in Burlington, where Fall has arrived. It's a dull year for colors, but nothing like what it's like where you are before the rains. You've been through COS and on the downside of your service. Be proud of making it through. Many fine PCVs in your group did not... more than can be counted on two hands. It pains me alot for I lament their losses in the experiences and memories they could have had; but I understand. I was in a hot, dry place. They had another word for muzungu there. Still, we are really all the same, save for the cultural things and the vastly different economic circumstances. I was struck by how the samenesses became more and more apparent as time progressed. See you soon. Mike Gannett
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