Our circuit ride to Kakuma Refugee Camp seems like it just began a couple days ago and yet now we are about to make our way back to Nairobi. Though I miss a certain somebody horribly while I am away from Kenya's capital city, I really do thrive on life in the field. Interaction with refugees and refugees' culture aside, I love how, especially in rural, field locations like Kakuma, it is easy to get into a healthy routine of eating healthy, waking up early, exercising and socializing with friends. Though we are in the middle of the desert, for example, we are living in a UN compound which allows for 24/7 protection by top notch security, decent food options and gym access. 24 hour security allows me to go for solo runs (within the confines of the compound) without having to look over my shoulder every second. The food is not amazing, but it is more than edible and in some instances, quite tasty. The gym in Kakuma is newly built and actually has decent equipment. I have gotten into the habit of running a couple times around the compound in the evenings and then hitting the gym to tone my arms and abs. Many of my colleagues also seem keen to keep healthy so every time I return from jogging, I find at least a handful of my team at the gym running on the tred mills or lifting weights. There's a real sense of camaraderie on this field team...we've really got a good, fun, hard working group of guys and ladies that I truly enjoy working and spending time with. Last night, thanks to the dj-ing skills of a certain member of our team and the decent speakers IOM has invested in, we were able to have a dance party under the stars till the early hours of the morning - it was no clubbing night in Nairobi, of course, but fantastic fun nonetheless!
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Traditional Ethiopian meal - Njera with various stews
and sauces |
Today a bunch of us went to Kakuma 1 Refugee Camp (there is also Kakuma 2 and Kakuma 3), to the same Ethiopian restaurant my new friend Sarah and I went to last Sunday. We had the same njera dish with various stews and sauces, but we also got the unique opportunity (unique while working outside of Ethiopia, at least) to enjoy a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Once we were done with our meals, the wife of the restaurant's owner came over to our house with a hot plate filled with freshly browned coffee beans. She went around to each of us fanning the fragrance of freshly heated coffee beans in our direction. Then she disappeared to this shrine like contraption set up in the middle of the restaurant where she ground the coffee beans by manually while putting the water on to boil. Once the coffee was mixed and ready for pouring, she called us over to the shrine (not sure if it was really a shrine per say...) to be seated and served. We were first given sweetened pop corn and these sweet seeds to eat as an appetizer. My colleague/friend who has lived in Ethiopia in the past explained to me that popcorn is thought to bring out the taste of coffee...who knew! As we nibbled on the popcorn and seeds, our hostess carefully poured thick "buna" (Ethiopian coffee) into tiny cups that reminded me of those that are used in China and Japan. Confession - I hate coffee. Cultural sensitivity comes natural to me though and refusing to try something so important to a given culture would feel so much more awkward than drinking something my taste buds aren't a fan of! And so I "oooh and ahhhh"-ed over the coffee, drank every last drop of my portion and thanked my hostess till she was red in the face.
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Side tangent...
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| Kenyan Nyama Choma |
I do the same thing when it comes to eating Kenyan meat. Kenyans like to cook their meat till it's so tough that you have to chew each piece for minutes on end just to get it into a somewhat swallow-able form. Eating "nyama choma" (grilled Kenyan-style meat) is so much a part of the culture here. I fear that for me to turn my nose up at the cuisine I might inadvertently insult them, especially since meat is pricey and it is considered rude in Kenya to refuse what is offered to you (it has been explained to me that if you refuse something that is offered to you, it's like turning your nose up at your host...as in, you will risk being seen as ungrateful and rude...complete opposite of Japanese culture). So....just as I did today with the Ethiopian coffee, I generally find my normally vegetarian self agreeing to nyama choma nights without really wanting to eat the stuff in the first place. <sigh> If only the Kenyans didn't make their meat so overly cooked and left some of the natural moisture and tenderness my tendency towards cultural sensitivity might not clash so much with my culinary tastes! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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