Kambi ya Waya

We had not been to see Rodgers' mom (whom we now call Grandma or Nyanya for Nate) since my parents were here in May/June. We didn't have any previous appointments made for yesterday, so we decided to make a day trip. It was rainy and gloomy for most of the drive up, but the sun came out by the time we got there.

It's getting to be corn harvest time up there. Many of the fields looked like the corn never grew, which is devastating. These country people live off of the corn they grow. Grandma's corn was looking good, though.

corn drying up

Fence made out of sticks keeps cows out of the fields

Last time we were there, Ben wasn't quite mobile. Plus, my mom was there to take a turn holding him. He does not like being held by people he doesn't know well, or Grandma, aunts, or cousins could have held him. So this time, we took his walker. I didn't want his feet in the dirt (Nate is allergic to it - he loves playing in it but always breaks out in a rash), so we took socks and (too big) shoes for him, too.

The "pen" behind Nate is actually a storage area (in progress) for corn when it is harvested. Also pictured are peas drying in the sun.

They kept roasting corn for us. It was good, but soo much. Nate even ate some. We gave Ben the cobs to chew on - I'm sure he'd swallow the kernels whole.

Nate had taken his red frisbee to play with. One of the other boys played with him, but the rest of the kids just watched. Then, they pulled out their balls, and everyone started playing. Can you tell what the ball is?

It's a t-shirt tied up with string, which I think is actually strips of another t-shirt.

Lunch was ready around 2:30. Ben was napping by then, but Nate was still up, and he ate lots of chicken and even ate ugali. Last week, he suddenly started eating meat - including a hamburger, fried chicken, and grilled ribs, now stewed chicken. The ugali really surprised me. We offered it to him several times, and he wouldn't eat it. Then he just grabbed a bit himself and started eating it.

Grandma couldn't send us home empty handed. When we started saying goodbye, she went out to the field and came back with 21 ears of corn for us. She also gave us a big bag of pojo, which is a kind of pea. It translates as vetch, which according to Wikipedia, is no longer used for human consumption, but for livestock. Hmmm...people eat lots of pojo here.

pojo

It was a good trip, but long. We left before 8 and were home about 12 hours later. We're going to have to give some of this corn away, though.

Edit: I have learned that pojo is mung beans! Also, more pics of the trip here.