14 January 2010

Pictures!

The first picture is of the green house that is covering my herb garden.  The purpose of the green house here is to decrease the intensity of the Sun and increase moisture retention.  The student in the front is Emmanuel and the student standing in the background is George.

emmanuel and garden

Over the holiday I went to visit Emmanuel’s home.  Part of the tradition here is that after circumcision (around age 14) the boy/man builds his own house on his parents’ compound.  This size and type of house is very common and measures approximately 7ft. by 10ft.

emmanuel and house

Below is the form 1 class.  I am their class teacher, which, for me, means that I hold meetings with them almost every week and try to check up on them as best as I am able.

Form 1 2009

11 January 2010

Happy Mango Season!

Since returning from vacation I have been wished a happy new year by countless people. When they ask what my New Year's resolution is, I usually tell them that I am resolved to write “2010” instead of “2009” on all forms that I may come across between now and the end of 2010.

Then I ask if the new year is worth celebrating more than any of the other current events. For instance, around the New Year the Minister of Education was involved in a scandal involving the theft of Ministry of Education funds. Maybe we could wish each other a corrupt free tomorrow or quick retrieval of the missing funds.

Better yet, maybe we can wish each other a merry mango season: 
“may your lips be stained orange for the coming month!”
or
“may you be blessed with a thousand toothpicks for removing the mango strings from between your teeth!”

Cow Attack! And Lentil Soup

When I came back from the States in August I brought with me a bunch of seeds, including thyme, oregano, Thai basil, dill, and a couple types of flowers. In order to keep them from dying I waited until the rainy season (December) to plant them. Being on the equator, even during the rainy season the Sun is very hot and so three of my students assisted me to build small green houses. We bought 6m plastic pipes, cut them in half, and attached yellow, partially opaque plastic to the outside of the plastic frames. This has turned out to work marvelously, and until the other day, I had very healthy 4 inch tall plants.  

But then it struck, like an elephant in the night. I was doing my evening hour of meditation and I heard a funny rustling coming from somewhere. There are always funny noises around the school, so I ignored it, put in my ear plugs and continued to meditate for the remaining part of the hour. When I removed the earplugs the noise was still there and I found that it was coming from outside. In the dark, I could barely make out what it was. Then as my torch scanned the black abyss, I realized that part of the darkness was really a cow. The bull had escaped from its pen and was easily destroying the green house, trampling on the baby plants and eating them too! With some harsh threats I scared the cow away from my garden and into the school's tomato patch, where it continued to eat happily until the night watchman came with a stick to chase it away.

The man that the school hires to take care of the cows had done a poor job that evening, and I hope that he will help me rebuild. Most of the damage was due to the cows hooves, as it was only trying to eat the tall weeds that had grown up around the sprouts. All in all, the damage was not so bad. One variety of flower was almost completely wiped out, and the parsley looked quite mangled, but at least a few will carry on.

The biggest trouble that I have now is figuring out what delicious food I am going to use each of the spices for. When I find someone asking me what foods each spice will be used in, I end up saying “that one goes well with meat.” 

Lentil Soup:
lentils
onion
carrot
tomato
thyme, oregano, basil
meat (a little bit for flavoring)

One exemplary recipe that makes use of these spices is lentil soup, which also happens to be a huge favorite of mine, dating back to the days when my grandmother would cook it for me almost weekly.  

On Sunday I prepared cooked it and invited Mr. And Mrs. Mutia over to sample it. Despite their friendly conversation, as we were eating it I found myself lost deep in thought thinking about my grandmother. It was not the same as the recipe that my grandmother used to use. For one thing, I used cow meat instead of the turkey-ham that she used and I also added a little brown rice to make it a more complete meal.  

I filled my biggest stock pot to the brim, and yet we managed to finish all of it between four of us. I do not know whether or not Mr. Mutia was exaggerating, but he told me that it was the tastiest food that he had ever eaten. In America I certainly would not accept this as true, but most Kenyans have never tasted a food spiced with oregano, thyme, or basil before, so maybe his accolades were at least partly true. 

I enjoyed this gathering very much. There was a Sunday last term when I invited some neighbors over for fresh pizza made from my oven. Maybe I will try to start a tradition, cooking different dishes making use of my spice garden each weekend.

So far, the dishes I can think of are potato salad, lentil soup, pizza, and pasta salad, as well as generic soups and stews.  

Maybe I can make good on some of those threats towards the cow and serve guests roasted cow rubbed oil and rosemary.

08 January 2010

Vipassana Meditation

Revised version:

Over Christmas me and three other PCVs took a 10 day course on Vipassana Meditation. Vipassana meditation is a non-sectarian form of meditation that was used by the Buddha to train the mind to see reality as it is. The reality that the Buddha saw is that cravings and aversions are the basis of our sufferings and that this form of meditation can be used to change the way our “inner” mind perceives reality.

Today Vipassana is taught by S.N. Goenke, a Burmese “house-holder,” who has actively spread the technique since he left Burma in the 1950's. Vipassana is taught as a ten day course, via tape and audio recordings of Goenke. During this period, students live as monks, observing five precepts which include noble silence and not taking intoxicants.  

In addition to the meditation technique, Goenke also gives daily discourses on the Buddha's insight and the benefits of the technique. This may seem sectarian, because we associate the Buddha with Buddhism, but the Buddha never taught conversion from one religion to another. The truths that he teaches are universal, and it has only been since the time of his death that groups have ascribed rites, rituals, and auxiliary beliefs to his teachings, forming their own religion.  

The Buddha did, however, have direct insight into his past lives. It bothered me that Goenke made reference to this teaching during the course, because either a person must have direct realization of their past lives or else it must be taken on blind faith. When I asked the assistant teacher about this, he reminded me that the Buddha directed his followers to scrutinize all of his [ the Buddha's ] teachings. If one finds a “black stone” in the porridge, remove the stone instead of going hungry and letting the nutritious portion of the food go to waste. I was satisfied with this answer, because, for me, the nutritious portions of Vipassana were far greater in quantity than the troubling components.  

While I find that already I have received some benefits, the path is long and requires a life-time (maybe life-times) of practice. In order to describe how practice may change the habit patterns of a person, Goenke tells a story during one discourse. In the story, a mother gives each of her three children money to buy oil. On the way back from buying the oil, each one trips and spills half of the bottle. One is a pessimist and tells his mother, “I have failed. I have spilled half of the oil.” The second is an optimist and says enthusiastically, “I have made you proud. I tripped but I have saved half of the oil.” The third child is a Vipassana meditator and, without becoming angry of proud, he tells his mother, “the bottle is both half full and half empty. Although I spilled it, I am capable of filling it again” and goes to earn money to replace the oil.

Anecdotal stories are nice, but most people that practice Vipassana meditation has stories from their own lives. One such story came from a man that told me instead of previously yelling ten times a month, be now yells maybe eight times per month. Another man, who volunteered ten days to serve students at the course, told us that he is the happiest man in the world. Even the structure of the course suggests how many people it has benefited; the courses run entirely off of donations, first time students are not allowed to donate until after they have completed a course, and no one that helps with the courses receives renumeration. 

For more information about Vipassana meditation, or to find a Vipassana meditation center on any continent, visit www.dhamma.org.