As it turns out they have food in Africa. And a lot of it. It is not the great gourmet creations we all dream of when we think of food or McDonald’s or even Campbell’s soup. It is our friend the carbohydrate in amazing quantities. Up until this week I have been in denial about my current dietary practices, aside from last week’s comments concerning my expanding ass. However this week it has truly set in. On Monday it finally hit me. As I was walking out of my house to go to the clinic to “work” all the workers at the clinic were noticing how I was dress as it was the first time I wore a skirt at the clinic because lately it has been hot here (yay!). So this one woman who works here as a nurse assistant came up to me to compliment me on my skirt (they love my clothes here) and as she is doing this she comments to me in half Sesotho half English along with hand motions how big I am and how I have just gotten so big since I have arrived in Lesotho (I‘ve been at the clinic a month, how much weight could I have gained?). At first I thought okay she is just saying this because it is good to be fat in Lesotho. Then she drops the bomb, saying clearly in English (she never talks to me in English to make me practice Sesotho, so of course she would chose this to show off her English skills), “You need to lose weight, sister Nthabi.” My already wavering self esteemed plummeted so low it has yet to catch up with me. So I did what every girl in my position would do, made a pledge to myself to lose twenty pounds before In Service Training and Christmas and New Years where I may have to pull out a swim suit. So with my new leash on life and exercise I planned to go on a hike everyday, which as I was leaving to go on my hike Ma Katse (that is this woman’s name, and yes it does mean Mother Cat, everyone at the clinic fondly calls her Kitty Cat) said that it was good I was exercising because I need it and to that I should only exercise on the clinic grounds (maybe a quarter mile around the whole thing, c‘mon) to show the others how to exercise. I then left the grounds and sweet Ma Katse to hike around the area.
So far I have been going on an hour hike each day coupled with 30-45 minutes of badly planned pilates, that is until I hurt my foot yesterday, but I have every intention of keeping it up (aka for those nutrition majors out there I‘m in the implementation stage of the health belief model). This is why, and where I do get to brag. So when most people go for walks at home it is along a paved road or path of some sort. Not mine, yesterday as I was hiking I realized I wasn’t so much hiking as scaling the side of a cliff sans path or any direction at all. This is where I get a little cheesy. Everyday I walk out to the same points, however I take a new path each time, mostly because I don’t remember what way I go from day to day, but it is awesome and not in the California surfer way, I am literally in awe of what I see. I go out to these jutting ledges and cornices in the cliffs and the wind whips around me and my hair (which I leave down on purpose) flies around my head and I look down on the farm and grazing lands and there are these dilapidated rondavels in the valley at the bottom and it is just (searching for the right word here) inconceivable unless you are there with me. Okay, so you know that part in the new “Pride and Prejudice” with Kiera Knightly? The part where she is standing on the cliffs with the beautiful piano music playing, that’s my hike, plus a few kids trailing behind wondering what the heck this Mahoua (“white person”) is doing. Oh and one last part, the craziest part of the hike (I have to call it a hike by the way, when really it is more of a strenuous stroll because I am constantly out of breath) is this part where it is literally a cliff in the shape of a landing strip. It is this quarter mile strip of cliff that is like beckoning for an alien ship to land on it. I was pretty freaked out the first time I walked down it but it was day light so nothing too crazy could have happened. So that is my hike and why I need to lose some major poundage. My clothes still fit so that is a good sign, so here’s to hoping it doesn’t get out of control.
So going on to other things, this week the clinic has been pretty good. I think I will get to start going on outreach (all that is with in walking distance though because the clinic doesn’t have a car) and I think I get to do a nutrition workshop with some of the support groups in the area along with a food demonstration. I’m pretty darn excited. And the biggest accomplishment of the week, I showed the cooks in the kitchen how to steam their greens and to know when they are ready as opposed to frying them in a gallon of oil until they are not so much green as putrid brown. They enjoyed them too, much to my surprise because when I told them I didn’t use oil they gave me a look like I was the biggest fool they have ever seen. After forcing them to try the steamed greens I made them rice pudding, which was the bigger hit of the two, but in my defense it was a lower fat rice pudding and I used ingredients that are both available and affordable to them. It could also be used as a porridge for their children in the morning. So let’s, see I think that is all for this week, ohhhhh wait, one more thing and I’ll be done. I have discovered my favorite meal to make at my home. I really suggest it especially if you are a vegetarian or just like good food. (Angie I think you should try this, if you haven’t already, you cooking fool). But you take oh let’s say 3 cups of chopped greens (spinach, swiss chard, cabbage, winter greens, any combo), one egg,, one clove of garlic minced, one quarter onion finely chopped, and around ½-1 cup of flour. The seasonings I use are salt, pepper, Cheyenne pepper, and a little garlic powder, all to taste, but you could honestly put whatever you want in. Mix it all together and group it into 2 patties, then fry until golden brown on each side. The patties won’t seem cohesive or like they will stick together, but as you are cooking them they congeal together and stay solid. So you might just have to spoon it in to the pan. This is pretty healthy too. I then eat it open sandwich like with toasted bread, mustard, tomato and a slice of cheese. (Mom, print this off to give to grandma I think she will like it). This is what I’m having tonight and I’m pretty excited about it. And yes this is what my life has come to in Africa, excitement over “spinach cutlets.” But hey I would have been excited about this back in the states, I just don’t think would have written about it for a solid paragraph and then posted it for the world to see. Well with that I’m going to leave you all. Have a wonderful week and if you get a minute, shoot me a line, I’m wayyyyyy out of the loop!!! Adios!
p.s. i've posted more pictures on my web albums, yet couldn't quite allow myself to post the one of me in cornrows, it is just that awful and proof to the reason why white people just should not fool around with things like cornrows...
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