Moringa and More

cooking with meat from the market

Moringa

0ne of the rips in our tent

Wind Before the Rain

Before in rains in Mundri, the winds sometimes pick up and blow rather violently. Twice since I have been living in the tent, the winds have picked up in the middle of the night enough to wake me up. This is the cue to get up and shut the large window in the tent which has to be shut from the outside, if not you risk having to close it once it is pouring rain. The winds against the tent make quite a lot of noise and can be pretty creepy, especially the night that I was alone in the tent since Larissa was in Lui for the week. The last heavy rain in Mundri didn't have much wind before the storm, but it made up for it with wind during the storm. Our tent did not fair so well during this last storm. The tent is still standing, and our beds and clothes are still dry, but there are two large rips in the walls of our tent.

What is the What

Recently I finished reading What is the What, a fictional retelling of the story of one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Everyone on the team has read the book. It was a heartbreaking story that was told honestly. Despite the horrors that are shared in the book, it message is hopeful. I HIGHLY
recommend that you read this book.

Shepherd's Pie

For my cooking night last week I decided to make a modified version of shepherd's pie. It started out by heading to the market to buy meat from a cow that had been slaughtered earlier that morning. I brought the meat back to the house and cut it up into large chunks. Then I pulled out the meat grinder and made it into ground beef. It was my first local meat experience, and all in all it went pretty well. I am learning to cook in a whole new way. Yesterday I went with Kyle to the market to buy maize and have it ground at the mill into corn meal. We are all learning to make substitutions for what is available and make things from scratch.

Moringa: A Very Useful Tree

We are lucky enough to have a moringa tree in our yard. I had learned about the uses of Moringa for water purification in college, and Kyle and I got to try it out this week. We have also been using the leaves and flowers for cooking. It is remarkably nutritious and tastes great. One afternoon I was sitting on the porch with the mortar and pestle we bought grinding the seeds to make a water purification powder, while Larissa and Kim were picking the leaves and flowers off the stems for dinner that night. Larissa made delicious Moringa crepes that she learned how to make from the Charlans, missionaries in Lui.

Email Working

Just another quick note: My email is now working properly albeit slowly. I was having some technical difficulties since I arrived in Mundri, and I am so thankful that the problems have been resolved so that I can stay connected with friends and family.