I Don’t Even Know What Hard Work Is

View from my room

I fall asleep each night to the sound of pots clanging and the voices of five amazing women.  I wake up each morning to the sound of pots clanging and the voices of five amazing women.  When I go downstairs each morning on the way to work, I see them working.  When I come home each evening, I see them working.  Even on weekends, coming from and going to church, I see them working.

These women are the cooks for the school, and they prepare lunch and snacks for about 500 students each day, as well as breakfast and supper for the 80 or so boarders.  That means that they’re working at 4 each morning and don’t stop until about 11 each night.  They don’t have days off…and they work through storms, power outages, etc.  What’s even

You can see the screened in "kitchen" in the back left.
Straight back, I believe, is the spigot where they get water.
But I'm not too sure because I've seen them have to carry
buckets all the way around the compound to get water.

 more, they don’t have a cafeteria-quality kitchen, let alone a standard household kitchen.  Most of their workspace is outside, without tables or a sink or most of the other gadgets that you think of as necessary in a kitchen.  There’s a screened-in area with a stove inside, and I’m not sure what else.  They don’t use any pre-packaged or partially prepared foods; it’s all made from scratch.  I don’t know how they do it!

Aunty Belinda was showing me the kenke (sp?) she was making the other day, and she just pulled the ball of dough out of the pot of boiling water with her hands and held it in her palm!  The steam coming off of that thing was major, and I was like, “Isn’t that hot?!”  And she said, “Yes, it’s very hot, it’s very hot!” as she continued to hold it and explain how they make it!  It’s like banku (the food I didn’t like), but Mandy said it’s even more sour because banku is the fermented ground corn and kasava, but kenke is just the fermented ground corn.  Interestingly, it’s cooked in leaves (I think banana leaves), so it’s got similarities to tamales.  I’ve actually noticed a lot of similarities between things they cook and use as ingredients, and things we cook and use for ingredients in Polynesian cooking (even though tamales aren’t Polynesian, so not sure why I mentioned that here, but anyways = )  

This is Dodoa - they have to sift through every
dried bean to get out the rocks and such

These ladies are so sweet and so cute!  I was taking pics of the kids one afternoon, and one of the women, Dodoa, said, “Picture me!  Picture me!” = )  She and one of the other women also told me that they want me to take them back to London with me.  When I told them I’m not from London, but from America, they said that’s fine…they’d like to go there, too = )  They also said they want to marry my brother…but when I told them he’s fifteen, they looked really disappointed, until they asked, “What about a cousin?”…haha = )  I know they were partially joking, especially since they’re married, but it kinda broke my heart at the same time because they said they just want to see and experience something different than the everyday humdrum of their lives.

Anyways…I’m amazed by these women…and needed to pay tribute to them (as well as the delicious food they make! = )

Here's a picture of Princess = )

This is Julius - the kids are just as amazing!
This is their playground, where they do their
homework, where they eat meals...

That's Grace and Natalie - caught her with her eyes closed = )

Princess again - it was so hard to get a clear
one of her because that girl does not stop
moving...haha = )