ERICAH'S HOME

December 19, 2012

Sister Ericah had invited us to come to her home

and she also wanted President Okila to come so

we took President and Sister Okila to visit Ericah.

We met President and Sister Okila at the petrol

station in Majengo and headed to Ericah's.

President knew a short cut so off we went.

He had us stop for directions two or three times

but we made it ok. Sister Ericah met us out

on the road by her home and showed us in.

 She lives about 43 km from the church but it takes her

about 4 hours to come. We drove there in one and a half hours.

Out in the front yard is the toilet and bath house.

Baths are on the left and the toilet is on the right.

I faces away from the house.

 The fence separates her homestead (compound from the 

neighbors and it makes a great clothes line for laundry!

 Sister Ericah has been very innovative. Here is her

power source for bio fuel or methane fuel with which to cook.

The tank on the left has a trough running into it from the 

cow shed. The cow dung is washed down the trough with 

water. The pit is very deep and there when mixed water

produces gas that is tapped and piped to the kitchen where

it is used to power a two burner hot plate for cooking. There is enough 

gas produced to supply several homes in her compound.

With two cows!!

The pit on the right is for the waste after the gas is gone.

This is then taken by bucket to the grass and other plants for fertilizer.

Here are the cows doing their thing in their shed.

The window on the left is to the original kitchen where the

cooking is done over an open wood fire. 

 

The pipe carrying the gas goes into this kitchen which

is part of Ericah's house.

Her helper is cooking "crepes" that Ericah learned to make

when she spent a year in America with her son and his family.

 She is using the gas operated hot plates.

 Her living area is two buildings side by side and then the 

third building in the rear of the other two with a covered walkway

between them. This water tank is between the two main buildings.

Near the top right f the picture is a rain gutter that directs the

rain into the water holding tank.

She has a deep well under the square wood under the edge of the

table but she wants a pump to make the water more accessible.

.

This is the outer kitchen and probably the original

kitchen because most cooking is done in a

different building than is lived in or in the outdoors.

This woman is cooking the main part of the meal over a

wood fire.

Note the window in the center. That is the window leading into 

the cow rooms (and there us no glass pane in it!)

The pile of hay there is for the cows.

 This is the fire cooking the food. President was amazed

that she could use two pans to cook over one fire 

because of the way it was organized. 

A third pan could also set there to keep its

contents warm.

 This is the covered walkway between the front 

building and the back building.
The cows are in the first part on the right
and the cooking kitchen is the next room on the
right where Elder Moon is standing.
Between President Okila and Sister Ericah 
is a small "coop" for baby chicks that will grow to
chickens to eat. The door by Elder Moon goes into
Ericah's house with the kitchen with gas.
You casn see the pipe taking thegas to the kitchen
near the bottom of the wall on the right.
The pipe comes out of the wall then down, under the
floor and into the kitchen.

These buildings make up her home. The doorway leads

into the hall between the front and back buildings where the

chicken coop is.

In an adjoining yard are calves staked out.

Well behind Ericah's home is her sister-in-law's home and

also her mother-in-law's home. 

This is their toilet and bath house.

Sister Ericah was anxious to show up her grounds and 

plants. She has a very large amount with

of land most of it under cultivation.

Sister Okila, Elder Moon, President Okila and Sister Ericah.

This is a pretty area.

Tea fields. They pick all the leaves by hand.

They are bagged and taken to the nearby

tea plant where they are made into tea to be sold in stores.

Below is a closer look at the tea plants.

After harvest the plants are cut back and ready

to grow again and produce more tea.

This trimming and the digging are done by men.

Sweet potato plants. They are planted by taking a

leaf stalk from one plant and sticking it in the ground.

A mud house in the compound.

Below these children were off to get water from the river

that is nearby---- sort of.

Out standing in the fields.

The sister-in-law's home. She was a delightful woman.

Not yet a member of the church but listening more and more,

After walking over her huge shamba, visiting with family neighbors

we returned to her home where lunch was ready.

The front item is ugali 

(a little different in appearance to what I made but it tastes the same)

Below we have mangoes, ugali, stew, potatoes in stew,

a plate covering the crepes, rice, chicken and something?

It was all delicious!!

She has a large sitting room that is 

the entire width of the front of the house.

This is one end of the room.

On the other end is where we sat to visit and to eat.

The food was served on the coffee table.

Sister Ericah, an orphan age 28 who works for her, 

and her sister-in-law who was anxious to teach us 

some kiswahili.

Ericah, her son and the orphan that works for her.

Some of her grandies and neighbors were playing soccer so

Elder Moon had to get in on the action.