Advertising Nairobi Style

I thought it might be interesting to do a variety of blogs based on a particular photographic subject matter.  Today's blog is on ad campaigns in and around the Nairobi area.  Most of the photos are taken with a camera phone as I'm riding around town in matatus and buses; (1) in an effort to appear more subtle with the picture taking and (2) so my camera won't get jacked.   So please excuse of the the quality of the photos and the watermarked windows.

So starting off there is the banner style of advertising:

Banners are strung across the road on somewhat shaky poles (note the left side).

These are small banners on the guard railing (just in case you missed one, there's at least 5 more to catch your eye).

Then we come to the billboard style, which used for products, specific campaigns, and supermarket hours :

Nakumatt on Ngong Road (pronounce "gong") aka Nakumatt Prestige, letting folks know they are open late.

Honestly, who is looking at the cell phone advertisement at the busy roundabout, anyway!

Deodorant products

Dettol, the body soap, the laundry disinfectant, the floor cleaner. 

They've come up with a slogan for women and children too; yoghurt for all.

Health campaign

Here we have the hand painted, wherever there is available space type of advertising:

On a wall

On a "strip mall" style row of shop.

On the odd shipping container turned phone service provider shop.

On a hotel building in town.

On a slum bar.

Lastly, there is the "lets stick an advertisement wherever people congregate" category:

Bus shelter.

Park bench.

Hopefully I've helped to expand your marketing skills.  Stay tuned for matatu (the Nissan mini buses) decorations and church names.

Fall Fun

Kenya is a beautiful country with many natural wonders and wildlife. The only downside to God's creation in Kenya is not having an autumn season. Fall is my favorite season. Leaves are changing from green to brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. A favorite family fall (how's that for alliteration!) activity is apple picking; so on my last Saturday in the US we trekked out to an apple farm to pick our own apples.  (Caption Contest on final photo.)

Fall Foliage

To save fuel, we all shoved into one car!  

At this apple farm there was a lot of stuff to choose from:

Pumpkins 

Indian Corn and Decorative Gourds

Apple Cider

We got two baskets and headed up to the orchard to pick our own apples.  My favorite type is Winesap, but that was not ready yet, so we went for Cortland Apples.  Before we started out, we took note of this sign:

I like to consider this a guideline, not a hard and fast rule.  As you will later observe!

As we entered the apple orchards, there was row upon row of juicy apples.

Some of the varieties included Rome, Cortland, Jonagold, and Red Delicious.

We all jumped in with full force to get the best apples in the orchard.  We chose Cortland's because they tasted really good!

Dad tasted more than he picked for the buckets, I think!

Here Glory is pointing out the features of the apple she just selected.

Mom and Annette work as a team.

As you can see, the best apples were at the tops of the trees, completely out of reach.  

Red, crisp, and just waiting to be picked.

What to do?  We came up with several of solutions:

Mike shows off his husbandly skills.

Annette and Glory demonstrate the Shabouk Girls tenacity.

What is this person doing CLIMBING THE TREE??

At the end of it all, we had a fun time together.

Thanks Dad & Mom.

CONTEST - CAPTION THIS PHOTO:

?

In the comments below, please caption this photo.  I just don't know what to say!

Learning Chicken

Despite the fact that I descend from poultry farmers; I do not now, or ever have, or ever wish to become a poultry farmer.  In fact, I never really knew much about live chickens until arriving in Kenya.  Live chickens are given as a sign of respect to a person.  Chickens are eaten when important people come to dinner.  Chickens are REALLY dirty and stinky.  Chickens will run fast when you are trying to catch them, because somehow they know they are ending up in the pot (unless they are tied up, then they are easy to catch.)  Chicken happens to be the favorite food of the Luhya tribe of Western Kenya (my tribe by adoption).  Luckily, it happens to be one of my favorite foods too (no wonder they adopted me.) My prior experience with chicken basically looks like this: pull frozen meat from freezer, defrost, season, grill or fry or bake, and eat.  I now have a whole new level of appreciation for my ancestors of the poultry farmer persuasion.  Follow the story of chicken preparation (or how to become a vegetarian in 20 photos or less.)

The designated chicken was tied up, pecking away at bugs and stuff all day long.  Sadly, I do not have any photos of this part of the story.  The chicken was reeled in by the rope attached to its leg and handed over to .... ME.  So I got the bird into position on the banana leaf (so its easy to clean up later.)

Correct position is standing on the feet (so it can't run) and on its wings (so it can't flap around). 

I'm sure, based on the other components in the photo, you can tell what is about to happen (note the knife that is being handed to me).

FYI: Correct blade position is the neck portion by the jugular and aortic vessels.

If you don't like blood, skip the next few photos.

The deed is done, the chicken is no more.

The experts make sure I've done things correctly; didn't I mention the blood of poultry farmers runs in my veins?

A bit more hacking, a bit more blood.

The chicken is hung upside down to ensure as much blood as possible comes out.

At this point, the chicken is put into a pot of boiling water, again I sadly do not have any photos of this part of the process.  This is done to soften the place where the feathers are in the skin and it makes the feathers easier to pull out (as demonstrated in the next few photos.)

This takes less than two minutes.

Note how its all done on the banana leaves for easy clean up.

All clean.

Into the kitchen with the plucked bird.  Have you ever eaten a piece of chicken and seen a little piece of the quill still in the skin?  Well this next step takes care of that problem.

Over the stove (yes that is the stove) the skin is singed so that those quilly things are burnt away.

Now, to remove the innards.  The biologist in me cheers.

Not the usual dissecting knife.

If you ever wanted to know, this is what it looks like inside a chicken.

It's all coming out!

There it all is.

After the innards are removed, the chicken is cut up into pieces, rubbed with salt and left for about ten minutes.  The salt cleans the insides of the chicken.

Rubbing salt in.  Don't worry, it gets washed off.

The chicken is seasoned nicely and cooked.  If I recall correctly, stewed chicken.  No photos of the eating part, but it was yummy.


PS.  The mess was pretty .... well, messy.  Good thing we had those banana leaves, we just rolled them up and; all clean.

Center: Large Intestine, Left: Liver and Heart.  FYI.

Special thanks to PQB, photographer.

Edwin

Edwin Mutiri, 16th June 2011

This is Edwin's story:  Edwin was a 13 year old boy, he was an orphan due to HIV/AIDS and himself was HIV positive.  We met Edwin for the first time after developing Hepatitis and was in the hospital due to retention of liquid in his abdomen.

Pastor John encourages Edwin to eat some boiled maize

Edwin's abdomen was as swollen as a 9 month pregnant woman's would be.  However after about two weeks of slowly draining the liquid, he was released from the hospital and even returned to school.  We were excited that Edwin was getting better.  The Headmistress at his school even had a special foods and fruits for him.  This year was an important year for Edwin, in November he was to take the KCPE; the exam that would take him to secondary school.  He was worried about missing so much school and having to catch up, but we assured him that he would be able to do it.

After a couple weeks, we heard that Edwin was at home because he was a bit weak and decided to visit.  That is where we took his photo with one of the ministry team (above).  He was looking good and improving every day.  We encouraged him, and when we left he walked us to the gate and we told him we loved him.  

We were shocked to learn on Saturday that Edwin had passed away that Friday in the hospital.  From Thursday evening after we left he had begun to vomit blood.  Apparently the medications he had been taking were so strong that they caused ulcers in his stomach and they ruptured and bled out.  

Edwin is with the Lord, whom he loved.  We are thankful he is resting and no longer in pain or having to take medication or having to be poked and prodded by doctors.  We are thankful that Edwin knew that he was loved, even up to the last day of his life.  Edwin's sweet smile will be missed.

Yummy Ugali!!!

If there was a Kenyan national dish, it would be ugali (oo-ga-lee).  Generally, it is made with maize flour and water; creating a flavorless white sticky dish of carbs that is eaten with hands and used to scoop up stew or vegetables.  I have modified the recipe for my taste buds; as follows:

Start with a thick, medium-size sauce pan (sufuria) and a flat wooden spoon (mwiko).

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.

Add 3/4 cup of margarine or shortening, 2 tsps of salt and 1 tsp of pepper.

Add three cups of maize flour.

Begin stirring the flour so it mixed completely in the water, getting out all the lumps.

After all the lumps are out, keep stirring the dough-like mass as it cooks over a medium-high heat.

After about 7 - 10 minutes the ugali can be pushed into a smooth lump as follows.

Once the ugali stuck to the bottom of the pot gets golden brown, the ugali is finished.

Turn the pot upside-down on a plate and serve.

...And voila; you have yummy, soft ugali!