After a day at Kibera and visiting the program there and some of the people helped by Lea Toto, Sr. Little and I rode to the shamba (or farm) located in Karen, about 5 or 6 miles from the Children's Home. There we met a couple of guys working this 5 acre piece of land. The land was given to Nyumbani as 10 acres but there remains a discrepancy. Sr. and I walked through the plantings and she showed me around the property. Banana trees, corn, peppers and so much more. She then showed me the tumeric plants she has carried from India and planted. We spent some time digging up and re-rooting the plants. We gathered about 5 kilos on this spice/root. She will boil the root, dry it and grind it into a fine spice for use at the Children's home and the convent. I met a young man working on the shamba whom sister would like to send to the Don Bosco trade school in January but she hasn't the money yet. "How much?" I asked. About $350 American for the year! I can handle that. We worked in the dirt for a while, waited out the rain and began a long walk home to the orphanage.Along the way we came to a nicely landscaped home with a wall surrounding the house and property. Planted along the walls were plants that reminded me of cannas. There were seed pods remaining where flowers had been. Sister suggested we take some of the pods to plant back at the orphanage. She insisted we gather each and every one and when I would drop one, she would quickly gather it up and place it in her bag. Eventually she confessed. "Ed, I lied. We are not going to plant them when we get home." Then she reached for her rosary and showed it to me. The women in Kibera make rosaries from the seeds of these plants. Our bag will make many rosaries!
We continued a long walk home, talking about our lives - hers in India, mine in the US. I told her that my story back home will read that we walked ten miles and carried twenty pounds of tumeric and seeds! Almost arriving home from our walk, a Nyumbani car stopped to pick us up. Good timing. Sr. was probably tired!
