Good old 'House Raising"

 

Five months ago we prepared a foundation, ordered wood, and lined up builders.  In partnership with the foundation John works for, we plan to open a branch of the foundation and build a house in an under-educated area of town.  Our plan also includes moving to the location to better enable our investment in the area for our long term goals.  Unfortunately, this process has taken longer than expected as this is not a time oriented culture as we are use to.  Expectations aside, we are so thankful to be able to announce the house frame is complete (as of Thursday, October 19th) !

It is a significant event in the Barat culture to, literally translated, stand up a house.  I imagine it is similar to a historic “Barn Raising” in the States.  At the beginning of the week we were told the frame would be ready to raise on Wednesday.  Right away we went shopping for the necessary ingredients to serve the traditional mung bean pudding and a meal.  Tuesday the frame raising was postponed until Thursday due to additional prep work that needed to be finished.  By Thursday morning everything was ready to move forward.  

Meal Preparation

white sugar being added to the Mung Bean Pudding

pressing coconut milk for the pudding

I arrived at a future neighbor's house at 6:30 Thursday morning.  Most of her family was still asleep, yet she had already chopped all the vegetables.  Along with one other neighbor, the three of us began preparing food and finishing the mung bean pudding.  Throughout the morning other women came to help wash dishes, cook, and serve.  

Cooking Rice

The frame pieces were all arranged and stacked to be 'raised' in the appropriate order.

men arriving to help

After taking the boys to school, John and Evangeline arrived at about 7:30.  Men from the community slowly began showing up as well.  Shortly after eight o'clock, the loud speaker at the local religious gathering place announced the 'house raising,' encouraging others to come and help.    

the first section goes up

temporary bracing of each section

Mung Bean Pudding and neighborhood ladies

After the frame was up, all of those that came to help were served mung bean pudding.  The pudding was made with mung beans, palm sugar, coconut milk, and white sugar.  A small amount of men remained after the initial frame sections were up to help with some additional work.  I helped the women to finish cooking lunch for the builders and these additional helpers.  

It was an amazing time to see so many people come together to help us with our house.  In return they received pudding!  It was a humbling experience and one that demonstrated how deep the value of community is in this culture.  I could not have done any of the food preparation or serving had it not been for our neighbors.  It was such a wonderful experience, one in which we felt very welcomed into the area.  

After school the boys came to see the progress and better picture what the house will be like!

My Mornings This Week

This morning cream of rice cereal sounded good.  Barat has a rice porridge that is often eaten for breakfast.  Though we all enjoy it, the porridge is savory, eaten with chicken, green onions, and shallots.  I was craving something smoother, eaten with butter and maple syrup.  Unfortunately cream of rice cereal is not sold boxed on the shelf here.  No problem because rice is in abundance.  So, I ground a couple cups of rice in a little food mill blender attachment.  Then I cooked some cream of rice for Evangeline and I.  Oh, we did enjoy it!  Complete with the butter we buy in the big city, 6 hours away, and the maple syrup I make with Mapleine, sent to us by grandparents.  Some days all this extra work for something familiar gets me down, this morning was not one of those day.  I must have been supplied with a little extra “something” from the Spirit, thank you to those of you lifting up!

Evangeline eating rice cereal.

She usually allows me to feed her her breakfast though she is much happier feeding herself.  

Most mornings do not have this calm or slow of a start to allow cream of rice from scratch.  We are usually rushing to get snacks packed, breakfast eaten, and the boys ready for a 7am departure.  Tuesday and Thursday I too haveto be ready to take the boys to school.  My mornings this week were spent in our future neighborhood experiencing some very cultural events.  Monday morning, I also got ready rather quickly so Evangeline and I could attend a friend’s baby event, like a dedication of sorts. 

Walking to our friend's baby dedication, about a 15 minute walk.

The area we walked through, where bricks are made - by hand.

The new baby's grandmother makes bricks for her living and lives in the same area.

The landscape is ever changings as bushes grow quickly and land is dug up to make mud for shaping into bricks.  Multiple times I doubted the direction I was going, but thankfully I made it without any wrong turns!

All the roofed structures are used for baking the bricks. 

Piles of wood, as seen above, are used for the fuel for the fire.  

The inside of the grandma's house.

It is a stilted house with bamboo and tin walls.

Evangeline got tired and impatient before the event really got going, so they graciously fed us with a big tray of 'buffet style' food.  There was fish, fish cakes, goat (one was killed in honor of the baby girl, two if it's a boy), sweetened fried cassava, hard boiled eggs, and rice.  

    Tuesday morning I spent with a future neighbor at her mother-in-law's house.  A brother-in-law is getting married this November.  In preparation they had a work party.  Male friends or family members gathered and chopped wood.  This was to be the fuel for the cooking fires, later in November.  

The women spent the time cooking lunch for the 'workers.'

Above, clockwise from the top, there is greens in a broth, squid with spices, and fish with a spicy salsa. 

The eating area.

Plates of rice, hand washing bowls, and trays of food all laid out.

Though there were enough chairs to the left, in the living room area, everyone ate on the floor.

Men chopping wood

The wood was to then be laid out to dry.

My friend asked me, as we sat watching on the porch, if people did this in America.  I quickly replied no, we use gas or electric stoves for all our cooking.  Then it occurred to me that the biggest difference was that nobody cooks for their own child's wedding.  So, I clarified most people opt for catering.  

    Thursday morning I spent with another neighbor to be, also at her mother-in-law's house cooking.  The women were cooking for a group of men helping to build a family member's house.  Prior to helping with the cooking, my friend and I went to a local "mobile-clinic" to have her two boys weighed.  This is the same type of setting I take Evangeline to to be weighed and immunized.  This day they were giving all the children worm medicine, which must be a big enough issue facing this community it is placed right up there with immunizations.

Women waiting for their children to be weighed in the white hammock like scale in the distance.

Weights and other notes, like immunizations, are noted in books the 'health department' and the parents bring.

Giving children worm medicine. 

The two women are a couple of the healthcare workers.  The pills had previously been ground up and placed in small paper envelopes, which is being unfold by the woman on the right.  

It is always quite interesting to experience new cultural event, but there are times I do not know how to respond, or if I should.  Thursday morning was one of those times.  I thought I knew what to expect having taken Evangeline to a similar little clinic many times.  I was wrong.  Though the weighing and note taking proceeded as expected, the worm medicine administration was jaw dropping.  The woman, in the above picture, placed the powdered pill into a spoon, added some water, which I think had sugar mixed into it, and mixed it up. As the mother held the child in a reclined position, and occasionally held the mouth open, the healthcare worker would quickly feed the spoonful of liquid to the child, often plugging their nose.  Aside from plugging their nose and force feeding the child, I was taken aback by what happened next.  The child was then offered a glass of water to drink.  The spoon was rinsed off in a bowl of water on the table.  Then the next child and mother sat down for the same procedure.  The same spoon and glass of water was used, without anything more than a swishing of the spoon in the bowl of water, which eventually began to turn yellow from the pill residue from the spoon.  And people wonder why their children are so often sick.
    The most frustrating part of this to me was there were present healthcare workers who are respected enough by the community members to be listened to regarding health issues, along with mothers who need a great deal of educating regarding simple sanitation and illness prevention methods.  Yet, not only was there a lack of educating, but a clear example being set of what not to do.  Because health and medicine are an area I really enjoy and am passionate about, it really saddens me to see situations like this.  What role I may or possibly could have in this area in our future neighborhood is yet to be seen.  I would enjoy taking a part in the healthcare of that community, but there are cultural issues, I'm a foreigner, and language and culture learning have to be a priority.  So, we will see.