Pig, pigs

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Pig, pigs

***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Animal

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Explanation

Regarding the pig as a kigo, we cannot say for sure that it can be a kigo in Nairobi, since pigs roam freely on the streets and in the village of Soweto.
However, during the rain season, they are out there in plenty since there is plenty of stagnant water and mud for them to allow in.
In the dry season, pigs wallow in the open sewerage rivulets that flow freely from the pit latrines in the Soweto village.

Pigs are also present at the dump sites furrowing for food left-overs and worms.

My most horrifying experience with pigs in Soweto was last year 2009 one February morning when I came across a group of dumbfounded women looking wordlessly at a pig devouring a dead baby, which it had picked from a nearby dump site.

I am not going to eat pork in a long while!


More about the pigs in Soweto/Kayole Villages.

The roaming pigs are owned by some residents, and given that rearing them is an expensive affair, the pig farmers opt for the easier option: allowing the animals freedom to scavenger for food around the village. The pig food is plenty and freely available. At market stalls, vegetable remains and fruit peelings are readily available; in the leaking pit latrine trenches, maggots and earthworms are freely available.

Pigs are a lucrative business. One adult pig costs between 16,000/- to 20,000/- Kshs. almost the same price as a fully grown cow. Now the many pork kiosks in Kayole/Soweto get their pork supplies from these roaming pigs.

A word of caution to the fans of pork, though: roaming pigs act as pathogens to certain worms and we should ensure the meet is thoroughly boiled or fried. The best pork is one from confined pigs which are fed and cared for by a farmer himself.

And have you ever come across roaming goats that feed on mandazi?
It would be very interesting to pay a visit to our Soweto/Kayole Village. Our goats and pigs are so domesticated and pet that they feed not only on mandazi, but also cakes! That is not all: there are plenty of roaming dogs too who mingle freely with the above animals to form a very unique family. The only irony is that when pigs or goats are slaughtered, the dogs sit patiently outside the pork and bacon shops waiting for their share of their colleagues' left overs!

muddy road--
a black goat grabs mandazi
from a deserted stall

pork butchery--
a dog waits patiently
for the bones


Patrick Wafula
Kenya Saijiki Forum


mandazi
A traditional donut-like breakfast food also sold all over East Africa as a warm snack.


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Photo Isabelle Prondzynski


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a story from Malaba - Teso District, Kenya

James is thirty eight years old and is married to a business lady. Together they have three children: two are boys and one is a girl. The boys are big and in high school while the last born is in baby class. The wife’s business is a grocery with a specialty in selling ground nuts from Uganda.
James started his pig business three years ago . . .
Read the full story here:
source : www.kiva.org


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Worldwide use

Japan

. WASHOKU
Pig and Pork (buta, ton 豚　ぶた)


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU


children shout at a pig
creeping in stagnant muddy water-
sunny morning

yamame
Feb 2010


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hot afternoon --
a pig eating crunched biscuits
on the road

Antony Mwangi
March 2010


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hot afternoon--
lively piglets frisk in the
muddy water

Caleb Mutua
Kenya Saijiki Forum, Feb. 2009


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two pigs
lie in the mud . . .
become so dirty

Mourice Opondo
May 2007


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two piglets eat
sweet potato peelings --
grey morning

Patrick Wafula
September 2010


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a pig
running down the sewage --
Kibera

Margreta Nzilili
Kenya Saijiki Forum, Aug. 2007


Kibera is one of the most pronounced slums within Kenya.

Kibera, Kenya is the largest slum in Kenya and is home to an estimate 1.2 million people. It is an illegal settlement with no government services including electricity, water, sewage and garbage pickup. When it rains all the garbage, sewage and dirt wash down the hills into the trench.
source : www.adventures.org


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a piglet sheltering
under an old hand cart -
scorching sun

Andrew Otinga
January 2011


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snorting pig
busy searching and searching--
garbage heap

Abraham Muuo


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a pig's snout sinks
in a muddy dust bin--
evening snack

black mud
on a pig's snout--
stroll by the stream

Brian Etole


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Related words

***** Nairobi City


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Masinga dam

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Masinga Dam

***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation




It is a manmade lake.
It produces much of the hydroelectric power used in some parts of Kenya like Mombasa town.It is one the seven folks Tana river projects.It borders Yatta District and Mbeere District.It stretches to Thika on the west.
It holds marine life, fish, hippotamus and crocodiles.
Much of its fish is supplied to the towns of Thika, Embu, Nairobi, Matuu and Masinga.

Matuu is an upgrowing municipality located in eastern Kenya, Yatta constituency, Machakos district. It is mid-way between Nairobi/ Kitui en route to Garrisa.

©　More in the WIKIMAPIA !


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Worldwide use



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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

rolling turbines--
flooded Masinga
dam

Vivian Adhiambo

Kenya Saijiki Forum

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two grannies blabber
with sugarcane on their heads--
Matuu Town

- Caleb Mutua visiting Matuu, 2014


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Related words

***** Place Names of the World


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Grasses and Weeds

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Grasses

***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

Young grass that comes soon after the long rains, makes goats, cattle and sheep diarrhea because of its low roughage content. Weaver birds use fresh grass to build nests and certain birds only nest in grass such as papyrus, so they only come around when this grass has grown.

Patrick Wafula

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topic for haiku


Napier grass
Pennisetum purpureum (Napier Grass, Elephant Grass or Uganda Grass)
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !
nappier grass

Napier grass is abundant during the long rain season, but it is also available in small quantities, having been spared to cater for the scarcity of fodder during the dry season.

Napier grass has a seasonality: in rural areas, it is inter-cropped with subsistence crops, but it is mostly planted on terraces where it also helps curb soil erosion.

In the urban centres, the grass grows spontaneously along riverbanks or unfarmed fields. It is available in Nairobi along the Ngong River bank that passes just outside Bahati Community Centre Secondary School.

Patrick Wafula



monday evening--
a cow browsing on
dry Nappier grass

Violet Wangira



napier grass-
the eaten portion of
a leaf

Elijah Juma

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kigo for both rainy seasons

young grass
fresh grass
green grass


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kigo for hot and dry season


couch grass
Elytrigia repens (Couch Grass; syn. Triticum repens L., Agropyron repens (L.) P. Beauv., Elymus repens (L.) Digitaria scalarum
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



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papyrus
Cyperus papyrus (papyrus sedge or paper reed)
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

related kigo

Papyrus reeds being picked and used

I think that papyrus reeds are a perfect kigo for the rainy season. during this season the reeds flourish especially in stagnant pools and swampy zones.It is during this season that they emerge and when its hot they dry up to golden yellow colour and are plucked for different uses like basketry and making of chairs. Children also use them in their plays.
hussein haji


BUT

Papyrus reeds growing -- kigo for the rainy seasons



flowery papyrus grass —
the cracked soil of the burst
sewage path

January sun -
papyrus weed blooms
turning brown green

Patrick Wafula



shaking papyrus -
a little grebe dives
into the marsh

Andrew Otinga


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red oat grass or red grass
Themeda triandra
. . . More in the WIKIPEDIA !



star grass, African star grass
There are various kinds see
. . . More in the WIKIPEDIA !



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kigo for the dry seasons

weeds

I have also observed that weeds grow along with the crops, and therefore the start of the dry season is also a good time for weeds to grow in the shambas.
So, I think that the weeds are kigo and can be used for the beginning of the two dry seasons.


Bidens pilosa, Couch grass, Star grass and Napier grass
all these grasses are kigo for the middle of the rainy seasons into the start of the dry seasons; then they dry up (unless watered) and do not grow again until there has been a period of rainfall.

source : Isabelle Prondzynski



Here are some of the most common weeds for both the dry and wet season:
by Patrick Wafula

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black jack: bidens pilosa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidens_pilosa


Bidens pilosa is definitely a weed, and a very undesirable one. I believe it should be a kigo for the season when it produces its clingy seeds -- probably throughout the two dry seasons.
Isabelle Sensei


The common name for Biden's Pilosa is Black Jack.
I agree with Isabelle sensei about the undesirability of the weed and the season it is most rampant. It comes along with crops during both the short and long rain seasons and grows rapidly and in plenty such that if it is not weeded it chokes the crops such as maize, beans, potatoes, etc, of nutrients.

It is known as 'makowe' among the Luhya of western Kenya. When it is mature, its seeds have spikes that enable it to stick to clothes of anyone who comes in contact with them; this is the weed's natural way of spreading or dispersing its seeds!
Patrick Wafula


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couch grass
Couch grass is somewhere half-way between a weed and a useful plant.
Quecke in German



datura stramonium or chinese lantern

devil's horse whip
Achyranthes aspera


dayflower, weed of the rainy season
It is eaten as a vegetable in some parts of Kenya.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commelina




MacDonald's Eye Macdonald eye
gallant soldier
Gallinsoga parviflora



mexican marigold
It is locally known as 'begu rahisi' (Luhya) or 'maua madongo' (Luo). It has so many uses in the Kenyan community. One of its uses is the hedge; it is planted around gardens or shambas to enclose and mark bounderies. The other use is herbal; but it has one amazing using known to very few Africans: when mixed with sisal leaves juice and pepper and certain other locally known herbs, it is used to catch fish in shallow streams during the dry season. Boys in the rural do this by dipping large amounts of this concoction and squeezing its juice out upstream and then walking down stream for about 200 metres or so to catch very drunk, floating fish. But after about 2 hours, the fish becomes sober again and disappears under water! The most difficult fish to be 'drugged' is the eel. Even if it gets drugged, it remains very slippery and does not easily float downstream, but you can find it lying tipsily in mud close to the bank...
Read more here on the mexican marigold in the Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_marigold



nut grass
Cyperus rotundas


star grass
Star grass is also a useful plant, as it makes for good lawns and gardens in public parks.


wandering jew
Three species of the spiderwort
Commelina bengalensis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_Jew_(disambiguation)



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Worldwide use

Japan

summer grass

natsukusa ya tsuwamano-domo ga yume no ato

summer grass -
all that remains of
brave warriors' dreams
Tr. Gabi Greve

Matsuo Basho

Warrior (tsuwamono) and haiku



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. Lawn (shiba) 　


. Pampas grass (susuki, obana) 　
Miscanthus species, usually M. sinensis



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Things found on the way

Black nightshade - Solanum nigrum
Double thorn - Oxygonum sinuatum
Oxalis/sorrel
Sodom apple - Solanum Incanum
Sow thistle - Sonchus oleraceus



WEEDS TO BE STUDIED
with illustrations
source : www.elimu.ne


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HAIKU


children chasing
grasshoppers on tall grasses --
rising sun

yamame



young grass --
two butterflies glide from
goalpost to goalpost

Caleb Mutua

Kenya Saijiki Forum

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two barefooted ladies
pad on soft green grass --
cool highland breeze

Patrick Wafula

Rift Valley, Kenya


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napier grass dances
to the rhythm of the wind --
May rain

Jacinta Wanza

Long Rains Kukai 2009


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dust
on the grass --
sports day

Sebastian Kimey

Dust and Haiku


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going to the stream --
the dew on couch grasses
wets my feet

star grass----
my new white jumper
has stains!

Catherine Njeri


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July 2010

. MORE
haiku on grass


. MORE
haiku on grass from Khadijah



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Patrick Wafula writes in April, 2010:

I took a stroll around Kayole. Then I met a hawker peddling grass brooms! The brooms were made of tall grass still fresh and green but dry. I wish I could know the name of this particular grass, but I do know its appearance and characteristics.


shouting conductors--
a grass-broom hawker
adds to the din

It was red oat grass, as I found out later.





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jua kali artisan
harvesting papyrus--
bird song

Jua kali artisans use mature papyrus to make baskets and beautiful sofa set tapestry.

Patrick Wafula, May 2010




end of July --
Sudan Grass flowers
turning into seeds


an old woman
talks to her goat --
roadside grasses

Patrick Wafula


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Shiki Monthly Kukai
July 2010 Kukai / First Place — 18 Points

leaning papyrus --
the weight of a green
chameleon

~ Parkeenka Ntato

source : Shiki Monthly Kukai


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cold July --
a white golf ball rolls on
the turf grass

~ Duncan Omoto


. More Results of the Shiki July competition
-- GRASSES 　
by members of the Kenya Saijiki Forum


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cold breeze-
a papyrus waves its
green leaves

Mercy Nzoki


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sewer line--
I pluck macdonald's eye
for my rabbits

Douglas Nugi





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Related words

*****Bog grasses
Ireland

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Sufuria cooking pot

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Sufuria cooking pot

***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

A Sufuria (Swahili plural sufuria, English plural sufurias)
is a Swahili language word, adopted in East African English, for a flat based, deep sided, lipped and handleless cooking pot or container or saucepan, ubiquitous in Kenya, parts of Tanzania and surrounding nations.A replacement for more traditional crockery containers (ek fara), it used in most every Kenyan household for cooking, serving and storing food.
Most Sufuria are today aluminum, produced and purchased locally in the informal sector.
Sufuria were traditionally used to cook over open fire, charcoal brazier (a jiko), or coals, and are purchased in a variety of sizes, with and without lids.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !





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Worldwide use



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Things found on the way


Frying flying termintes
in a sufuria



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HAIKU

Kenya Saijiki Fourm


hot tea from sufuria
scalds my brother --
chilly morning

Anne Wairimu
April 2007


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lovely new morning -
frying pans and sufurias
this is Christmas day

Jacinta Minoo
January 2007

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warm steam from
the boiled maize sufuria--
evening showers

Hussein Haji

Maize Haiku


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Related words

***** -- Jiko (brazier)


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Termites flying

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Flying termites

***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: Long and short rains
***** Category: Animal

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Explanation

The flying termites usually come out during the rain seasons.

Termites here in Kenya are a delicacy
enjoyed by some Kenyan tribes particularly the Luhya of Western Kenya!

The termites are cooked, fried or eaten raw. Just a pinch of salt is salt is sprinkled on the live, raw termites and there you go... when being cooked, they are put onto a huge sufuria and a little water and salt sprinkled over them, then allowed to boil. When being fried, just a frying pan or sufuria is first put on the fire and allowed to be hot and then the termites are put on it and turned over and over until they are fried.

Sometimes, the termites are dried and preserved. This is done by first boiling them as stated above and then spreading them out on the sun to dry for several days. They are then rubbed slightly and winnowed in the wind to remove the wings. This leaves only the dried termites for storage for future consumption.

However, remember, there is a slight difference in the names we give to the termites here with those given in other countries:

We have the Swahili names:


mchwa: the ants

and


kumbi kumbi: flying termites


Mchwa eats up wood; but in other countries, termites refer to mchwa.
Kumbi kumbi does not eat up wood; they fly around and are eaten by almost all birds and human beings.

. . .

I would like to share more details about my termite experience from Western Kenya when I was young. There, we used to go hunting and harvesting the termites. We did not just wait for the long and short rains to bring them to the surface. This is how we used to do it. One had to locate the termite nest first, then use a hoe to scratch for the openings, which indicated the termites had grown wings.

If the nest did not have small holes, we said the termites underground were still 'young'. Once the openings were located-- there could be as many as fifty one one nest-- we could use mud to build a very peculiar structure which I am unable to describe here. It looked very much like an inverted kettle, such that the spout connected to the opening where the termites were expected to come from and the tank was where the termites would land and wait to be harvested. Then what followed was a unique way of luring the termites to the surface.

We know about a certain bird that drums on the soil to lure the termites out. When the termites hear the drumming, they usually think it is the heavy rain so they come out, only to be preyed upon! We used to use one long stick put on the nest and each person used two smaller sticks just like those used to play xylophones, to drum on the longer pole firmly embedded into the ground on the nest. We drummed the whole evening and the termites would start coming out at twilight to land in the artificial nests made of mud. We would then harvest them soon after sunset.

Termites are rich in protein. In Western Kenya, they have become an income a commercial venture and are now being exported all the way to Nairobi in their various forms. At Gikomba, in Nairobi, you can now find even the live ones on sale!

Patrick Wafula


Sufuria .. cooking pot or fryingpan ... and haiku


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Flying termites remind me of my childhood days. When I was in primary school, our house was lit by a kerosene lamp that consists of a tin tank, a wick and a glass chimney.

Since we got home from school early, we would go to play in the fields and during rainy seasons, there were a lot of termites. My elder brother would send me to fetch a basin which we used to dive on the termites, trapping a good number of them. Then we would go home and while mom was preparing supper, we would wait when the glass chimney of the kerosene lamp was hot. We then shared the termites and I would hold one termite by the wing and move it just above the glass chimney where it was very hot for a few seconds and have my bite, minus the wings of course!
It had a sugary taste and a salty taste in the head region. All this was happening behind mom's back and I must add that termites are yummy!

Caleb Mutua


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quote
The first heavy rain usually brings out the large termites, which fly into the dusk and up to any electric light, and which get devoured by frogs, gekkos and other waiting animals. There are some people, particularly in Uganda, who value the flying termites as a source of protein, catch them and have a feast.

First Rainfall : Kigo


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During most of the year, termites live in the ground and are thus a

TOPIC for haiku.


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Worldwide use

Ghana

termites (winged types)

GHANA SAIJIKI



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Japan

Ants were eaten in the Edo period, simmered in sweetened soy sauce. Other insects are also eaten in Japan.

. WASHOKU
Insects as food (konchuu ryoori) 　

flying ants 羽アリ (ha ari)



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Things found on the way



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HAIKU

I walked to the huge trunk and found that termites were busy eating up its roots and building their nest at the base :

termites
eating into its roots --
the dead bunchananii

Patrick Wafula

Arboretum Kukai, 29 March 2008


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morning rain--
three hens chasing
after one termite

the eagle
diving again and again--
flying termites

flying termites--
the kite and the eagle rival
for air space

dripping children
chasing after termites--
morning rain


Patrick Wafula
Kenya Saijiki Forum March 2010


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frogs emerge
termites flying in the drizzle
plenty of protein

Patrick Wafula

THE SPIDERS HAIKU COLLECTION 2006


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the birds in the air
wait from above --
flying termites


a dragonfly
rotates in the air --
catching termites

BARRACK MASTER ELUNGATA
Kenya Saijiki Fourm, April 2010



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Related words

***** Ant, ants (ari)Japan
kigo for summer


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Gumboots

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Gumboots

***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: long rains /short rains
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

We would not often call them "rubber boots" in Kenya, as we use the word "rubbers" for an entirely different type of shoe! But perhaps, if we follow the British terminology, we might call them "wellington boots" or even "wellies" -- but gumboots is by far the more common name.

Isabelle Prondzynski




not spelled : gum boots


. . . CLICK here for Photos of "Wellington Boots" !

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The gumboot dance is an African dance that is performed by dancers wearing Wellington boots.

In South Africa, these are more commonly called gumboots.
The boots may be embellished with bells, so that they ring as the dancers stamp on the ground.
Reference


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quote
The Wellington boot, also known as rubber-boots, wellies, topboots, gumboots, barnboots, muckboots or rainboots are a type of boot based upon leather Hessian boots.
It was worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. This novel "Wellington" boot then became a fashionable style emulated by the British aristocracy in the early 19th century.

The first Duke of Wellington instructed his shoemaker, Hoby of St. James's Street, London, to modify the 18th-century Hessian boot. The resulting new boot was fabricated in soft calfskin leather, had the trim removed and was cut to fit more closely around the leg. The heels were low cut, stacked around an inch (2.5 centimetres), and the boot stopped at mid-calf. It was suitably hard-wearing for battle, yet comfortable for the evening. The boot was dubbed the Wellington and the name has stuck in British English ever since. The Duke can be seen wearing his namesake boots, which are tasseled, in an 1815 portrait by James Lonsdale.

By the end of the war in 1945, the Wellington had become popular among men, women and children for wet weather wear. The boot had developed to become far roomier with a thick sole and rounded toe. Also, with the rationing of that time, labourers began to use them for daily work.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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Worldwide use



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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

from the Kenya Saijiki Forum


children in gumboots
jumping in the mud
ouch! the legs stuck

~ Keago (Falcon)



unfurled umbrellas --
heavy raindrops
fall on muddy gumboots

~ Cyprian Awino



gumboots sold
at a very high price --
mud everywhere

~ Brian Mwangi



my sister is back
with muddy shoes and socks --
my gumboots

~ Agnes Adhiambo



muddy gumboots,
umbrellas up the sky --
full tanks

~ Debborah Mocheche



with hoes and spades,
men in gumboots dig the grave --
wet muddy earth

~ Patrick Wafula


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kids in red
run and play around --
muddy gumboots

teresia njeri


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long rains --
a school boy wraps his gumboots
in a long trouser

Barrack Elung'ata


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pupils wash their muddy
gumboots in running water--
drizzly morning

Patrick Wafula


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Your gumboots
and my rubber boots, wading
into a rain pool...

Zhanna P. Rader


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moonless night
a pair of gumboots
inside the door

- Shared by Stella Pierides -
Joys of Japan, 2012



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Related words

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Shamba garden

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Shamba

***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Shamba

Even though it is originally Swahili, it is now in the Oxford ENGLISH dictionary, with the meaning "a cultivated plot of ground".

Kenyans often translate it into English as "garden", but it is not the same thing as a garden in Europe. Sometimes, it could be a smallish field. The Oxford English dictionary probably has it right, by accepting it now as an English word in its own right, with the meaning quoted above.

Isabelle Prondzynski
March 2010


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shamba (food garden, Kenya)
-- Britannica Online Encyclopedia


'shamba' is a Swahili word meaning farm . . .


shamba (smallholding)


Kenya's 'shamba' or Tongya system
has been generally defined as a form of agroforestry, where farmers are encouraged to cultivate primary crops . . .


an agroforestry system, known as 'the shamba system' . . .


More Reference


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Worldwide use



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Things found on the way


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HAIKU


March planting--
traces of maize rows
on the shamba

Hussein Haji

Kenya Saijiki Forum


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Related words

***** kitchen gardening

topic for haiku

In towns especially in Nairobi, were people do not have farms,they plant in sacs, benches etc.
Some hung containers while others put sacs where they can water.I am happy that they are observing the planting season.

kitchen gardening--
rain water drips from one
bench to another

James Bundi
Nairobi, March 2010


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. Plantation activities


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