flour power

i bought my ticket to go home.....actually, mom and dad bought my ticket. yes, in october, i'll be 23 and my parents are still buying my airplane tickets. I'll reimburse them...with a year or two of my presence in their house, that is. after 5 years of "gallivanting the globe," i'm moving home. i'm not passing through, stopping by, i'm MOVING in! i may even buy a piece of furniture or use that dresser that has been janean-less for quite some time.



as i look at my itinerary, many thoughts flood my mind. the people i'll be leaving, the people i'll be re-connecting with, my family, my grandparents, registering for classes.....the food i'll get to eat........the food i won't get to eat. i won't be able to buy freshly baked pitas (aysh baladi) right around the corner from my flat. so, i decided i'd learn to make pitas.



on second thought, a trip to the store for a packet of yeast isn't worth it....plus, i'm still here and should enjoy the pitas i have and when i return home, i'll learn to make pitas......AND since we haven't seen any tortillas at the store lately and just finished our last pack, and i have all the ingredients, i'll make my first batch of homemade flour tortillas.



mid-roll through my second tortilla, lianne comes home and decides to enjoy in the dough-rolling excitement. it's a good thing we didn't dump that empty glass jar of peanut butter so both of us can roll at the same time. yes, we use our peanut butter jars to roll dough.



copious amounts of tortillas piled high, lianne decides she's had enough and finds another use for the dough:





janean joins in:





and this is what you get:





and this:



ok, pictures aren't working....but imagine a game of darts minus the darts....with some leftover dough!

Life in a Box

Yesterday, I made my first, homemade, without a recipe cake. Since moving to Egypt, I've learned to be a bit more resourceful in the kitchen.

Instead of stirring pancake mix and water, I mix flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, and some water.
Instead of mixing a box of pudding mix with milk, I mix flour, eggs, milk, and whatever else enhances the flavor.

I can buy just about anything conveniently packaged with "Just add Water" bodly printed across the top. And if I'm lucky, I save 50% with my Safeway card! Pancakes, bread, pudding, cake, cookies, waffles, crusts, etc. The list goes on. Everything comes in a box!

Sometimes, I feel like I'm strolling down the aisle of life looking for the "pre-packaged-just-add-water" boxes of education, entertainment, family, friends, church, (God?).... Life isn't ever handed to us in a box. I can't make a good custard out of cake mix, or pancakes out of cookie dough, or pudding out of pancake mix; yet, all of these require the same basic ingredients!

I'm not sure where I'm going with this.....I was just thinking and typing...and eating a piece of cake made at home and without a recipe! Recipes are good for obvious reasons....but improvising is like living in a foreign country -- eventually you feel more at home, but only if you get out and get to know where you're living! Improvising is becoming easier.....and tastier!

unspeakable

Imagine fleeing your home, foreced to find shelter in another country, another land, another life. In most cases, refugees are not allowed to work or have access to medical and education services in the country they reside. Due to ethnic, cultural, religious, and historical differences, refugees are rarely, if ever, assimilated or accepted by the host culture. This isn't always a reflection of the people but of politics and economics.

In six days, the following blog will be exactly 1 year old. I posted it on Myspace and now, with tears in my eyes, I share it with you. As I typed from Seattle one year ago, I now type from Cairo: my heart still saddened, tears in my eyes.

11 April 2006

There's not much to say:

Sudanese refugees receive treatment for malnutrition in a hospital in Chad.

The flight from Sudan to Chad took a physical toll on the refugees, particularly on the sick, infants, and the elderly. Some traveled more than a month to reach Chad.

Sudanese refugees rest before continuing their journey to safety in Chad.

A body left unburied outside Jijira Adi Abbe in Darfur, western Sudan, after a government attack.

The body of a teenage boy lies among others outside the African village of Jijira Adi Abbe in Darfur, western Sudan. Bodies left unburied send a message to villagers elsewhere not to resist.

Mass graves encircle the village of Jijira Adi Abbe in Darfur, western Sudan after the government attack

Some of those wounded in attacks by Arab militias in October and November 2006 seek treatment in a hospital in nearby Goz Beida. Many are suffering from gunshot wounds.

A wounded woman is led to shelter. Chadian militia groups have attacked dozens of villages in southeastern Chad in November 2006, killing several hundred civilians, injuring scores more and driving at least 10,000 people from their homes.

The effects of indiscriminate aerial bombardment by the Sudanese government on Chadian and Sudanese villages along the north-west stretch of the border. Bombs were dropped in October 2006 around several villages on both sides of the border and on essential water sources, although there was little or no rebel presence in the area

Bahai is a desert town in Chad on the border with North Darfur, Sudan. The town is a major base for Sudanese rebels fighting the government in Khartoum. Soldiers of the National Redemption Front rebel coalition are mounting a Katyusha rocket launcher on the back of a pick-up truck.

Sudanese refugees live in makeshift shelters in the desert outside Birak, on Chad's border with Sudan. They fled the recent attacks by Sudanese militias in Jebel Moon, West Darfur, Sudan. Dozens of children were killed in the attacks on several villages and a camp for internally displaced persons in late October 2006.

Djorlo in eastern Chad was attacked by Chadian Arab militia on November 8, 2006. The militia burned huts and destroyed harvest storage areas. The village of Damri, attacked on November 12, can be seen burning in the background.


For interactive information including pictures, stories, videos, and the numbers of damaged/destroyed villages, internally displaced persons (idp), and sudanese refugees, check out the product of google earth's collaboration with the united states holocoust memorial museum in dc.

Check out these videos:
1. SMALLEST WITNESSES: THE CRISIS IN DARFUR THROUGH CHILDREN'S EYES

2. WITNESSING DARFUR: RESOURCES AND VIDEO

For more information on what's going on, check out Human Rights Watch. Click on "Africa" and search for "Darfur In Crisis" on the right side of the page.

Also: The Worldpress

This Side of the Nile

For more pictures: This Side of the Nile

africa live

today i went to a sudanese school here in cairo. the girls braided my hair, the boys played basketball, they sung songs, we played english word games..........amidst all of this, i remembered that i live in egypt........

since 2001 when i spent some time in kenya, africa holds a special place in my heart and today, that place grew a little larger, it sang a little louder, and danced that much longer. today, i remembered:

africa lives in me.

i've been travelling this week and am excited to share some of those experiences. perhaps when all the current fun finishes, i'll post some pictures!