Field Day: Rongo Continued

Today we were back at it in the 'field'! We're almost done collecting all of our Kenyan responses (CRAZY, RIGHT??) and Professor Khan told us that we can collect twenty instead of the original fifteen if we would like. After today I have 13 questionnaires completed, from 7 males and 6 females. This has taken us to a variety of different areas (some quite the car-ride away!) to many different farms and lifestyles. It's been quite interesting and once I collect all of the Kenyan information, I'm going to make some "Faces of Kenya" blogs about each of the families and individuals -- so be on the lookout for that in the coming weeks!At first, I was very confused by the whole "going to the field" thing and I'm sure some of you are too. When I say "going to the field," that has come to mean that I am leaving the Mbita Point Thomas Odhiambo icipe campus (which is about a ten minute walk all the way across!) and venturing out on a work assignment. It doesn't necessarily mean that I am going to the field to pick tomatoes or something and more times than not, it has meant going to visit with farmers near their push-pull plots to discuss Aflatoxins.Cows are cute, right? This little guy was scared to death of me, but was very cute and skinny! The goats are generally well-fed and healthy looking, they eat whatever! On the other hand, some of the cows are pretty skinny (like this one) and the healthiest ones are the ones consuming Desmodium fodder from the push-pull plots. Most of the livestock and animals run free and are tied by a rope to something so that they don't escape. This pen wasn't enclosed and the calf could get out whenever she wanted. Today we made our rounds to four or five farmers. One was sick with Malaria! My favorite visit of the day was when we stopped at this farm and there was a BABY! Yay! The momma let me hold her and she was so cute. Her name was Brenda Odhimbo and she seriously was the cutest thing.Today was basically the same as yesterday with a few less farmers. We had to be back by 4 in anticipation for teaching at the school. So, I rushed and took a five minute shower (shocker I know) and hurried to get ready in time.. Then we went and the kids were performing some routine without shirts and a bunch of feathers? Hope to learn more about this in the future. Regardless, we didn't have any classes to teach and they told us to come back tomorrow. They said we could teach Maths, English, Kaswahili, Religion, Social Sciences, and something else and I said I could do anything but Swahili..but that if there were openings in the class, I want to join! Hopefully tomorrow we will get to be teachers!SIDE NOTE: There's a CHICKEN in a BAG in our TRUCK, ALIVE. Let's start over...there is a live chicken tied in a grocery sack sitting in the front seat of the truck. What is this?! When Matilda said she was going to get chicken for dinner, I assumed she meant meat.. but no. She came back with a bag with a squealing, angry chicken in it. C'mon people. I mistakenly asked Salim how they kill the chickens and he went into a detailed explanation of breaking wings, and I stopped him from continuing! It was very interesting to say the least. At one of our farm stops, chickens just roamed in and out of the house and sat on the couch with us. It's so cool how everyone, in all parts of the world do things differently. The way they get their chicken is just one example!