Tanzania Tuesday #29 : Sheila Macdonald

Our fifth and final heroine is Sheila Macdonald, who, in 1927, became the first woman to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Sheila Macdonald was born in 1905, daughter of Alpine Club member Claude Macdonald. At the age of 12 she climbed in Scotland with her father, and later climbed in Switzerland as well as Mount Etna in Italy.

At the age of 22 she went to East Africa with the intention of climbing Kilimanjaro. She stayed with relatives, then joined William C. West, also a member of the Alpine Club, and Major Lennox Browne, "a mountaineer of some experience" for the climb.

The party started out in Mombasa, driving to Marangu and then climbing from there through the forest to Bismarck Hut (near the current Mandara Huts, but I don't know if the building is still there). They then went to Pieters Hut the next day (Horombo Huts), and on the third day turned north toward Mawenzi and camped high up on the plateau.

On the fourth day, they climbed to the summit of Mawenzi, the lower but more difficult of Kili's peaks. Once there they added their names to the records of the two 1912 expeditions to that summit, and "celebrated our arrival with good wine drunk out of enamel cups and left the bottle by the record tin" before returning to Pieter's Hut that evening.

After a full day's rest, the party turned their attention to Kibo. They set out at noon and tried to find Hams Meyer's Cave, "but we had no guides, and the porters did not seem to know where it was, so we roamed around, and our intrepid lady companion found another cave which satisfied her womanly instincts for comfort."

Yeah, that's how William West described the events to the Manchester Guardian newspaper. Another newspaper account stated that they sheltered on the ridge near the Hans Meyer Notch.

At midnight, they set out for the summit, but their lantern went out and they could not re-light it. Because it was so dark they huddled together in a rock shelter to wait until sunrise so they could see their path. The following day, at 19,000 feet, Major Lennox dropped out, exhausted, but Sheila "pleaded to be allowed to finish the ascent", so she and West continued.

Here's his account of the rest of the climb:

… it was Miss Macdonald who set the pace when we started off again. It was a hard climb for a girl, but she stuck to it with wonderful grit, and eventually we reached the summit.

They reached the crater via Johannes Notch, having followed the ridge from their shelter near Hans Meyer Notch. Then they followed the crater rim around past Stella Point and on to the actual summit about 2pm on July 31.

They added their names to the record book, took some photographs – which, sadly, I haven't been able to find – and drank a bottle of champagne. "Only those who have done so can imagine how ludicrous one feels when trying to drink champagne out of a bottle at a height of over 19,000 feet."

They went back to their cave to rest briefly, then descended to Pieters Hut "where we arrived about 10 p.m., after floundering rather badly in the darkness, for we had no lantern."

Sheila's achievement was widely reported around the world as a "London girl's triumph". Though several men had by this time reached the summit, she was the first woman to do so. It was erroneously reported that she was the first woman to climb up to the snows, but obviously Gertrude Benham, Clary von Ruckteschell-True, Estalla Latham, and Eva Stuart-Watt had all beaten her to the powder.

Manchester Guardian, 30 Sep 1927

In a rare interview given by Gertrude Benham to the Adelaide Chronicle in 1937, Benham recounted how she discovered another woman had climbed Kili:

"Years afterwards – it was in 1927 – I saw a paragraph in 'The Times' to the effect that Kilimanjaro had been climbed for the first time by a woman."
"And you did not contradict it?"
"I was in the West Indies at the time, and the paper was some weeks old. I did not trouble to do so, but I understand that a friend of mine wrote and spoke of my ascent eighteen years earlier."

I can't help but wonder, had Gertrude Benham climbed with a European man, would her climb have been better reported?

Sheila Macdonald eventually married Harold Percy Combe, a colonel in The Queen's Royal Regiment, some time before July 1931. After that I can't find any record of her. I hope she kept climbing.

Resources 

"CHAMPAGNE ON KILIMANJARO: Girl Mountaineer's Feat." The West Australian [Perth, Australia] 1 Oct 1927: 13. Trove Digitised Newspapers. Web. 3 April 2017.

"CLIMBING IN EAST AFRICA: Woman's Ascent of Kilimanjaro. LONDON GIRL'S TRIUMPH." The Manchester Guardian [Manchester, England] 30 Sep 1927: 14. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and the Observer.

"KILIMANJARO. MISS MACDONALD'S FEAT." The Sydney Morning Herald [Sydney, NSW, Australia] 22 October 1927: 13. Trove Digitised Newspapers. Web. 3 April 2017.

"Kilimanjaro Climbed By A Woman." Times [London, England] 22 Aug. 1927: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 10 Mar. 2017

"MT. KILIMANJARO. First British Ascent. AUSTRALIAN LADY TAKES PART." The Sydney Morning Herald [Sydney, NSW, Australia] 27 September 1927: 11. Trove Digitised Newspapers. Web. 3 April 2017.

"Points from Letters." Times [London, England] 13 June 1931: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Tanzania Tuesday #28 : Eva Stuart-Watt

"Afterglow on Kibo" by Eva Stuart-Watt

This week's heroine is Eva Stuart-Watt, who climbed to the crater rim in 1926. Eva was born in Australia in 1891, spent her childhood in Africa with her missionary parents, and then went to Ireland to school when she was ten. In 1913, she returned to Africa to serve as a missionary with her parents; her father and brother died of a fever in 1914, leaving Eva, her mother, and her sister to continue the work on their own.

Eva Stuart-Watt (center), her sister (left), and mother (right)

In Africa's Dome of Mystery, Eva recounted her experiences in Africa, notably her Kilimanjaro climb. All images in this post are taken from her book.

Eva Stuart-Watt "on the Kibo track", probably on her trip in 1925 with Professor Charles Hedley

She had already been on the upper slopes of the mountain, twice ascending as high as Bismark's Hut (8500 feet). But on this attempt, she resolved to reach the snows of Kibo.

No trouble was spared in provisioning the expedition, for a little extra attention to their comfort is appreciated more than cash by these men, who endure real hardships in the ruthless cold of the unsheltered heights. The usual rations of maize, beef and corn-meal were supplemented by home-made bread and Chagga butter, tea and coffee, sugar and cocoa, dried bananas and a little brandy.

She paid her porters the going rate of one shilling a day, and the loan of a blanket or an extra shilling to hire one. The headman earned three shillings a day, as did the guide – or more "according to his success in reaching the goal set by the tourist".

Her comforts were also considered, of course:

My simple outfit consisted of warm woollen clothing, fur gloves, alpine footwear, dark glasses, a helmet and tam-o'-shanter, a spiked walking stick and a couple of cameras. 

 I especially loved her description of her gear:

The flannel cover of the piano with some bamboo poles served as a tent, and a light camp mattress, over which were sewn two camel-hair rugs and two eider-downs, made an excellent sleeping bag.

 (Never forget that Mallory climbed Everest in woolen clothes, a Burberry raincoat, and hob-nailed boots!) 

Some climbers – including Professor Charles Hedley, with whom she ascended as far as Peter's Hut in 1925 – chose to ride mules partway up the mountain, but Eva resolved to go on foot:

… not only to avoid the inconvenience of feeding and housing a mule at night, but as a practical means of becoming accustomed to the altitude. A mount in any case cannot be employed for the last and most strenuous part of the climb; and to ride for three successive days to the base of Kibo, and then dismount with stiff limbs and a dizzy head for the final ascent, is a positive disadvantage to the mountaineer. 

On September 9 Eva, her guide Jonathan – chosen despite being less experienced than "Oforo of Moshi" for the Kibo summit, but better known to her – and six porters set off through the forest. As they pushed through the wet undergrowth, they heard wild boar, hornbills, orioles, monkeys, and tree frogs. They spotted a herd of eland just before arriving at Bismarck's Hut (8500 feet), their stop for the night.

BISMARCK'S HUT, 8,500 FT

On their second day they climbed out of the forest and onto moorland, glimpsing Mawenzi through the mist to their right, while Kibo remained hidden by clouds.

But the scenery grew wilder and more weird was we left the forest and the grassland far, far below, and, following our undulating path in single file, trudged over gravelly ridges and into rocky ravines. The whole landscape as far as the eye could reach was a medley of dull grey lava slabs, dotted with red-leaved protea shrub and stunted heaths, which became smaller and smaller as we rose higher. 

SENECIO AND GIANT LOBELIA, 12,000 FT.

She described these senecios – one of the most typical Kilimanjaro plants – with "their black stems and greyish-yellow crowns stood spreading out their arms in the deep moist gullies, like ghostly sentinels of the untrodden wilds.

PETER'S HUT, 11,500 FT

After five hours of hiking they reached Peter's Hut (11,500 feet); as the sun set they got a clear view of Kibo:

As the rising night wind drove away in a long white column the clouds that had curtained her during the mid-day hours, she stood wonderful, dignified and pure in her freezing whiteness. Every Chagga heart echoed silently 'God Amighty!'" 

As she rested in the hut, Eva was excited for the next day: "Only one more day—and then, should He permit us, we were to stand within the very gates of His lofty temple."

PETER'S HUT INTERIOR

(Personal aside -- I'm now convinced that this hut, visited by both Eva Stuart-Watt and Estella Latham, is the same hut visible at Horombo Huts in 2013. I hope to see it on our climb!)

On the third day she rose before dawn, struggling to get the porters to move out of camp. They reached the saddle by 9 a.m., where a strong north wind slowed them down, much to the dismay of the porters, who complained until Eva "dealt out to each a little brandy and water." Later, as they crossed the sandy saddle, the porters "threw down their loads in despair half-way and were moaning on account of the cold and shortness of breath". Eva roused them by taking a photograph of them, saying, "Now, men, smile like heroes of the mountain and we can show your comrades this picture." 

"SMILE, HEROES OF THE MOUNTAIN"

At 2 p.m. they reached the caves at 15,000 feet and had tea and bread and butter around a campfire – the wood and water having been carried with them up from Peter's Hut. That night Eva sat alone with her thoughts:

I did not sleep; I could hear too well the beating of my own heart, and the high altitude had brought on mountain sickness. As the icy gale tore down from the dizzy heights above and whistled among the crags and crannies, I listened to its sighing and waited for the morning. In the clear, highly-rarefied atmosphere distances were misleading, and Mawenzi looked deceptively near, while the vault of heaven itself seemed to have come closer to earth. Myriads of stars shone in the deep indigo sky with a luster unknown to the inhabitants of the lower world. 

At 3 a.m. on September 12, 1926 Eva roused the porters by making them tea ("I broke bounds") and calling to them: "Haya watu, knoo! Chai tayari! Tufunge safari!" (Come along men! Tea is ready! Let us be off on the march!) She set off at 4am by the light of a hurricane lamp, wrapped in all of her clothes and blankets, with her headman Malawa and guide Jonathan.

Though their ascent was slow – "we could barely drag ourselves along and had to sit down every few yards to recover breath" – Eva noted there was no real obstacle apart from the extreme altitude and the loose shingle, "which mockingly carried us backwards at every footstep almost the whole distance of our tread." They revived themselves by resting, dropping items they deemed unnecessary (field glasses, a sunshade, a second camera), and nibbling Cadbury's Milk Chocolate.

One of the younger porters, Mikani, watched their slow progress from the shelter of the caves, and was inspired to join them and, "without even sandals to protect his feet, soon overtook us and accompanied the party for pure adventure." His energy raised the team's flagging spirits, and they continued climbing.

Near the top they spotted the famous leopard carcass, found earlier that year by Dr. Donald Latham. (Fun fact: Donald Latham is Estella Latham's brother-in-law and was saddened not to be able to join Kingsley and Estella on their climb in 1924.)

JONATHAN, MIKANI, AND REMAINS OF FROZEN LEOPARD

They reached the crater rim at 1 p.m., "where we were ushered abruptly from the heated rock into the cool, silent sanctuary of myriad snow crystals". Mikani jumped onto the snow, leaping back as his bare feet felt the cold.

WACHAGGA FEEL SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME

Through a gap in the ice they could see the caldera, and stood in silence. Mawala suddenly said, "This is indeed the HOUSE OF GOD: there is no house in all the world clean except this one." Eva was "thrilled by these spontaneous words from native lips. We had, at last, reached the goal of the Fathers of the Chagga race!"

THRESHOLD OF THE "HOUSE OF GOD"

Shortly thereafter they began their descent, and within 24 hours were back in the lowlands. Eva Stuart-Watt was the fourth woman to reach the crater rim, most likely going as far as Gillman's Point.

ON THE RIM OF KIBO'S CRATER

Two years after her Kilimanjaro climb, Eva Stuart-Watt returned to Ireland, having spent 14 years in Africa. She founded the Young Ireland for Christ mission in Dublin, painted, and wrote many books. Eva died in 1959.

Resources:

Eva Stuart Watt. Retrieved March 24, 2017 from http://kilimanjaro.bplaced.net/wiki/index.php?title=Eva_Stuart-Watt

Eva Stuart Watt. Retrieved March 24, 2017 from https://www.moodypublishers.com/authors/w/eva-stuart-watt/

Flynn, John. "Looking for a literary leopard on the rooftop of Africa". SF Gate, 31 March 2002. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/travel/departures/article/Looking-for-a-literary-leopard-on-the-rooftop-of-2857991.php

Nicholls, Christine. "Stuart Watt, Eccentric Missionary at Machakos." Old Africa Magazine, 17 April 2014. http://oldafricamagazine.com/stuart-watt-eccentric-missionary-at-machakos/

Nicholls, Christine. "Stuart Watt, Part II." Old Africa Magazine, 19 May 2014. http://oldafricamagazine.com/stuart-watt-part-ii/

Stuart-Watt, Eva. Africa's Dome of Mystery. Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd. 1930.

Tanzania Tuesday #27 : Estella Latham

Stella Point 2010 image from Mount Kilimanjaro Wiki

Today's heroine is Estella Latham, a woman who has made a unique impact on Kilimanjaro history, though I have been unable to locate much information about her – not even a photograph.

Estella and her husband Kingsley Latham climbed Kilimanjaro in July 1925. In her journal she recorded that they were warned repeatedly about the dangers of attempting such a thing, and the days before the climb she had nightmares of "cold and cruel glaciers, of tumbling down awful precipices into bottomless abysses, or climbing up impossible ice walls by tooth and nail!"

Due to an outbreak of smallpox along the route via Bismark's Hut (the present-day Marangu or "Coca Cola" Route), they needed to climb via the harder and steeper route to Johannes Hut. This hut no longer exists, but scholars have estimated its location as being along the rarely traveled Maua route: a direct servicing route for the Horombo Huts. I did find one description of an available Kilimanjaro climb via this route which has the summit attempt on day 3… not very appealing!

Maua route, "fastest way to the top". Image from MountKilimanjaro.com

With the warnings and the bad news about their route, Estella made a decision:

 "I deemed it wiser to say nothing of my trying for the top! I led people to believe that I was merely going as far as the last hut – Pieter's [sic]. I could foresee the storm of protest and warnings that would surely have descended on my head had I suggested that I too had dreams of ascending Kibo." 

They left Moshi on July 6 with a guide, Mfore, a cook, Hamisi, and several porters. Hamisi told Estella that he was convinced that there must be money at the summit "—nothing else could induce us to be so mad as to climb it."

They climbed through the forest in a thick mist which turned to rain before they reached the Johannes Hut at 2900 meters. The hut was already in decline when the Lathams visited. Estella wrote, "This hut must have been very comfortable once but vandals have torn out the woodwork, ceiling and floor boards and now only the corrugated iron room and four walls remain." As uncomfortable as they were, the group stayed there another day waiting for brighter weather.

They arrived at Peter's Hut (3720m) on July 9, relaxing there for an extra day to acclimatize. Estella wrote: "From the ridge Kibo looks a very long way off," and noted that she was "looking forward anxiously to tomorrow, as to my mind it will be the real test of what I can stand. I think that if I can get to the cave I can get to the crater rim (one dare not write top)."

Tiny thrill here: the Peter's Hut area has developed into Horombo huts, where we will spend the night on our last night on the Kilimanjaro, during our descent. The earliest photo I could find of Peter's Hut is from 1940:

Peter's Hut, 1940. Image from Mount Kilimanjaro Wiki

This photo is from 2013:

Horombo Huts, 2013. Image from Kilimanjaro Rongai 2013. 

I'm 99.9% sure that the light-colored building is the original Peter's Hut. Hey, it's the little things.

On July 11 they crossed the saddle ("a desolate stony desert") and stayed in a cave Stella called "Nyumba ya Muungu", "The House of God". The group was starting to weaken; her husband Kingsley was "feeling puffed and tired" and both Mfore and Hamisi were ill. They stayed an extra day there to regain their strength before making their summit attempt.

On July 12 Mfore (their guide), Hamisi, and several porters headed down the mountain, leaving Estella and Kingsley with 6 porters: 4 to climb with them, and 2 to remain in camp. That night Estella wrote in her journal:

 "What tomorrow will bring forth is the burning question. We dare not even imagine the humblest of victories. The climb from here does not look big, but in our puffed condition it will take us all our time." 

They left the cave at 4:30am on July 13 in bitter cold. They attempted an unsuccessful route around a rock buttress that tired them out, but they lit a fire, had some breakfast, and rested before continuing up. "The climbing was very tiring, heavy shale into which we sank up to our ankles, had to be contended with in addition to the altitude." Things were made easier by reaching the snow line next to the Ratzel Glacier, "green-white and dazzling".

Reaching Hans Meyer's Notch [now Gilman's Point] was a thrill, "and tired as we all were it put fresh life into us." They opened the record box, examined the flags and notes left by Gilman and other previous climbers, snacked on chocolate, and then continued along the crater rim toward Kaiser Wilhelm Spitz [now Uhuru Point, the true summit].

They first hiked along the ice rim on the crater, but then felt unsafe so walked on the rocks. They were about halfway to the summit when Kingsley had to turn back. "We were at this time at the base of the highest rock pinnacle in the crater rim. We climbed this pinnacle, leaving our record in a glass jar. On our recording card we named the pinnacle "Point Stella", provided it had not been previously named."

Stella Point as seen from Gilman's Point, 1945. Image from Mount Kilimanjaro Wiki.

This is the record the Lathams left at the point:

Estella M Latham
Kingsley Latham (Mountain Club of South Africa.)
Reached this point at 12.10 p.m. on Monday 13th July 1925 .accompanied by natives Filipos and Sambuananga. We then attempted to reach KW Spitz but were unable to reach it due to partial snow blindness, mountain sickness and exhaustion on my part. My wife was fit to reach the Spitz and she led on the return trip here as I was unfit to lead. In her honour I have named the point we reached “POINT STELLA”. It bears 290 degrees E of North i.e. 70 degrees West.
Kingsley Latham 13.7.25.

They headed back around the crater rim to Gilman's Point, rested briefly, and then descended to the cave. Being too tired to go farther that night, they overnighted there, descending to Peter's Hut on the 14th, and returning to Moshi on July 15. In her journal Estella praised "tireless Filipos", the porter who carried a rucksack to the crater rim, "and went sockless and in native sandals".

Estella didn't make another summit attempt on Kili; however, in 1937 Kingsley did. During this attempt Kingsley collapsed, lost consciousness, and had to be carried down the mountain. When he woke up in the hospital, he had almost complete amnesia. He returned to London for treatment, but took years to recover. His nephew wrote that Kingsley "had, like a child, to learn once again how to read and write; for a long time he had difficulty choosing the appropriate word for items he knew well. He gradually recovered most of his faculties and survived to become a successful coffee farmer; he died in his sixties on his farm in eastern Zimbabwe many years later."

Estella Latham is the only woman to have a geographic location on Mount Kilimanjaro named after her. I can only hope that I get to see it in person when we climb later this year!

Stella Point (well, the foot of the pinnacle there), 2014. Image from Mount Kilimanjaro Wiki

References:  

"5 day Maua route." Mount-Kilimanjaro.com. Web. Retrieved March 17, 2017 from http://www.mountkilimanjaro.com/maua.htm 

Estella Latham. Retrieved March 15, 2017 from http://kilimanjaro.bplaced.net/wiki/index.php?title=Estella_Latham

KILIMANJARO5895. (2013 July 4). Kili team safely back at Protea Hotel [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://kilimanjarorongai2013.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/kili-team-safely-back-at-protea-hotel/  

Latham, Jim and Jill. (2011 August 3). Kilimanjaro 1925 climb by Kingsley and Stella Latham [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://theafricansage.blogspot.de/2011/08/kilimanjaro-1925-climb-by-kingsley-and_03.html

Latham, Michael and Gwynneth. Kilimanjaro Tales: The Saga of a Medical Family in Africa. London: The Radcliffe Press, 1995.

Tanzania Tuesday #26 : Clary von Ruckteschell-Trueb

Clary von Ruckteschell-Truëb (1882-1969) moved to east Africa in the early 20th century with her husband Walter von Ruckteschell.

Clary, Walter, and their friend and fellow artist Carl Albert von Salis climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 1914.

Walter and Carl reached the summit on February 13; Clary reached the crater rim at what is now called Gillman's Point... possibly the first woman to do so. (See last week's post on Gertrude Emily Benham for more information.)

Clary and her husband had set up a studio in Moshi in 1913 -- Clary working on her sculptures and ceramics, Walter on his paintings. 

image from Mount Kilimanjaro Wiki

Walter painted this painting of Kili during this period:

image from Mount Kilimanjaro Wiki; you can get your own copy from Art.com

I've been unable to find any account of their climb, but I did find some handsome ceramics that Clary made later in life after moving back to Germany (some currently available to purchase, if you're interested...)

Here's a "jug vase" from designclassics24.eu :

"An extremely rare jug vase by the German potter Clary von Ruckteschell-Trueb / Munich (1882 - 1969). Red clay, with expressive glaze in green/brown-freckled. Around 1960. Height ca. 6.7'. Marked underneath with the engraved artist's workshop sign. Excellent condition, free of damages - no traces of use."

Clary von Ruckteschell-Treub's signature

And a very modern looking stein from steinmarks.co.uk :

The von Ruckteschell's home in Dachau has recently been restored and converted into a museum, studio, and rent-free apartments for sponsored artists. The Art Nouveau style, along with furniture designed by the couple, some of Clary's artworks, and their African souvenirs have brought the house back to life.Their daughter, Ruth von Bennigsen, says that her parents would be delighted. I wonder if there is anything in the museum about their Kilimanjaro climb?

the Ruckteschell's house in Dachau, now a museum. Photo c. Stadt Dachau

References

Clary von Ruckteschell. Retrieved March 8, 2017 from http://kilimanjaro.bplaced.net/wiki/index.php?title=Clary_von_Ruckteschell

"Meine Eltern Wären Begeistert Gewesen", Merkur.de : https://www.merkur.de/lokales/dachau/meine-eltern-waeren-begeistert-gewesen-1409590.html

Walter von Ruckteschell. Retrieved March 8, 2017 from http://kilimanjaro.bplaced.net/wiki/index.php?title=Walter_von_Ruckteschell

Tanzania ... Thursday ... #24 : Mbio na Idadi (Running by Numbers)

I ran again today ... I've managed to complete all but one of the runs so far in my Couch to 5K program, and just ran the second run of week 4. Yes, it's slow going ... and it seems like I really need to force myself to get out there, but that's probably more due to the blustery weather than anything else. Today I almost didn't go ... but I knew that I would be absurdly proud of myself for sticking with it and just getting out there. And, yeah, I am.

The three runs this week in the NHS Couch to 5K program are, as always, intervals of running and walking. As I distracted myself by counting breaths and calculating the times while alternating between runs and walks, I realized that I should be practicing counting in Swahili. I mean, why not?

For example, here's today's workout, in Swahili:

Jitayarishe kwa muda wa dakika tano : Warm up for five minutes

Mbio dakika tatu : Run three minutes

Kutembea sekunde tisini : Walk ninety seconds

Bio dakika tano : Run five minutes

Kutumbea dakika mbili na nusu : Walk two and a half minutes

Punguza mwendo kwa muda wa dakika tano : Slow down for five minutes

Phew -- that probably took me as long to type as to run today...

Here's one GREAT thing about numbers in Swahili: they are very structured. So if you learn the basic building blocks, you can count to big numbers. Hooray!

   1 = Moja
   2 = Mbili
   3 = Tatu
   4 = Nne
   5 = Tano
   6 = Sita
   7 = Saba
   8 = Nane
   9 = Tisa
  10 = Kumi
  11 = Kumi na moja
  12 = Kumi na mbili
  20 = Ishirini
  21 = Ishirini na moja
  22 = Ishirini na mbili
  30 = Thelathini
  40 = Arobaini
  50 = Hamsini
  60 = Sitini
  70 = Sabini
  80 = Themanini
  90 = Tisini
  99 = Tisini na tisa
 100 = Mia
 101 = Mia na moja
 111 = Mia na kumi na moja
 200 = Mia mbili
 201 = Mia mobile na kumi na moja
 300 = Mia tatu
1000 = Elfu moja

On Tuesday I saw a guy walking around Green Lake reading a book -- a full-on, paperback book. I wonder if I could run with flash cards? (Mmmm, no. I'm clumsy enough!)

Tanzania Tuesday #23 : Maisha ya Familia (Family Life)

It's Thanksgiving this week, so I decided to learn some vocabulary about families.

"Freedom from Want" by Norman Rockwell. Rockwell said of the turkey in the painting: "Our cook cooked it, I painted it, and we ate it. That was one of the few times I've ever eaten the model."

Being of the Tofurkey tribe, myself, this picture isn't exactly what we have planned. I personally prefer this Rockwell:

#teamturkey !!!!

Team Wil-Sun will be going over to my brother's house for brunch in the morning, stuffing ourselves silly, and then sleeping it off in the afternoon. Perfect! My mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, my nephew, and his girlfriend will all be there.

Thanksgiving is, of course, an American holiday, but one could translate the term "thanksgiving" or "gratitude" as "shukrani". And "feast" can be translated as "sikukuu".

shukrani = gratitude
sikikuu = feast
ndugu = relative
baba = father
mama = mother
mwana = son
binti = daughter
kaka = brother
dada  = sister
mjomba = uncle
shangazi = aunt
mpwa = nephew OR niece
shemeji = brother-in-law
wifi = sister-in-law
mpenzi = boyfriend OR girlfriend, or "sweetheart"

Tanzania Tuesday #22 : Furaha maadhimisho ya miaka na sisi! (Happy anniversary to us!)

A few words, in English and Swahili, about weddings, anniversaries, and LOVE.

On November 15, 2005, Wil and I got married in Gretna, Scotland.

So to commemorate that -- and our eleven years of marriage, here are some Swahili vocabulary words.

maadhimisho ya miaka ya harusi = wedding anniversary
kumi na moja harusi maadhimisho ya miaja = eleventh wedding anniversary
ndoa = marriage
harusi = wedding
mume = husband
mke = wife
nakupenda = I love you
mpendwa = beloved

Tanzania Tuesday #21 : Mimi mbio leo! (I ran today!)

A few words, in English and Swahili, about running...

Today's post was going to be about basic greetings in Swahili... but on this momentous day... well... I decided to change topics.

And by "momentous day", of course I mean ... it's the day I decided to start running again!

Since hurting my hip -- too many lunges? Too many squats? Over enthusiastic participation in boot camp??? -- I haven't been able to run. I DNSed one half marathon that I had targeted as a chance to run a new PR. I decided against chasing new states at 4 other races. (Can you IMAGINE???) And I haven't run a step. Not even to catch a bus.

Sure, I've gotten around. There have been stairway walks, Welsh wanders, and Yorkshire rambles (more on those later). But other than the exercises and stretches assigned by my beloved physical therapist, Emily, there's not a lot of movement going on. But thanks to the PT hours ... and, probably, the cortisone shot in my left hip ... I've been feeling a little better. Weaker, sure, but in less pain. And I have been feeling antsy.

Today's weather here in Seattle was glorious -- 68 degrees, bright blue sky, sunny. And I had been inside all morning ... and, well, awake since half past three ... so I decided that today was the day.

I'm a huge fan of the National Health Service's Couch to 5K podcasts -- "Laura" plays upbeat music, offers tips on running and recovery, and tells you when to warm up, run, walk, and cool down (though she says "warm down" which always makes me giggle). Given that I have been hurt and semi-sedentary, they seemed like a good place to restart my running.

Today I ran the first run of the series ... 5 minute warm-up; then 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of recovery, eight times; and then 5 minutes of "warm down". A grand total of 8 minutes of running ... but 8 minutes more than I have run in more than 3 months. And over the course of the 33 minutes, I slowly traveled 2.36 miles. Better than nothing.

Some relevant vocabulary:

Mimi mbio leo. = I ran today.
mbio = ran
kuendesha or mbio = run or running
kilomita = kilometers
maili = miles
kitanda = couch
Mimi mbio zaidi ya maili mbili leo! = I ran more than two miles today!
kitanda kwa 5K = couch to 5K (ha!)

P.S.: If you'd rather learn "election-related" terms in Swahili, the awesome and clever folks at SwahiliPod101 put one together. Learn how to talk politics in Swahili at SwahiliPod.com. Remember, Kila kura ni muhimu! (Every vote counts!)

Tanzania Tuesday #20

An Introduction to Kiswahili

Kiswahili -- "the language of the Swahili people" -- is one of two official languages in Tanzania. (English is the other one, but spoken by fewer people.) Most Tanzanians speak their mother tongue -- one of some 128 languages spoken in the country -- within their own communities, using Kiswahili for official communication, or to communicate across groups.

According to the official national linguistic policy announced in 1984, Swahili is the language of the social and political sphere as well as primary and adult education, whereas English is the language of secondary education, universities, technology, and higher courts. The government announced in 2015 that it would discontinue the use of English as a language of education as part of an overhaul of the Tanzanian schools system.
- Wikipedia, Languages of Tanzania. Retrieved October 23, 2016.

I wanted to learn at least some basic Kiswahili before going to Africa next year, so I have been attempting to follow a Pimsleur course, albeit with little success. But on my fourth listen to the first lesson, I could almost follow along... The language is so different to anything I've ever heard or attempted to understand, that -- apart from some very random words in "The Lion King" (!!!), I don't know any.

For my Tanzania Tuesday posts in November, I'm going to include some of the very basic words I am learning. I thought this exchange, cribbed from words in my Pimsleur lesson #1, might come in handy. (Who am I kidding? I will NEVER have this conversation...)

Samahani bwana. Unafahamu kiingereza?  (Excuse me, sir. Do you understand English?)

Hapana. Sifahamu kiingereza.   (No. I don't understand English.)

Ninafahamu Kiswahili kidogo. Unafahamu kiswahili?  (I speak a little Kiswahili. Do you understand Kiswahili?)

Ndiyo dada. Wewe ni mmarekani?  (Yes miss. Are you an American?)

Ndiyo bwana.  (Yes sir.)

A note on spelling: I've found multiple spellings of many Kiswahili words... I'm just going to use what seems like the most consistent spelling. And probably get it wrong 50% of the time.

Header image taken from Bongo5.com, from an article advocating for increasing the use of Kiswahili across eastern Africa: http://www.bongo5.com/makala-kiswahili-na-changamoto-za-kujitakia-08-2016/

Tanzania Tuesday #19

Recipe for Barazi (aka Mbaazi wa Nazi) and Mandazi (aka Mahambri)

I should come totally clean here. I don't really cook all that often. Wil cooks, I cobble. So this project of making some Tanzanian recipes has been both interesting and challenging. For this week's recipe, I wanted something different ... and perhaps a different type of meal. 

I found a recipe for Mandazi and Barazi on Sanjana's korasoi.com food blog (a great resource for vegetarian recipes from East Africa and India) that sounded delicious ... but I didn't want to faff with waiting for dough to rise before breakfast ... and because I couldn't find a key ingredient, well, I figured I should find perhaps a more complicated recipe that would have additional flavors. 

Barazi (also called Mbaazi wa Nazi) is a porridge made from pigeon peas, coconut milk, and spices that's commonly served for breakfast. One key problem: I had NO IDEA what pigeon peas were, and where to find them. 

T'internet told me that pigeon peas are also known as gungo peas in Caribbean cooking; gandul, guandu, or chicharo in Latin America; toor dal, towar, tovar, or tover ki dal in various Indian languages. I struck o ut at my local supermarkets (though I may just not have brought a complete translation list with me...), and even attempted to find them at East African Imports, but to no avail. 

I also read that black-eyed peas were a good substitute ... so went with it. I think it affected the color of my finished dish -- not green, but golden -- but don't know how it affected the taste. 

ingredients for barazi

The barazi was super easy to put together -- basically just chop up all the ingredients, sauté the onion in a bit of olive oil, add everything else but the coconut milk and the peas and sauté a little longer, and then add the peas and coconut milk and let simmer for a while, stirring more often as the porridge thickens.

While the barazi was simmering away, I made my first attempt at Mandazi. Commonly translated as "beignets" or "African donuts", these deep fried bits of delicious dough are seasoned with cardamom and coconut. Traditional recipes call for yeast and time for the dough to rise and prove ... but I didn't want to wait. Luckily AfricanBites.com had a simple recipe for "easy mandazi" that seemed more my speed.

It's your typical "dough" recipe ... combine dry ingredients, combine wet ingredients, then combine the two together, slowly. Roll out the dough, shape into triangles, and deep fry. The most complicated part was braving the deep fryer and managing not to burn myself while turning the little guys.

The result?

mandazi and barazi

A delicious breakfast of little not-quite-sweet-but-slightly-spicy dough triangles dipped in a rich, hearty porridge. I would make this again -- and I can't wait to try "proper" mandazi because they'll be light and fluffy.

Barazi / Mbaazi wa Nazi

Adapted from K.O Rasoi's "Barazi" recipe.
Serves 6-8

Ingredients: 

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-inch "thumb" of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced
• 3 or 4 "fingers" of fresh turmeric, peeled and finely diced
• 3 fresh jalapeños, finely diced
• 15-ounce can black-eyed peas -- or, heck, use proper pigeon peas if you can find them!
• 2 14-ounce cans of coconut milk **note: if making mandazi, save 1/4 cup of coconut milk to add to that recipe**
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Sauté the onion in olive oil until translucent, 3-5 minutes.
2. Add remaining ingredients except for peas and coconut milk; sauté an additional 5 minutes.
3. Add peas and coconut milk, simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes. Porridge will thicken as it cooks; stir more frequently the thicker it gets. 

Easy Mandazi

Adapted from Immaculate Bites "Easy Mandazi" recipe.
Makes 24 mandazi.

Ingredients:

• 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 2½ Tablespoons sugar
• ¼ t salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour plus more for rolling out
• 2½ Tablespoons grated coconut or coconut flakes
• ½ teaspoon cardamom
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ cup coconut milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter
• Vegetable oil for deep frying.
• If desired, powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar for dusting.

Instructions:

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl until well blended.
2. Combine wet ingredients in a bowl until well blended. 
3. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until dough is smooth. If dough feels too sticky, add a little flour. If too dry, add a little water. 
4. Roll out dough to 1" thick or less. Cut in bite-size triangles.
5. Fry in vegetable oil at 350 degrees until golden brown; 3-5 minutes per side. Make sure the mandazi have room to move around -- in my little fryer, I fried this recipe in 4 small batches. 
6. Remove from oil and drain on a paper napkin.
7. If desired, dust with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Serve warm, with barazi or a mug of chai.

barazi and mandazi for breakfast: the most important meal of the day

Tanzania Tuesday #18

recipe for supu na karanga, viazi vitamu, na nazi - a tanzanian peanut, sweet potato, and coconut soup

Decided to attempt another Tanzanian recipe in honor of World Vegetarian Month ... but struggled to find something I really wanted to make. What I wanted was a rich, warm soup ... with peanuts and coconut and sweet potatoes and tomatoes and goodness. 

But I couldn't find any recipes with all of that. 

I could find a recipe for a bean and coconut soup, but that wasn't quite right. 

And this gorgeous "Supu Viazi" recipe from Sasha Martin's amazing Global Table Adventure blog was soooooo close, but not exactly what I wanted... (But, seriously, the Global Table Adventure blog is amazing ... I can't wait to make her Falafel Scotch Eggs recipe!)

Even closer was this "African Peanut Soup" recipe from Mark Reinfeld's The 30 Minute Vegan: Soup's On! featured on Oh My Veggies... but it wasn't quite right either.

I decided to blend the two recipes based on personal taste... and what I had in the house. Sweet potatoes (viazi vitamu), tomatoes (nyanya), peanuts (karanga), onions (vitunguu), carrots (karoti), cilantro (ummm, cilantro?)... and what's that in the upper left?

Canned coconut milk. Yeah, I wasn't about to milk a coconut today. It was a fun challenge with the mchicha recipe... but I honestly don't think it really added anything. So canned coconut milk it is. 

Also, if that seems like a whole lotta peanut butter... it is. Three quarters of a cup. I was a little nervous about this, but what the heck. It's just dinner. 

I started by dicing the onion, mincing the garlic, slicing the carrots, chopping the tomatoes, and cubing the sweet potatoes. It was a festival of knives for about 15 minutes. (Did I mention I am spectacularly slow at chopping? Well, I am... ) 

Then I sautéed the onion in a little olive oil until soft and translucent, and then added the garlic and carrot for another few minutes. Then I dumped in the rest of the ingredients, excluding the peanut butter, peanuts, and cilantro, and simmered for 10 minutes. 

I checked a sweet potato cube -- lovely and soft! -- and scooped a cup or so of the hot liquid into a bowl with the peanut butter and stirred them together until well blended. I then scooped about a third of the soup into the bowl and hit it with my immersion blender -- I really wanted a thick soup. I poured the pureed soup / peanut butter mix back into the big pot, stirred it all together, and let it warm back up for a few minutes. 

I scooped some of the soup over some leftover rice, topped it with some fresh cilantro and peanuts...

dinner is served

The result? So good. The blend of flavors, the chunks of sweet potatoes, and the rich creamy texture was exactly what I what I wanted on a stormy autumn night. Be ye warned: this makes a lot of soup. I ended up freezing about half of it in double-serving containers, and we'll still have it for two, possibly three dinners. It's filling and delicious!

Tanzanian Peanut, Sweet Potato, and Coconut Soup

Adapted from Sasha Martin's "Supu Viazi" and Mark Reinfeld's "African Peanut Soup" recipes.
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 15-ounce cans coconut milk -- you could lighten up the recipe by subbing one of the cans for an additional 2 cups of veggie broth
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 carrots, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds sweet potatoes, cubed into half-inch pieces
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

Instructions:

1. Sauté the onion in a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat for three minutes. 
2. Add the carrots and garlic and sauté an additional three minutes. 
3. Add all remaining ingredients except peanut butter, cilantro, and peanuts. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
4. Check a cube of sweet potato -- is it soft? If so, scoop out a cup of the liquid and pour it into a medium bowl. Add the peanut butter to the bowl and stir until well blended. 
5. Scoop about a third of the soup from the pot into the bowl with the peanut butter and puree with an immersion blender. Don't have an immersion blender? No worries! You could mash the mixture in the bowl with a potato masher or a fork... or you could skip this step altogether. 
6. Return the peanut mixture to the pot, stir well, and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally. 
7. Serve over ugali, rice, your grain of choice -- or on its own. Garnish with a small handful of peanuts and chopped cilantro. 

Tanzania Tuesday #17

Zanzibar Doors

Stone Town door, image from Zanzibar Stone Town Heritage Society

Zanzibar is famous for its heavy, intricately carved wooden doors. Those these doors are associated with Swahili culture and found across East Africa, the large number of them in Stone Town has given them the name "Zanzibar doors".

Doors were traditionally the first part of a new house to be built. And the bigger / the more elaborately carved the door, the greater the wealth and status of the house's owner.

Older doors reflect an Arab influence, with geometric designs. Doors dating from the late 19th century, however, reflect an Indian influence. Many doors are fitted with brass spikes, which may be a modification of the Indian practice of studding doors with iron spikes to fend off the attacks by war elephants. (Apparently, when Marco Polo visited Zanzibar in the 13th century, he wrote that the island had "elephant in plenty". Pity there are none left.)

The remaining doors in Stone Town date primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries and are maintained by the Stone Town Conservation and Development Authority.

Source: Zanzibar Stone Town Heritage Society; http://zanzibarstonetown.org/pages/stonetown_architecture.html

Tanzania Tuesday #16

Recipe for Mchicha wa Nazi: A Tanzanian Spinach, Coconut, and Peanut Curry

In honor of World Vegetarian Month, I've decided to branch out a little and post a couple of Tanzanian recipes here on the blog.

As you probably know, Wil is the chef here at Camp Wil-Sun, but I've been trying to cook more often. (And by more often, I mean "once or twice a month"....) But given my unexpected time off (cough), I've actually been cooking pretty regularly, and trying some new things. Let's just say that this recipe is the newest of the new things I have ever tried.

Mchicha is the Swahili word for "amaranth greens" -- though in the west spinach is commonly substituted. Which is good, because I had never heard of amaranth before. Here's what I learned:

Edible Amaranth grows very well in warm climates. This fast-growing vegetable can be harvested 30 days after sowing, by the cut-and-grow-again method. Seeds are very small and will germinate best at temperature above 65 F under dark conditions. Thin plants during the growth if necessary and thinnings can be eaten. Edible young leaves and stems are cooked like spinach. The amaranth family has many groups of plants found in various regions in the world. Soft texture and tender leaves are excellent for stir-fry and soup. -- Evergreen Seeds

photo of edible amaranth from Evergreen Seeds - you can buy seeds there, too

Given that most recipes I could find online just called for spinach, I figured I could do the same. (I do wonder, however, if our awesome Asian grocery stores around here might carry amaranth greens? I'll do some sleuthing and report back.)

I assembled the ingredients... spinach, a tomato, an onion, some peanut butter, some butter, some curry powder, and ... WHAT IS THAT IN THE LOWER RIGHT OF THE PICTURE????

Good heavens. IT'S A COCONUT. The Swahili word for coconut is "nazi". Just gonna leave that there.

Let me come clean. I don't really like coconut. It's not even the taste I don't like ... I mean, I love Thai curries with coconut milk. And who doesn't love a piña colada? And I have really fond memories of eating "young fresh coconut" -- where the "meat" is so soft you scoop it with a spoon -- in Indonesia.

My issue with coconut now is the mouth feel ... which I assumed comes from the desiccated version usually found in baked goods. (BTW, if "mouth feel" isn't a thing, well, it is now.)

But having never opened a coconut or cooked with the fresh stuff, I figured I should give it a go. First hurdle... finding coconuts at the store. Second hurdle... how does one get in there???

I found a really thorough article on how to open a coconut on WikiHow ... which probably saved the day. It taught me that there is a "soft eye" ... and only one "soft eye" ... where you can poke a hole in the nut and drain the water. (See the little hole in the picture above? That's the one. And before you ask, of course it was the third one I tried!)

Water drained, and it was time to get to the meat of the matter. The WikiHow article showed lots of options including how to make nice even halves "for a bikini top or whatever". I actually wanted my pieces on the small side, since I would be grating them by hand ... so the less curve in the pieces, the better.  So I did the simplest method listed: put the coconut in a plastic bag, then put the bag on a concrete surface, then hammer on the nut until it breaks open.

This is probably easier said than done. It took an awful lot of standing on the sidewalk in front of the house whacking a small brown object with a hammer. It's a good thing we know and like our neighbors, because it looked like I was killing a small rodent. In a plastic bag. With a hammer.

That (above) was after 5 minutes of serious thumping. This (below) was after 15. Honestly, it took a lot of hitting to get to these chunks.

The good news is that on most of the pieces the outer shell came off ... which made it easier to "flatten" the pieces and grate them. I ended up with a pretty big bowl of grated coconut.

Was it worth it? I still don't know...

Which, when added to the coconut water and a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, looked like this.

After wrestling with the coconut -- yep, still doing prep work! -- I had this IM exchange with a foodie friend:

She then sent me this lovely video of the Freddy Martin and his Orchestra -- featuring a young Merv Griffin on vocals! -- performing "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts":

 (Wikipedia informs me that it was a top ten hit for them in 1950 and sold over 3 million copies -- despite Merv having the second worst English accent ever recorded...)

Coconut processed, things were much easier... chopping up an onion and a tomato:

Sautéing them in 3 tablespoons of butter with a tablespoon of curry powder -- next time I would use more curry powder!

And then starting to add ALL THE SPINACH IN THE WORLD. How much spinach? TWO POUNDS. Which, raw, is impossible to fit into a the pan. So I just added it a little at a time so it would cook down, then added more.

Once I got it all cooked down , I added the coconut water / coconut meat / peanut butter mixture and simmered it for 15 more minutes:

Rather than serving it with the traditional ugali, I decided to serve it over rice. The result?

mchicha wa nazi

While I was cooking Wil came home and asked what smelled so good, so that was a good sign. As someone who refused to eat cooked spinach as a child (my poor mother!), I was a little worried that maybe I wouldn't like it. But it came out nicely -- though as I said above I would add both more curry powder and more peanut butter.

Also ... if I made this again I would do the sane thing and use a can of coconut milk rather than spend a quality hour with an actual coconut. And... it's probably heresy, but... I might just buy frozen spinach rather than fresh. That would take the prep and cooking time down to about 45 minutes total. Much more do-able.

But all in all, I liked it. I liked the peanut - curry - coconut mixture. I couldn't "feel" the coconut, and the taste blended well with the other flavors. And I could see how this would be great with ugali, making little scoops out of the ugali and using them to eat the greens. Maybe next time.

Mchicha wa Nazi

-- serves 4 as a main course

Adapted from Um Safia's recipe on Food.com

Ingredients:

2 lbs spinach -- I made it with heaps of fresh spinach, but I think you could very quickly make this with frozen spinach. You could also make it with different greens, say collard greens or chard.

2 T peanut butter -- could up to 3 if you really like it peanutty

1 tomato

1 medium onion

2 t curry powder -- next time I'll up this to 3 teaspoons / 1 tablespoon

1 coconut, both water and grated meat -- let's be honest ... just use 1 ½ cups of coconut milk out of the can. It'll turn out way creamier... and it won't take you an HOUR to prep one ingredient. SAVE YOURSELF!

3 T ghee or butter

1 t salt

Instructions:

In a small bowl, mix peanut butter and coconut water and meat (or coconut milk); set aside.

Wash and roughly chop spinach, set aside. (If using frozen, thaw and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.)

Peel and chop onion and tomato.

In a large saucepan, melt ghee / butter over medium heat. Add onion, tomato, and curry powder and cook for 5 minutes, or until onion is soft.

Add spinach. If using raw spinach, it will take some time to cook down the bulk! Just add a big pile to your pan, stir, and cover for a couple of minutes until it wilts down. Repeat until you have all of the spinach in the pan.

Add coconut / peanut butter mixture and simmer for 5-10 minutes more, stirring frequently.

Serve over rice, quinoa, or with ugali.