Food Purchase in Githurai

Last week I went to the market in Githurai to buy the food products we will need in the Kasarani workshop. This food should provide for the next month’s meals. So we bought in bulk. Tons of potatoes, tomatoes, rice, ugali flour, and beans. Luckily, I went there with Eunice, one of Jimani’s jewelry makers, and Mama Morean, our cook. They both were oh-so-helpful when negotiating the price and finding the best quality produce. This was the first time I had been there so I was very thankful for those two to introduce me to the market. 

Eunice and Mama Morean are pictured here as 

they choose which tomatoes to buy. 

I loved learning how to pick which food items you want in such a large flurry of a market. We wanted to purchase Wairimu beans, but there were three types (see right side of the picture). Mama Morean showed me how she decided on which type of beans we wanted: by putting her hand in the sacks of beans in the photo and feeling for the right texture. Can you guess which one was chosed? Mama Morean decided on the Wairimu Kisii beans, the perfect match.

At the end of the day, we had such a large quantity of stuff that we couldn’t carry it all. Instead, we paid one of the market workers approximately $0.50 (USD) to carry the majority of it (maize, rice, AND produce) on his shoulders to where we needed to go. What a lifesaver! I definitely wouldn't have been able to carry all of that.

What an experience that market was!