Three New Cats To Care For ....

If you look closely, you can just make out a timid ginger cat hiding in the shade of the old chicken coop - she was very wary as I took the photo, & didn't take her eyes off me for a minute !

As you know, I have ‘rescued’ several stray/neglected animals since I’ve been living on the farm. As soon as I become aware of an animal in need, I see what I can do for that animal. (If you’d like to read more about the wonderful animals which have blessed my life, you can go to the “Categories” section in the right sidebar, and click on “Pets”.)

Many people here cannot afford to feed themselves, let alone an animal and the common misconception here (and indeed, in many parts of Africa) is that dogs are pack animals and should hunt for their own food. There is also a ridiculous belief that the hungrier a dog is, the more vicious they will be. Many people do not know any better, and I try to educate as many of them as I can. Justin (my right-hand man, who you can read all about here) is wonderful in that he helps to get the word out to many people who live in the villages around the farm, and has a genuine love for animals.

Earlier this week, my husband came home and told me that Frank, the owner of a local shop (no more than a small cheap wood and tin roofed building selling basic goods like soap, candles, sugar, flour and drinks) had a cat sitting on the counter who had made a home there a few weeks ago. When Frank told him that the cat belonged to him, my husband said that he’d better take good care of it and feed it else I would be along to give him a piece of my mind ! We are now providing Frank with de worming medicine and some food for the cat, and as soon as we can, we will vaccinate the cat and organize to have it spayed/neutered.

Then a couple of weeks ago, there was a huge commotion in the house late one night and I found a stray ginger cat cowering under the dining room table, s/he had obviously come in through an open window, looking for food, and had been chased by Ollie and Dibble. The cat has since taken up residence at Justin’s house (which is in the farmhouse/workshop area near to our house) and is living in an abandoned chicken coop and we are feeding her (discovered that she is a female) every day and have de wormed her, too.

Then a few days ago Justin said that a very thin, extremely starving young grey cat had followed one of our 100 casual farm labourers down from the village one morning, in search of food. No one would own up to ‘owning’ the cat, so Justin took it and brought it to his house. I went around to see her (also a female) and found her curled up, asleep, on a sofa. She is very tame but was SO SO weak from hunger, she was all lethargic but hungrily wolfed down the food we gave her. I checked her over and she is in good health otherwise. I don’t know why she is so starving as usually cats manage to survive on rats and birds, and I wonder if she has been locked up somewhere, perhaps ?

Anyway, both cats are now living at Justin’s (our cats here will just chase them away) and are being fed daily. They’ve been de wormed and will soon be vaccinated and spayed once we can get them into a travel box. It’s great finding female strays, as they are the ones who are important to spay to keep the population – and more unwanted kittens – down.

Thanks to everyone who clicks on the “Animal Rescue Site” button in the right sidebar to donate a free bowl of food daily (it costs you nothing) and if you’d like to click on it today before you leave, that would be GREAT !

Marinated 'Kechap Manis' Pork Kebabs

I used pork for these kebabs, but chicken would work just as well

In Tanzania you will find “Mishkaki” which are seasoned or marinated cubes of meat (goat, beef, mutton or even fish and chicken) threaded on to a wooden skewer (sometimes with vegetables in between, sometimes not) and cooked over the open coals. This is a variation of the popular South African “Sosatie” (which is the same thing as a “Mishkaki”, but with a funny name !) or the wider known Kebob, Kabob or Kebab.

Who doesn’t like a nice Kebab (as we call them in English here) ? They’re great served at a barbecue – I usually make vegetable kebabs threaded with onions, peppers, courgettes (zucchini), tomatoes & carrots and baste them in a simple lemon, oil and fresh herb marinade.

Yesterday I decided to make some Kebabs and cook them inside, under the grill. We had them for supper with a side salad and baked potatoes, and they were really tender and very tasty.

I was 'inspired' to create a new Kebab marinade when last week in the big city, I found a new ingredient in a local shop called “Kechap Manis” (or “Kecap Manis”). This originates from Indonesia (the bottle I bought came from Thailand though) and is basically a thick, sweet, syrupy soy sauce that has the same colour as soy sauce, the consistency of runny honey, and is much sweeter. It is thickened with sugar (or molasses), and has a distinctive flavour with just a hint of liquorice (I’m guessing that it has aniseed or star anise added, although the bottle does not say !).

I was first introduced to this syrupy delight a few years ago by some Dutch friends (it seems to be used quite commonly in Holland ?). It is great for stirring through noodles, adding to rice, using as a basting sauce, adding to a stir-fry or even, I am told, can be used to make Peking Duck.

This is the marinade recipe I came up with, and it worked a treat -:


Marinated ‘Kechap Manis’ Pork Kebabs

1 kg Pork fillet, cubed (or another cut of pork meat)
4 Onions, quartered
3 tbsp Kechap Manis (Sweet Soy Sauce)*
3 tbsp Sesame Oil
2 tsp Garlic, finely grated
1 tsp Ginger, finely grated
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Lemon (or Lime) Juice
Black Pepper
Wooden Skewers

Whisk the Kechap Manis, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, salt, lemon juice and black pepper together until well blended. Then add the cubes of pork and the quartered onions. Stir to blend & then cover, & set aside to marinade for around an hour. In the meantime, leave your wooden skewers to soak in a bowl of cold water (this helps to prevent them from burning when you cook the kebabs).

After the meat/onions have been marinating for about an hour, break the onion quarters up slightly and then thread a piece of onion followed by a piece of meat and so on, on to the skewer until all the meat/onions have been used.

Cook under a hot grill until done, turning often and basting with the marinade to keep it moist. You could also cook the kebabs on an open fire/over the coals.


*If you can’t find Kechap Manis in your part of the world, you could always and equal parts of honey and soy sauce instead.

A Walk On The Farm

Can you see part of our house through the field of green wheat and all the trees ?

As I mentioned in Monday’s post, we had some visitors on Sunday and after lunch we went for a nice long walk on the farm.

Now, living on a 3500 acre farm in such a remote, beautiful spot, you’d think I go for regular walks and take advantage of the beauty and wide open spaces, wouldn’t you ? But I don’t. The reasons why, might just surprise you …

In most places in remote parts of Africa, if you have a white skin, you are seen as something of a curiosity. Something to be stared at, laughed at, called out to, touched (especially your hair – they are fascinated by this). In some parts, they believe that if you touch a white man, you will be blessed and will have good luck in your life. (This is all by children, I might add.)

Many a time we have been traveling on remote roads and have had to stop for a roadside toilet/food/water/stretch- your-legs break, only to be surrounded, within minutes, by wide eyed children who seem to appear from nowhere, peering at us, laughing, calling out, watching. We have a friend who has been literally mobbed on his motorbike here, when stopping at a remote petrol station for fuel. Surrounded by a sea of people who closed in on him - in awe of the motorbike – wanting to touch it, and the white person on it. A pretty scary (but harmless) experience.

We have staff who live on our farm with their families. We also have people living on the border of our farm. As we have no fences here, we allow people to walk through parts of the farm to get where they need to go. Especially children passing to and from a local school, or fetching water (we have water supply points on the farm for the use of the local people).

When we first moved here, I would strap my daughter (who was then just a newborn baby) into a pouch and with the dogs at my heels, would set off on a walk. Only to be followed by children. First a couple, then a few more. Then even more. At one stage, I had around 12 following me, all shouting “Mzungu ! Mzungu !” (White man ! White man !) and the braver ones would cry “Good Morning, Teacher ! Good Morning Teacher !” and my worst “Mzungu, Mzungu, give us money !” or “Mzungu, Mzungu, give us pens !” (In some parts of Africa, the only white people they see are volunteer/aid workers or missionaries, who give them hand outs so in some places they only equate white people with …. free stuff !)

Of course, this would annoy the dogs who would then chase the kids. I could not hold 4 dogs on a leash, and carry my daughter ! The children would shriek, which would annoy the dogs even more. My daughter would start crying. It was terrible. So, I started walking at times of the day when there were less people around. But there are ALWAYS people around, so that didn’t help. I left the dogs at home. Which encouraged more people to follow me, as they had no fear of the dogs now. So I started taking Justin with me, to control the dogs. Then one day a child threw a stone at the dogs, the dogs chased the kids (3 of them) and as they ran off one tripped, the dogs jumped on him but luckily did not hurt him. That was the last walk I ever took here. It was just not worth it. Now I keep my walks short and stick to the farm workshop/main house/guest house areas.

So on Sunday, as there were 4 adults and 3 children (we had to leave the dogs at home) we had strength in numbers and luckily my husband was with us and no one would dare carry on like that with the “Meneger” (Manager) around. So it was a peaceful walk, and I managed to take some photo’s of the house from a different angle than I normally would.

I love exercise DVD’s, especially Leslie Sansone’s “Walk Away The Pounds” which is basically, indoor walking in front of your TV – sounds crazy, doesn’t it ?! Often, in the middle of one of these workouts I laugh and think to myself, these DVD’s are meant for people living in small spaces and high rise apartment buildings in big cities and I really do wonder what Leslie would say if she knew that she had an avid follower, who lived on a 3500 acre farm in the foothills of Kilimanjaro yet was unable to set foot outside her front door and just ..... WALK !!!!!!