HOW TO TREAT SOYA BEAN MEANT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.

Soya is species of the legume like the bean but unlike most protein foods like meat and beans soya is considered a source of complete protein food because it contains all the essential amino acids.

Dried Soya beans

Soya can be eaten as stew, it can be roasted and ground into powder which is taken  as soya tea or mixed with porridge flour which is extremely nutritious especially for  young children or mixed with chapati or ugali flour or deep fried and eaten as a snack. Milk can also be extracted from the seeds. Just to name a few of its uses.

 Recently it has come to great attention that consumers of soya in Isinya have not been treating the bean. Soya contains a chemical known as trypsin inhibitors; these are chemicals that interfere with protein digestion in the body and may even cause pancreatic disorders. For human consumption soya beans must be treated in wet heat/ boiling water to destroy these trypsin inhibitors. It is for this reason that the ministry of agriculture’s (MOA) home economics department led by Loise Gakuru embarked on a soya treatment sensitization campaign.

Requirements

• Soya beans  (measured as per cooking requirement)
• Source of heat such as jiko
• Clean water
•  Clean sufuria

Soya treatment process

Step 1

Sort the soya to remove any discolored or spoilt beans.

Step 2

Bring water to boil.

Step 3

Pour a hand full of soya or less into the boiling water.

Loise Gakuru demonstrating how to treat soya

Notice that immediately the soya hits the boiling water the boiling subsides, wait for the boiling to resume then add another handful, then wait for the boiling to start boiling again before adding more this takes only a few seconds. Do this for the entire soya you intend to cook.

Step 4

Leave the soya beans to boil for at least 10 minutes

Notice that the seed coat of the soya comes out in the process.

Step 5

Pour out the water and prepare as preferred e.g.  Boil with maize for githeri, boil the same way you would boil beans, dry in the sun if you intend to dry roast them or grind them or any other way you may prefer to eat them.

Florence David translating the process to the elderly women

 It is important to note that all soya meant for human consumption should be treated this way.

By Njeri Kenyaggia

NASARU NTOYIE SAVING THE GIRL CHILD ONE BEAD AT A TIME

The Maasai are an asocial people where traditionally the woman is discriminated in social cultural, economic, religious and political aspects of life. The most gruesome of traditional practices in this community is female genital mutilation (FGM). This is a practice that has over the years has been attributed to bringing a lot of misery to the girl child as well as denying her a chance to an education since most of these girls are forcefully married off at a tender age. It is for this reason that in 1992 a group of bold women founded a group called Nasaru Ntoyie which is Maasai for let us save the girl child.

I had had a chance to talk to one of its founders Peninah Nasieku Tompo, adorned in the Maasai traditional wear she could easily pass for any Maasai woman. However there is nothing ordinary about Peninah also commonly known as mama Odu or mama Symo, is an extra ordinary woman. In Isinya and Kajiado at large she is a champion, a champion of the girl child’s rights.

Meet Peninah

At first glance she has a bubbly personality which hides her lifelong tale and burden she bears for her community. As I talk to her, this time not as casually as other days it strikes me that she is full of contagious passion.

Her story began nearly 40 years ago when a mzungu literally snatched from the hands of an ugly FGM and early marriage and this paved the way for an education. This experience opened many doors of opportunity for her something women in her community at the time could only dream of, it also enabled her to view the world around her from different lenses.

  Peninah now a  retired nurse and trained advocate is ironically a mother of 5 boys and one would then ask themselves then why the hustle to rescue other people’s children. She tells me that being a rescue case herself, it’s enough that she rescues other young girls as away to give back to society for changing her life for the better. She is also glad that the new constitution dispensation recognizes that FGM is a heinous crime.

Each member of the group is at task to make do some bead work which is later sold and a percentage of the money goes to educating girls who have been rescued by the group.

The road has not been without any bumps, Peninah has been threatened, criticized and even sometimes ostracized by her fellow women folk for the work she does, despite all this, vivacious Peninah cannot help but smile at the successes the group has had over the years, she tells me that a good number of girls that the group has rescued have now completed their university or college others working. The girls have also followed in her footsteps by rescuing girls in the villages they come from.

Peninah attends to a customer during an open day in Kitengela

Anyone who has seen a Maasai woman doing her bead work knows that it takes a lot of time effort and commitment, each bead goes in alone, but all beads together form an intricate design to be held at awe by all those who see it. In this same spirit Nassaru Ntoyie’s efforts will continue until each child is safe from FGM and forced early marriage and one bead at a time the group shall finally get there.    

Article written by Njeri Kenyaggia

Ardent farmer putting drip irrigation knowledge to good use

Noah Ng'otiek at extreme left attending to this farm

 

Drip Irrigation is a method of watering plants through plastic pipes called tapes. Single drops of water come out at a time to wet soil around the plants roots hence the name drip irrigation. This type of irrigation is common in this area because of its climatic conditions. The climatic conditions of Isinya and its environments are in arid and semi- arid regions thus making it more convenience to use it.

Mr. Noah Ng’otiek who is a farmer at Natala farm in Isinya, He explained that lately, there have been a lot of changes due to climate change; the rains have become erratic and the droughts more server. These changes have therefore drastically reducing pasture for his livestock, which for along time has provided a source of livelihood for him and his ancestors. It is for this reason that he decided to venture into farming something unique to the Maasais. He stated by harvesting water which he later on started using for drip irrigation as soon as he got information and training from Isinya Maarifa centre.

He cultivates onions, sukuma wiki (kales), cowpeas, capsicum (hoho) tomatoes, passion fruit and bananas, on large scale mostly for tender. Since water is applied straight to the root zone, there is a chance to apply nutrients along with the water.

Mr. Noah said that Isinya Maarifa center assists in provision of  knowledge for pastoralists to engage on other farming practices e.g. information on  agricultural farming through baobab and joto Africa publications ; through help of field exchange visits to other regions that practice latest systems in drip irrigation and dairy farming.

By Lydia Biri

FREE ICDL TRAINING

Beginning January /16 /2012 Isinya Maarifa Center one of ALIN's community knowledge centers embarked on a training program aimed at capacity building community members with skills in ICT for free.
by beginning of March 57 students had successfully completed the training.

We are currently training 54 more students at the moment and have already registered over 20 students for the May intake.

Isinya's District Education officer (DEO) Mr Ndungu Commended the center for  work well done.

FREE ICDL TRAINING TESTIMONIES

ALIN scoops Access to Learning Award ( ATLA) 2011

Arid lands information network is this year’s winner of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation access to learning award (ATLA).
The award recognizes the innovative efforts of public libraries or similar organizations outside the United States to connect people to information through free access to computers and the Internet.
Over the years ALIN has established 12 Maarifa / Knowledge centers across East Africa a noble initiative which enables communities in arid lands to access to computers, free internet service, free library services etc tools which enable them to access the information they need on agriculture, climate change, health and other livelihood issues

BOOKS FOR US

They say that Reading a book is like opening a little world that’s almost like a second life. An alliance between Arid lands Information Network (ALIN) and Book Aid International has opened many little worlds for the residents of Isinya, giving second lives to our library users through a donation of books. The arrival of a consignment of 8 cartons of books is a dream come true, a dream to ensure that information continues to flow to those who need it the most, those that will transform today for a better tomorrow.
Book aid international is an NGO that aims at supporting literacy by increasing community access to books by distributing them to those who need them the most. ALIN on the other hand, connects communities with information by facilitating its free access through its maarifa centers. If this isn’t a match made in heaven then you tell me what is.
The books range from children’s book, novels, books on agriculture, human rights, gender, community development, climate change, health... you name it, have added more variety to our already existing free library service. The 8 boxes couldn’t have come at a better time, just when schools have closed… now , more anxious readers continuously stream into the center ,excited children asking for story books and workbooks, secondary school goers for novels and text books, teachers and university students for reference books, nurses flocking the health section cannot get enough of our collection. I must say for a community knowledge center like ours, there is nothing as amazing as seeing such a noble effort by ALIN and Book Aid go to good use as eager readers take short notes , small bits of knowledge that could be the beginning of their transformation, after all, Life transforming ideas are said to come through books.