Being Gluten-Free in Africa

For those of you who don’t know, I have Celiac’s disease. Celiac’s disease is a condition where a person’s body is unable to digest gluten. Gluten is found in grains such as wheat, flour, barley, rye, and oats.

Being gluten-free in the States can be challenging. Whenever I go out to eat, I have to call ahead and check the menu to make sure they have gluten-free options. Unfortunately, not all restaurants have gluten-free options. Luckily, most of my friends in the States know my allergy and are always very considerate about my food restrictions. In addition, Celiac’s disease is becoming more common and more information about it is being spread. Grocery stores have gluten-free aisles and companies are now including gluten allergen information on their products. This is making it easier for people who have gluten allergies to eat out safely.

However, no one knows about Celiac’s Disease or gluten allergies in Africa. When I first arrived in Serowe for Pre-Service Training, I had to explain about my allergy to my host family. My host mother did not understand. I had to explain to her many times, and in many different ways what I could and couldn’t eat. I had to explain that pasta has gluten in it. I had to explain that I can’t eat oil that has touched gluten before. And I had to explain that the spoon they use to cook food with can’t be set down on the counter, because the counter has wheat on it, and I will get sick from cross-contamination. The first week or so in Serowe, I got sick often. However, after most of the gluten had been purged from the house, and once my host mother understood what my allergy was, I didn’t get sick anymore.

Being gluten-free in Africa, however, is a bit harder than it is in the States. In the States, if I went on a road trip, I could pack a lunch with a gluten-free sandwich. Here, there are no gluten-free substitutes.

Luckily, because of globalization, being gluten-free isn’t impossible in Africa. Food, such as chips and spices are labeled with their allergen information, including whether or not the product contains gluten, or if it was manufactured in a facility with gluten in it. In addition, my friends and I were able to find gluten-free flour and brownie mix at an upscale “Super-Spar” (a grocery store in Botswana) in Orapa. Orapa is a diamond-mining town that we were able to visit during PST. However, Orapa is a walled-off city and you need a passport and special invitation to get into it, so the likelihood that I will ever find these gluten-free products again is slim.

My apologies if this post is a little long, but it was important to me to share the experience of having Celiac’s. Especially, since when I was first applying to the Peace Corps, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be accepted because of my gluten allergy.  In fact, I almost didn’t apply. However, I did apply. And I was accepted. I share this allergy with millions of other Americans, and maybe there are others who are also afraid it might impact their application for the Peace Corps. They shouldn’t. As a Celiac’s, I might not have been considered for certain countries because of my dietary restrictions, but I was, in fact, accepted into the Peace Corps.

There are four other people in Bots ’14 (the group the Peace Corps Volunteers that came over with me) that cannot eat gluten as well. And I am so grateful they were here with me.  Together, we were able to manage the struggles of being gluten-free together. We were given special gluten-free food baskets to accommodate our dietary restrictions (we didn’t receive any special gluten-free goods, but instead of being given bread or cereal in our food baskets, we were given an extra carton of eggs and another bag of fruit). When there were catered events, we were able to explain together to the caterers our allergy, and figure out what we could and couldn’t eat.

My daily diet usually consists of eating fruits and vegetables, so eating gluten-free in Botswana isn’t that hard for me. However, sometimes it is nice to have something different. And, during PST, my fellow gluten-free friends and I were able to come up with some excellent recipes using ingredients we could find in Botswana, for foods we were able to make in the States.  

Below, I have listed some of the recipes we have cooked and created while here. Please note that because we had no measuring cups in Serowe, a cup of sorghum is literally a cup (technically we used a mug) of sorghum, and a tablespoon of oil is literally a spoon of oil. So if your recipe comes out a little odd, don’t be afraid to experiment. That’s how we learned to make these! Please try to re-create, and enjoy!

Sorghum Pancakes:

2 cups sorghum powder

2 eggs

3 tablespoons of oil

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1.5 cups of milk

Mix all ingredients together and cook like normal pancakes. Eat with peanut butter and sliced bananas (or another fruit) on top. This works well as a very filling breakfast or a nice snack.  If you add vanilla extract, the pancakes don’t stick together very well, and they come out more as a pancake scramble (it resembles granola) and you can eat it like cereal with milk. It is delicious.

Add nutmeg and cinnamon and raisins, and it becomes more like a granola bar. In addition, if you add crushed pineapple and shredded carrots to the nutmeg, cinnamon, and raisins, it makes carrot cake (sort of)! It doesn’t hold together as well, so another egg might be needed, but if you put frosting or jam on top, it is similar!

Banana Pancakes:

1 Banana

2 Eggs

Optional:

1/8 cup of sorghum (this is to thicken the egg and banana mixture); if you don’t have sorghum, add any other type of flour (almond, rice) to thicken the batter

A Dash of Baking Soda (this makes the pancakes fluffy)

Mix all ingredients together and cook like normal pancakes. Eat with peanut butter if maple syrup is not available (which in Botswana, it’s hard to find, and very expensive).

Quiche:

Potatoes (sliced thinly, about ¼ an inch thick)

Red and Green Pepper

1 Onion

Zucchini

Mushrooms

Eggs

Milk

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Coat the bottom and sides of baking pan with oil, then line with the thinly sliced potatoes. Try to cover all holes with potato slices. Then put the pan in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes (or until the potatoes are baked and not hard anymore). This creates the crust.

Stir-fry the onion first, then add the peppers, next the zucchini, and last the mushrooms. You can add as many vegetables, and as many different types of vegetables as you want. The vegetables listed were just the ones available to us.

Mix the eggs and milk together. The ratio of this should vary depending on how big the pan you are using is. But for an 8x12 pan we used 5 eggs and 2-3 cups of milk.

Take the pan with the potatoes out of the oven. Cover the bottom with the shredded cheese. Add the vegetables. Add the egg and milk mixture. It should fill up to the top of the potato slices on the side. Top off the mixture with more shredded cheese.

Bake for about half an hour (or until the egg/milk mixture is quiche-like). And allow for time to cool. Finally, eat!

Summers in Botswana Are Not To Be Messed With

A fellow PCV told me that Botswana summers are not to be messed with. She was not wrong.

As I am writing this post, it is a balmy 104 degrees in my room.  And the sad part is, it is so hot outside, that when I walked into my room, I thought, “Oh, it’s cool in here.”

It has been 100 degrees plus all for about two weeks, and it doesn’t cool down much at night. Last night, it was 99 degrees when I went to bed. I keep cool at night by sleeping with frozen water bottles and a fan. In addition, when I climb into bed, it is actually so hot out, that my sheets are warm, and feel like I just took them out of the dryer.

One of the challenges of living in rural Botswana is that the electricity and water go out several times a week. When the electricity goes off, I can’t use my fan to keep cool. And, because there is no power, the water bottles in my fridge start to melt.

I can’t even take a cold bucket bath, because the weather is so hot that it is heating the water pipes, so my bucket baths are warm. To compound matters, my roof is tin, and I have no ceiling in my house. Therefore, my roof attracts heat.

Currently, it is the rainy season. And, while it hasn’t rained much, when it does rain, it cools down a lot, which I am grateful for. A few days ago, it was 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Thankfully, we experienced a massive thunderstorm and it cooled my room down to 86 degrees.

This blog post may sound like I am complaining. Let me be clear: I am not. I agreed to extreme weather and unpredictable water and electricity conditions when I signed up for the Peace Corps. These are just a few of the daily challenges that I have experienced since coming to site.

A few days ago, the water and electricity both went out. It was 100 out, and I was lying on the floor trying not to melt (side note: I finally understand how the Wicked Witch of the West felt in the Wizard of Oz, if only someone would throw water on me). However, it was the first time that I felt like a true Peace Corps Volunteer. Because I knew, that all around Botswana, there were hundreds of other Peace Corps Volunteers, sitting on the floors of their houses, possibly without water or electricity, trying not to melt into a puddle. Just like me.

And I love it.

Creepy Crawly Things

Because Sefhare is in an area of Botswana that tends to get more rain than the rest of Botswana, the bugs here are particularly fearsome. I will break down the creepy crawlies I have encountered since coming here for you:

Spiders: Generally harmless. I tend to leave them alone because they kill the mosquitos in my house. 

Centipedes: I saw a centipede that was as long as my forearm and as thick as my big toe crawling on my porch the other morning. I chased it away with a broom.

Beetles: Beetles are attracted to any light. They are thick and black. They tend to fall from my bedroom ceiling and make a loud crack sound when they hit the floor. However, they are harmless, and I sleep with a mosquito net, so any Beetles that would fall on me while sleeping are caught in the net.

Cockroaches: The first night in Sefhare, I battled a cockroach that was coming up from the pipes in my tub. It was gross and I finally managed to kill it by spraying it with about half a can of this wonderful bug insecticide called DOOM. However, I couldn’t push it back into the pipes because it was so big. I pushed as much of it back into the pipes as I could, however its antennae were still peeping up from the pipes. So I plucked its antennae from it’s head and hoped it would eventually disintegrate. I was squealing a lot during this encounter.

Thankfully, the only other bad encounter with a cockroach was when one the size of my pointer finger climbed down my wall (I was doing crunches, and when I leaned back I saw the little bugger climbing down from my wall). I immediately sprayed it with DOOM and (because of where it climbed out of) it fell in my bed frame. This caused me to spend several painful minutes searching carefully in my bed frame to see where it fell. As soon as I found it, I killed it with a shoe. Luckily, it was pretty disoriented from the DOOM and so it didn’t put up much of a struggle.

Scorpions: My. Worst. Nightmare. They are EVERYWHERE. They are huge, usually about the size of the palm of my hand. I have never hated bugs before, and was not scared when killing them in the States, but these scorpions are terrifying. They are also bright orange and hairy, which is gross.

The other night, I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard a squeaking/scratching sound coming from somewhere in my room. I turned on my very handy headlamp (thanks, Dad!) and saw a scorpion the size of my hand eating something it had just killed on my floor. I decided not to try and kill it, and instead tucked my mosquito net closer into my bed, and tried to go back to sleep. The next morning, I found the remains of its kill on my floor, along with something else that had also been eaten on my floor.

This is a picture of a scorpion I killed in my bathtub my first morning in Sefhare (and yes, that is my footprint you see around it):

I’ve seen scorpions run out of my laundry and be nestled in clothing I am about to wear. I check everything before I put it on now.  Just to be safe.

Yesterday the water went out. Luckily, I was able to store some water in a big pot to use later for brushing my teeth and drinking. I then left the pot on the counter of my sink. I came back half an hour later and a scorpion had fallen in and drowned to death in my drinking water.

Luckily, I don’t believe they are poisonous. The general rule of thumb that a PCV told me is this: If the pincers are bigger than the tail, it means that the primary way it catches its prey is by it pincers, and not stinging it with its tail. The pincers on the scorpions I have killed here are bigger than the tail, so… win?

Lizards: I have a family of lizards that live in my house. There is an adult and a few baby lizards. I have found them in almost every room in my house, but I tend to leave them alone because they eat the bugs.

In summation: DOOM is great. And I hate bugs in Botswana.

Beginning in Sefhare

Thank you all for your patience with the delayed blog posts. This week I will update my blog several times, so please stay tuned for more! Well, I am finally at my site in Sefhare! It has been quite an adventure.

We officially graduated from Peace Corps Trainees to Peace Corps Volunteers on October 15, 2013. Graduation was exciting and emotional. I was sad to leave Serowe and my friends, but equally excited to go to my new site.

I was picked up in Serowe by two members of the Red Cross (RC) chapter in Sefhare: Pascoline (the Rehabilitation Officer) and KB (RC Combi Driver). Pascoline and KB spent the day with me in a town called Palapye and helped me shop for supplies and food before heading to Sefhare.

Once in Sefhare, we stopped by the Red Cross Office to meet the other members of the Red Cross: Cecilia (the Admin Officer), Karabo (the Field Officer), Thobo (the Chef), Elsie (the Cleaner), Marea (Pre-School Teacher), Mpho (Teaching Assistant), Otiliah (Teaching Assistant) and Mma Seema (the School Head/Principal). They were all wonderful and incredibly welcoming. My furniture had not arrived (and still hasn’t!) so they loaned me a bed to sleep on and an electric stovetop burner to cook on.

We then headed to my house! My house in Sefhare has four rooms: A sitting room (currently empty because of lack of furniture), my bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen. As you can see in the pictures below, my house is unique. For example, when I need to go to the bathroom I have to walk outside to get to the bathroom. This isn’t a problem, except for in the morning when people walking in my neighborhood see me in my pajamas. This type of housing is typical of a lot of houses in Botswana. In addition, my landlady is wonderful. She makes me feel safe and welcome. 

Because I live in rural Botswana, there is no grocery store in my town. I can get some basics in my town, for example peanut butter, potatoes, beetroot and beans, but for more substantial food, I have to travel an hour to my shopping village: Mahalapye. At first, I didn’t think traveling an hour to get food was a big deal. I have since changed my mind.

The bus goes out of my village only four times a day. The bus is old, very hot, and packed with Batswana. If there are no seats, people just stand in the aisles. And, the bus almost never takes just an hour. The bus is prone to breaking down. And, since there are only four buses out of Sefhare, if the bus does break down, you have to wait on the side of the road for the next one. Thankfully, this hasn’t happened to me yet.

When I go to shop, I shop for two weeks at a time. I have to carefully plan out what I am going to eat for the next two weeks. And, if I forget something, I have no way of getting it. On the weekends, the food shops are packed with people. It is incredibly overwhelming, and, while I am not claustrophobic, I think I might have become claustrophobic while shopping during my first weekend in Mahalapye. I take my camping backpack with me to put food in. Because of the lack of buses and difficult shopping conditions, shopping is a whole day ordeal, and it is very exhausting, especially with a heavy pack. I shop twice a month, so when I shop, it is food for two weeks.

An additional challenge to having my village so far away is food storage. I have a refrigerator in my kitchen, however electricity goes out often. And, the weather is so hot here that I have lost a lot of food as a result.

Thankfully, my shopping village is only an hour away. I have a friend whose shopping village is three hours away, and there is only one bus out of her village per day. So she has to spend the night in her shopping village.

I have been in Sefhare for about a month now, and, so far, I love it. I have developed a daily routine that helps me feel grounded, and the community in Sefhare has made me feel very welcome. I have met a lot of new people, and everywhere I walk people call out “Mpho!” (my Setswana name, which means “gift” in Setswana) and are eager to strike up a conversation with me.

Please check back this week and next week for more posts about my job at the Red Cross, the progress I have made on my Community Assessment, weather, bugs, and almost everything in-between!