Bouille

As I was walking around village I came across a mother, Delphine, who I see at our monthly baby weighing sessions. She was in the middle of bathing her eldest, a 5 year old standing in a basin of water, when she stopped me. Her arms were still covered in suds as she beckoned me over, wanting me to see that she was getting the ingredients ready to make the enriched bouille, or porridge, that I had demonstrated the week before.

In preparation for the cooking demonstration I went around collecting the ingredients needed. The tasks involved me going to the neighboring town with one of the apprentices, Gaston, on their market day. The market was so vibrate, by no means large, only larger than my own, therefore having a bit more of a selection. Women were perched under trees or where ever they could find shade to sell their produce; tomatoes that we can’t find in my village, palm oil a deep color of red, and various other goods. When buying the corn, millet, peanuts, and soybeans needed, women would fill the basins until a pyramid is formed and anything added falls off the sides. And as always there is the joy of discuteing or bargaining for prices. Gaston, being a man and never having to purchase food at the market, helped by finding a female relative nearby to discuté for us.

After purchasing the necessities we had to grill them before the demonstration, nothing here is a simple task. So the mid wife of the health center, Mireille, helped me grill. We got all set up when a woman in labor came in. But that didn’t stop Mireille. She helped me grill while checking up her patient and halfway through she left to deliver the baby, talk about multi tasking.

The ingredients were bought, grilled, mixed and taken to the mill; we were ready. When the scheduled baby weighing day arrived, we waited for about 2 hours, only 3 women came. Not being enough to make a pot of bouille we sent the mothers away with a task; bring back other mothers. The next day after waiting about an hour, in other words on time, a wave of two dozen mothers came with their babies strapped to their backs.

Merielle and I weighed the babies. With no proper scale, Mamas mount an adult scale holding their baby, then give me their baby and we calculate the weight of the baby. (I love weighing babies this way, they’re usually sleeping and so cute! However it’s very inaccurate, but I’m working on getting a proper one.) Then we let the mothers to making the bouille. Two left to fetch water, a few started the fire, and when the fire was started and the water arrived, that’s when we discovered it, a hole in the cauldron. Yikes! So much for being prepared. Immediately heads turned towards Maman Chabelle, a regular who makes large quantities of food to sell and therefore had a cauldron large enough.

With an intact cauldron the rest of the session went well. Mothers had a chance to socialize a bit, take a break from their normal routine of going to the fields. I revised some of the topics that we previously mentioned and explained what the preparation went into making the bouille. They all turned their noses when I mentioned soybeans, even though their nutritious, they had a bad rep for a bitter taste. Luckily, we had sugar.

Babies got fed, Mamas ate too and the left overs were partitioned. Free food is always a favorite no matter what the culture. Overall the session was a success, and the session the following week went well too; but I can’t help to wonder if the Mamas listened or if they took away the importance of proper nutrition for their children or if they just left with free food. I’m sure it was that way for many. So when I saw Delphine preparing the bouille I was touched, she became an instant favorite. I even shrugged the fact that her twins who are only 4 months should be breastfed exclusively until 6 months, at least they were getting an enriched bouille.