Making Umqombothi in Kliptown

After our lunch we went to walk to a house where they were making the local beer called Umqombothi. This is a traditional South African Beer made from malt, mielie meal (maize) and yeast. It is very high in vitamin-B and has a sour taste. 

But first a bit of a walk through Kliptown, which its lovely people!

These boys asked me to take a picture of them, love these smiles :-)

School kids on their way home.

A nice day to hang out the laundry.

Some local houses, some very colorful.

Another house.

Before we entered the house we saw some chickens laying around, it looked like they had no feet anymore, maybe these were the chicken feet we had for lunch??

We were invited in this grandfather's home, his daughter was making the beer.

Here is the daughter making the Umqombothi in the kitchen, it was not ready yet, so we couldn't taste it... but I don't think any of us cared that much anyway.

Something green/yellow was floating in there, that I think did not belong in there...

If you don't want to make it yourself, you can buy it in these tetra packs. Looks like a milk carton, but it has the beer in it. And the custom is to share one pack. I went once to a local cafe, called a Shebeen and we had it there. Not my kind of drink!

By the way, do you recognize the song played in this video? It was used at the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and a song played often in African countries. The song is from a great African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka. Africans love to sing and dance! This tradition of making the beer is still done today!

Yvonne Chaka Chaka : Umqombothi

We MaDlamini
Uph’umqombothi (3x)

Verse
I work hard every day
To make my beer
(Umqombothi)
Wake up early every morning
To please my people with African beer
(Umqombothi)
I make sure the fire burns
To make my beer
(Umqombothi)
My special beer Umqombothi
(Umqombothi)
Is African beer

Chorus
We MaDlamini (Everybody)
Uph’umqombothi (Come and drink my)
We MaDlamini (magic beer)
Uph’umqombothi

Verse
I work hard to make them happy
Every weekend (Umqombothi)
Makes them party to the rhythm
Makes them dance, this magic beer (Umqobothi)
I wanna make you happy (Umqobothi)
I wanna make you smile (Umqobothi)
I wanna make you dance (Umqobothi), dance
I’ll make sure there’s a party
Where they drink my special beer
Umqombothi is magic beer
Umqombothi is African beer

Chorus 3x
We MaDlamini (Everybody)
Uph’umqombothi (nawu)
We MaDlamini Uph’umqombothi (nawu madoda)

Wozani ka MaDlamini
Wozani ngithi wozani
Wozani ka MaDlamini
Come on I wanna make you happy
I wanna make you smile lets boogie together
Umqombothi (Umqombothi)

I work hard every day
To please my people with African beer

Here is the recipe so you can make your own beer, it is healthy, so why not give it a try! And it is only 7 easy steps...

Ingredients for Umqombothi:

• 5 kg (about 11 lb.) Malt
• 2.5 kg (5.5 lb.) Mielie Meal
• x2 20g Packets of Brewer’s yeast
• 25 litres of lukewarm water

1. Use a big open dish, mix the malt and mielie meal with the lukewarm water.
2. Leave the mixture in a cool place overnight or until it tastes sour.
3. Boil water in a pot, and pour the mixture into it. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring regularly.
4. After cooking it pour the mixture in an open dish and allow to cool down.
5. When it has cooled down, add more of the malt to the mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. Add the Yeast, mix again and leave overnight.
7. You can strain and serve it the following morning.

What a great experience we had that day in Kliptown, see my previous posts about the Shwe Shwe poppies, the children in the Creche at the Feeding Scheme and our spectacular lunch! This was all done in one day.... just a day in our lives here in South Africa!

I am grateful for all these experiences, it enriches our lives so much!

Hope you have a great day as well,

Mireille xx

A visit to the African Children's Feeding scheme

After the Shwe Shwe poppies (see my last blog post) we went to the Creche were the children are during the day, the ones who drew the poppies are bigger now and not at the centre anymore. But many other children are there and we were looking forward seeing them.

Outside the centre we saw that many women were tending small plots of gardens, so there is more to this centre than meets the eye at first.

There are in total 13 centres like this in SA and in total they feed 31 000 children from poverty-stricken homes are fed daily by ACFS. Many are orphans affected or infected with HIV/Aids – and this could well be their only meal of the day.

Food is prepared at each of the 13 community centres. Children who go to school within walking distance of one of the centres come at break time or after school for their daily meal.
Records are kept for each child – and failure to collect their meal acts as a warning that something may be amiss at home; one of our sisters will then call to check on the family at home.

Communal vegetable gardens at each of the 13 centres encourage and teach women (and some men!) how to grow their own food.
Each woman is given her own vegetable bed and is responsible for planting, weeding, watering and reaping – with help on hand if she needs it.
Even though the beds are small, by planting three or four different types of vegetables in rotation, enough food can be grown all year round to feed an entire family.
Once the women gain the necessary skills and confidence, they are encouraged to start their own vegetable patch at home. Surplus cabbages, potatoes and carrots can be sold to neighbours to earn a little extra income.

We had a peek into the kitchen of the centre and today on the menu was Pap and Fish, from the cans you see on the table there. Simple but at least these children are lucky to have a warm meal a day!

These children are left alone after the death of their parents: penniless, frightened and the centre takes care of these children. To see these precious faces it just broke my heart!

They showed us some songs and dances they had learned at the centre and this is the song of the national Anthem, all with their hands on their hearts and in the air, so so cute!!

Outside during recess they all wanted to high five me or do the African buddy thingy... touching your tumb with their tumb. All craving the attention of us....

Such a wonderful organisation, they do such good work! See their website of all the other things they do and maybe you like to help in one way or the other. Which is possible even if you live overseas!

Now I want to even buy more Shwe Shwe poppies, so we can help these children! Next time I will visit them I also will bring them some lollipops, I so wished I had them with me when I saw all these precious faces, but we had no clue when we started this trip that morning we would come here.

Next time I will be better prepared!!

But the day was not over yet... now we were heading for a lunch of a life time!!
Next blog post more about that...

Ciao, Mireille