The Amazing Resilience of the Kachere Sisterhood
By: Pat Snyder & Patti Hughes (team #1)

The spirit of the Kachere sisterhood was evident on our first day as we drove up the dirt road to their CBO centre. (community based organization) Twenty women dressed in there colourfull chitangis welcomed us with open arms, singing and dancing with joy and enthusiasm. Every day we saw evidence of mothers caring for their children and grandchildren and supporting one another with daily tasks including;
- Carrying water from the wells
- Hoeing crops
- Cooking meals over outdoor fires
- Chopping vegetables and chicken
- Washing clothes in the river
- Caring for the elders
- Helping with the manual labour to build the community child care centre and latrine
- Sweeping and cleaning indoors and the grounds outdoors
- Participating in the maize harvest which is the main staple of their diet

Maize is used for the main food source (sima) and preparation is more involved than one would think, including;
- Picking the cobs from the corn stalks
- Husking the corn
- Removing the kernels from the cobs
- Separating the kernels from the chaff
- Drying the kernels on large mats in the sun
- Bagging the cobs for fuel
- Bagging the kernels
- Grinding and pounding the dry kernels to make maize flower to make sima (like polenta)

Periodically, while carrying out these tasks, they would burst into spontaneous rounds of song and dance.