Let me introduce you to the subject of food security and climate change. At the heart of it is something called Nzuu. The botanical name is peas. Anyone who has been in Ukambani during the May–August season will agree that nothing compares to Nzuu when it comes to taste. Some people have tried to compare it with Njahi, but please, “heshima sio utumwa.”(Respect!).
My sister sent me some green Nzuu over the weekend. As we tried peeling them with my wife and children, who struggled to pronounce the name, let alone grasp the psychomotor skills needed to process the seeds, the experience brought back fresh memories of my childhood.
Normally, Nzuu would come after a long drought in Ukambani, but only after we’d already had a taste of green maize and beans. The Nzuu plants would grow big. I remembered days when we would join two or three of the plants and “drive them” in our imaginations like cars.
There were only two cars in the village, and a matatu called Kathi no Kakoka, meaning, “even if it went to Machakos, it would still come back.” The journey usually took two days. Since then, Nzuu plants have continued to shrink in size, both for the plant and the seeds.
Peeling Nzuu was an exciting activity, mostly because of a game we played. We would sit in a circle around the kiondo filled with Nzuu. Whenever someone came across a pod with seven seeds, it was called a Kionza. You’d quickly pass it to one of your siblings.
Whoever received the Kionza had to keep an eye out for another Kionza to send back to the original giver. It was supposed to happen randomly as the Nzuu reduced in the kiondo, so you weren’t allowed to dig deep looking for one. You had to focus, or someone else would grab it first. It was believed that if you failed to return the Kionza, you’d end up with constipation after eating the githeri made from those Nzuu later that evening.
Looking back now, I realise whoever came up with that game must have been a tired parent who just wanted the kids to peel Nzuu faster. The game made it fun, and the work got done in the shortest time possible.
There’s no moral lesson to this story, only that during the whole experience over the weekend, I didn’t come across a single Kionza. This is a clear sign of climate change.