Slice of life: fishing for dinner

One day last week, as I was hanging out with some kids after school had ended, someone yelled something in Swahili to the children, and they all got up & started quickly walking down towards the lower part of the school grounds.  It turns out they were going fishing!  The school has several tilapia ponds, including a large one that a student told me has 8,000 fish in it.  This day, however, they were just fishing the two small ponds.

As we walked down, one of the children asked me how we go fishing in America.  They thought it was hilarious (and mind-blowingly inefficient) that we use a line and a hook to catch one fish at a time.  I discovered, as we approached the pond, that fishing here meant a handful of the older boys were moving a net as large as the pond from one end to the other, scooping up the fish in it as they went.

The children loved watching, and once the net was pulled out of the pond, they eagerly helped pick the fish from it to put in the bucket.  We all shared a lot of laughter as they tried to hold the squirmy fish for a picture.

Of course, the boys who did the fishing took the opportunity to get in a little swimming after the net was pulled out!  The ponds usually have a net stretched across the top to keep birds from getting the fish, so it was a rare opportunity for these boys to have the net up and no fish in the pond.  They were all shivering from cold when they climbed out, but I’m sure they thought it was worth it!

As many of you probably know, I am a vegan/vegetarian (depending on the food sources), but in Kenya, I do allow myself tilapia since I know where it comes from.  I especially love when I see it caught fresh!  Someone must have heard me telling some of the children that I love tilapia, because someone sent one over to the house where I’m staying for me to have for dinner that night.  They spoil me so much!  Nothing beats fresh, Kenyan tilapia mere hours after it’s been swimming through the pond.