Recipes from Uganda: Peanut Soup

We have never tried peanut soup, but since my kids both love the taste of peanuts, I want to try out this Ugandan dish! Have you ever tried Peanut Soup?

Ingredients:
3 tbsp peanut oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks, washed and chopped
2 red bell peppers, deseeded and cubed
1 tbsp curry powder
3 c water
2 tomatoes, cubed
1 hot chili, finely chopped
Salt, to taste
4½ oz peanut butter
Juice of 1 lime

Directions:
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onions and celery and sauté gently for 10 minutes over medium heat.
Stir in the bell peppers and chilli and sauté 5 minutes more.
Sprinkle the curry powder over the top then add the water and tomatoes.
Season to taste with salt, bring to a boil then cover the pan and cook over low heat for 40 minutes.
Whisk together the peanut butter and lime juice until smooth, and then beat mixture into the soup.
Stir to combine and serve immediately.

Recipe and photos are courtesy of Compassion International.

About Hannah Hinojosa...Hannah is a long time Compassion sponsor (she was Sherinah's sponsor) and writes about her sponsorship journey at Because of Shamim. In addition to being a wife and mother, she is a part-time math professor and loves to read.

Kidepo Valley National Park

This week I want to share about the Kidepo Valley National Park!

The Kidepo Valley National Park lies between Kenya and Sudan, in the semi-arid valleys. The park has two rivers, Kidepo and Narus, but both disappear in the dry season.

Due to it's location and climate, the park is home to over 77 mammals, many being large animals like lions, giraffes, elephants, hyenas, kudus, leopards, cape buffalo, bushpig, warthog, bushbuck, bushduiker, Defassa waterbuck, Bohor reedbuck, Jackson’s hartebeest and oribi. The photo below shows you what a bushduiker looks like!

The park is also home to 475 bird species! The largest bird in the Kidepo Valley National Park is the ostrich, but this park is known for its many birds of prey. There are 56 species of birds of prey and the 14 are endemic to Uganda. Verreaux’s Eagle, pictured below, is one of the endemic birds of prey that can be found in the Kidepo Valley National Park.

National Park information and photos are courtesy of Uganda Wildlife Authority.

About Hannah Hinojosa...Hannah is a long time Compassion sponsor (she was Sherinah's sponsor) and writes about her sponsorship journey at Because of Shamim. In addition to being a wife and mother, she is a part-time math professor and loves to read.

Recipes from Uganda: Katogo

In the fall, when pumpkins are for sale, I always buy them and then run out of recipes! My husband does not like pumpkin pie, but I imagine he would enjoy this soup.

Ingredients:
8 oz dry beans
2 lb potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium-sized pumpkin, peeled and cubed
8 oz green vegetables, chopped
Salt (to taste)
2 medium-sized onions, chopped

Directions:
In large pot over medium heat, boil beans in water until they are soft.
Mix in potatoes, pumpkin, green vegetables and salt to taste.
Add chopped onions.
Add water if needed and cook on medium heat for 45 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve hot.

Recipe and photos are courtesy of Compassion International.

About Hannah Hinojosa...Hannah is a long time Compassion sponsor (she was Sherinah's sponsor) and writes about her sponsorship journey at Because of Shamim. In addition to being a wife and mother, she is a part-time math professor and loves to read.

The SNH Printer!

Thanks to a generous donor, SNH was able to buy some items and contribute to the needs of the SNH children. One of the items bought was a printer, due to the need shared here.

Thank you, our dear donor! What a blessing you are SNH, especially the kids. We will be sharing more about SNH's uses of the donation at a later time.

Kibale National Park

This week I want to share about the Kibale National Park!

The Kibale National Park is named after the Kibale mountain, which stands at 1,590m above sea level. The lowest point of the Kibale National Park is 1,100m on the floor of the Albertine Rift Valley. Since the Kibale National Park has so much elevation change, there is a variety of terrain, from tropical forests to swamps to grasslands to elevated plateaus.

The Kibale National Park is home to over 350 species of tree and some of the trees are over 200 years old! That means these trees were around before the Civil War! And some of the trees grow up to 55 meters (or over 180 feet) tall!

And the Kibale National Park is most famous for being home to 13 species of primate, including chimpanzees, redtailed monkeys, blue monkeys, L’hoest’s monkey, and the eastern needle-clawed bushbaby.

National Park information and photos are courtesy of Uganda Wildlife Authority and Ngogo Chimpanzee Project.

About Hannah Hinojosa...Hannah is a long time Compassion sponsor (she was Sherinah's sponsor) and writes about her sponsorship journey at Because of Shamim. In addition to being a wife and mother, she is a part-time math professor and loves to read.

Emmanuel's Dream

Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson and Sean Qualls shares about life on the other coast of Africa, in Ghana. But I wanted to share this story because Emmanuel has something in common with our SNH kids--he is disabled. And just how Sherinah always reminds us that SNH is about transforming disability into ability, Emmanuel's is a testimony of this phrase.

Emmanuel's mother helps him learn strength, and to show others that he can do anything a "healthy" person can do. Not only does Emmanuel succeed in life, but he publicly shared his disability to raise awareness!

This book was a little advanced for my three-year-old, but I loved the story and the pictures. The message of this book is incredible. Emmanuel's mom is such a wonderful example of someone who shared with her son that he had abilities. You can do the same for the children in the SNH program! To see waiting children, click here.


All photos are courtesy of Amazon.

About Hannah Hinojosa...Hannah is a long time Compassion sponsor (she was Sherinah's sponsor) and writes about her sponsorship journey at Because of Shamim. In addition to being a wife and mother, she is a part-time math professor and loves to read.