Tlou Mpai

INDOOR COMPOSTING Composting is a process of turning organic matter that one would normally throw out into something beneficial. Organic food material includes waste such as vegetable waste, fruit waste, egg shells, coffee grinds, tea bags(also known as green waste), basically waste that is not animal based. Composting allows for organic material to turn into a nutrient rich form of soil that can be used to grow healthy plants. Other organic material that is good for composting includes paper products, trimmed grasses, twigs and/or leaves from your lawn and garden (also known as brown waste). Organic waste makes up almost a third  of waste that is thrown away, composting will ensure that these materials are kept out of landfills where they take up space and release harmful greenhouse gases such as methane. WHAT YOU WILL NEED: A container (Bucket with lid or plastic bin with lid) Hammer and nails Soil Shredded paper/newspaper Instructions Choose a location for your indoor compost bin, the kitchen is a highly recommended location Make  five evenly spaced holes in the lid of the container for ventilation. Air is  necessary to help the materials in your bin break down. Add dirt- Start with soil on the bottom and some shredded newspaper on top. Then add kitchen waste like banana peels, coffee grounds, and eggshells everyday as you cook or clean out your fridge. Stir your compost- Stir the compost about once a week to aerate the mixture. Be sure to put the lid back on tightly to avoid attracting unwanted pests. Tips If your bin is starting to stink, add dry leaves or newspaper to your pile. This will balance the wet-dry content ratio, controlling any acidic odours. For quick results: Chop food into small pieces and shred your paper or tear it into thin strips. Smaller items break down quicker Have a stash of shredded paper or dry leaves readily available: Add a handful or two every time you add food scraps or coffee grounds to your bin. This will keep compost from getting too soggy, as well as provide carbon to your bin.

How to make a tippy tap A tippy tap allows for hands to be washed without touching the stand and therefore stopping the spread of dirt and germs that can be found on a normal tap. Material needed • Plastic 5L container with a handle and a cap (example: water bottle or milk bottle) • Bar of soap • Long rope • Short rope • Big nail • Screw driver • Candle and matches/ Lighter • 4 Long wooden sticks (2 meters) • 2 Short wooden sticks (1 meter) • Plier • Stones/ gravel • Pen • cloth Instructions Attach a piece of string of 1-meter length to one of the short sticks. Making holes: Mark the location for the hole on the container, around 12 cm below the cap with a pen Heat the nail: Hold the nail with a pair of pliers, and heat the nail with a lighter or candle. If you do not have pliers, use a piece of cloth to hold the nail Make holes with the hot nail, make a hole in the marked container and a second hole in the cap Insert the rope: Put the rope, which is attached to the short stick, through the hole in the cap. Make a knot in the rope which cannot pass through the hole. Screw the cap back on the container. The stick is now connected to the container with the rope. Using a screwdriver/pen, make a hole through the soap by slowly rotating and pushing the screwdriver/pen through the soap Put the second piece of rope through the hole in the soap, and tie a piece of wood to it. Fill the container with water, up to the level of the hole Construct a frame out of the four long sticks, by pushing them into the ground in a tepee shape, and tying together at the top with string. Put the stones/gravel on the ground underneath the frame to stop puddles forming Put the shorter stick through the handle of the container, and put the stick between the poles horizontally across the two tepee shapes you’ve formed with the longer sticks. Adjust the length of the rope on the container cap to about 15cm above the ground Tie the rope with the soap to the short stick that has been laid horizontally Using the tippy tap • Push the stick down with your foot. This tips the container, which makes water run out of the hole. • Wet your hands and release the stick. • Apply soap to your hands. • Push the stick down again and clean your hands.

Healthy snacking With everyone under lockdown, suddenly everyone has too much time on their hands and everyone seems to be eating their boredom away by snacking. In most cases, the snacks that we eat are unhealthy, everyone seems to love junk food however snacking does not have to be unhealthy. Nutrition plays a huge role in our overall health and unhealthy snacks such as sweets, potato chips, fizzy drinks, etc contain a lot of unhealthy substances like fat, sugar, salt and lastly they lack vitamins All of these factors put us at a high risk of developing cancer, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and bloating. Let’s go for  healthy snacks.   Eating healthy snacks improves overall health, reduces cravings, fights weight gain, regulates mood, boosts brain power and gives you the energy you need to keep going all day. Snack ideas: Nuts Greek/plain yogurt with mixed berries Apple slices with peanut butter Sweet potato/ butternut chips Cucumber slices with cream cheese/cottage cheese Boiled eggs with paprika Carrot sticks with dip (try putting chick peas in the blender  with peanut butter) Celery sticks with peanut butter Popcorn made with a tiny amount of oil/butter Easy recipes to try: Apple chips: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a55596/healthy-apple-chips-recipe/ Sweet potato chips: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a49369/sweet-potato-chips-recipe/ Spicy chickpeas https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a27496150/cool-ranch-chickpeas-recipe/ Fruit yoghurt bites https://www.eatsamazing.co.uk/family-friendly-recipes/snack-ideas-recipes/cooking-children-frozen-fruity-yoghurt-bites Potato chips in the microwave  https://www.practicalmommy.com/homemade-potato-chips-in-the-microwave/ Honey garlic Cauliflower bites (use instead of siracha)  https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a47636/honey-garlic-cauliflower/ Benefits of healthy snacking: Prevents overeating: healthy snacking helps to keep you from getting overly hungry between meals and prevents overeating at your next meal Keeps blood sugar levels steady: healthy snacking helps to keep your blood sugar levels even, especially if you eat a consistent amount of carbs at each snack. This will prevent mood swings Provides nutrients: eating nutritious snacks will help ensure that you meet your daily nutrients intake Tips: Do not snack before a meal. Snacking out of boredom and for emotional reasons is not healthy and can lead to overeating and weight gain. Have snacks that are less than 100 calories Pick snacks that are low in added fat and sugar and high in fibre and water. Challenge yourself by not buying unhealthy snacks. Out of sight out of mind. Remember that a snack is not a meal Tlou Mpai

LOCKDOWN ACTION – Grow seedlings While you are in lockdown, what better time to grow seedlings, so that you can plant them out once we are outside again. Containers You can use lots of things that go into your rubbish bin! Yogurt pots, egg cartons, milk cartons, toilet roll holders can all be used. Compost Use an old container and make small holes in it so that it can breathe. Cut up vegetable peelings and fruit peelings as small as possible and mix them in with some torn up newspapers or cardboard or leaves from outside. Keep it damp. Every day put in your kitchen waste and then cover with newspaper or torn up cardboard.  After a couple of weeks you can use it for your seedlings, mixed with some soil. Seeds In lockdown supermarkets are supposed to be selling seeds, if they aren’t then speak to the manager. You can also start with seeds from food you have bought. Try out avocado pits, pepper seeds, tomato seeds Planting, always check the seed packet to see how deep you should plant your seeds. Some need to be sprinkled on top of soil while others need to be buried in the soil. Watering: Try to water seeds/plants from the bottom, ensure that they are moist and never soaking or dry. Thinning: Once seedlings take root, make sure they have enough space to grow, this can be done by thinning them out and just leave one in the container to grow further.   You can replant the extras instead of throwing them away. Less dependence: Once you have learnt to grow your own seeds, you will no longer depend on someone else to start your garden. Here are a few videos to give you ideas Growing an avocado https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-grow-avocado-plants-258836 Seed pots out of toilet rolls, egg trays and newspaper  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP5Fa6A5lFM

#LOCKDOWN ACTION – SEW A FACEMASK Anyone can make a mask – you don’t need a sewing machine, you can sew by hand. We should all wear cloth masks, we need to keep the medical masks for health care workers and not buy them for our use. Cloth masks can be washed and reused, so we don’t end up creating more waste. There are many patterns, but the most important features are that the face is covered from ABOVE the nose to BELOW the chin and almost up to the ears. Two layers is best SEWN FACEMASKS  What you will need 1. Material – 2 different types/colours to distinguish outer and inner  (or mark the outside with a marker) • Outer layer – robust, tightly woven if possible • Inner layer – linen/cotton or a heat resistant, washable material 2. Thread 3. Elastic/tape/bias binding – you can be inventive here and  cut up strips of T-shirt material Pattern is from  https://sweetredpoppy.com/how-to-sew-a-surgical-face-mask/ Metric measurements are: 18cm x 23cm for the material 18cm x 2 for short elastic around ears 33cm x 2 for elastic behind the head 40cm x 4 for tape/bias binding/t-shirt binding 2. Cut out two pieces of cotton material for each mask – use a colourful piece of material for the outside and a piece of calico or different colour for the inside. 3. Instead of elastic that goes around the ears, a more comfortable fit is achieved by sewing two lengths of elastic to the long side of the material. Thus, the elastic fits behind one’s head, like a dust mask. (pictures below) 4. If you have run out of elastic, you can attach 4 lengths of tape/bias binding instead. 40cm each 5. Don’t sew the turning opening closed at the end. Rather leave it open so that a filter may be inserted. For the filter you can use paper towel or toilet paper and replace every day NO SEW FACEMASKS For a quick fix you can use this method: bandanna and hair ties WASH THE FACEMASK EVERYTIME YOU GO OUT AND IRON IT ON A HOT IRON

Why not do a Bible study – either with the people at home, or a zoom/hangout/Skype call with your cell group or a group of friends There are some wonderful Bible Studies availablehttps://atyourservice.arocha.org/en/planetwise-2008-resource-pack-bible-studies/ https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/bible%20study%20material%20on%20the%20environment%20including%20worship.pdf https://learn.tearfund.org/en/resources/publications/footsteps/footsteps_11-20/footsteps_20/bible_study/ https://learn.tearfund.org/en/resources/publications/footsteps/footsteps_81-90/footsteps_89/bible_study/