Food for Thought

“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”

On Monday, before meeting with the registrar of the Mtwara centre, I had a chance to sit with the secretary, Mama Christine Bez, have cocoa and chat for a bit and I really enjoyed it.  Her English is very good, and we talked about her family and mine, about the weather and other topics.  We also had a discussion on the kind of crops and cultivation we do and then she asked me if there was hunger in the US like in Tanzania.  While the answer to this is yes, there are people living with very little and who struggle to feed their families even in America, it was complicated for her to understand because of course it is different here, and so much of what you see on the TV and media will show that we have plenty of food and resources.  Mama even remembered some time ago when there was “yellow maize” sent from the states when Tanzania had a difficult growing season.  Life is certainly tougher here and the people continue to work so hard and have such positive attitudes, and I continue to learn there is much we take for granted back at home.

Then it was time to go into my meeting, and she asked me to please come visit her again and invited me to her home any time I wanted to stop by.   Conversations like this remind me why I am here and as I mentioned, I still have so very much to learn.  In a perfect world, no one would have to face poverty or hunger, and this centre has big plans to be a step in the right direction.  Many volunteers are working to make it sustainable so those who work and live here can continue on teaching after we are gone and help the trainees secure employment.  It isn’t easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.

I want to take a minute to share a success story of the centre and a small luxury received this week.  One of the trades taught here at VETA is food preparation, and to teach the students about the business end they have recently opened a bakery on campus (shout out to VSO advisor Claude, a great chef and teacher) and you can get rolls, baguettes, or even full fresh loaves for sandwiches for a good price a couple days a week.  YIPEE!  This was music to my ears as this is not something always readily available in this area.  It ALMOST makes me not miss cheese… almost.  Some more happiness came when they taught the students buffet style serving which means the usual rice and beans staff lunch was replaced by a delicious meal starting with a prawn cocktail.  Then we had fish with red wine reduction, beef curry, rice pilaf, chicken with white wine and mushroom sauce (hold the mushrooms for me), potatoes, and coleslaw.  We were all stuffed and happy for this little treat and the trainees did a fantastic job!!

After work the same day, my housemate Kayley, some fun Finnish folks I have met, Anna and Tuomas, along with their visiting parents who are living here in Mtwara were planning on taking out a Dhow (wooden sail/fishing boat) with a local fisherman and invited us along.  It was a bit funny and kind of like musical chairs as there were about 10 of us and we had to move around some so as to not be in the way of the sails as needed, but very peaceful and a wonderful little ride across the bay.  When we got back there was a group of children that were yelling “Take our picture!” so I did and the flash messed with it a bit but that’s the best I got!  (Anna jumped in to say hello as well). 

All and all great week so far!