Simon brought us a gift of pumpkins & sweet potatoes from his garden to welcome us home When we returned home last weekend from our holiday in South Africa, we came back to an almost completely empty fridge and pantry, and nothing much to eat ! When we go away I usually leave all my fruit and vegetables for Justin to take, and I clear my freezers out to make way for the endless packets of frozen meat I have to bulk buy and store to feed not only our own pets whilst we are away, but also the village waifs and strays.
Re stocking my kitchen after being away from the farm for a few weeks is usually not a problem, as when we arrive back from holiday it is usually during the daylight hours, and we can pick up a few basic items (like tomatoes, potatoes, onions) in the small villages on the way out to the farm. This time, however, we arrived back in the dead of night so could not buy anything on our way home.
All we had to eat in the house for the next 3 – 4 days (my husband was due to go in to the big city for work related things on Wednesday) was tinned produce and some fresh farm eggs which Justin had bought in for us.
I searched for more items and found some flour in the cupboard so was able to bake some bread, I also found a frozen portion of beef fillet at the bottom of the freezer along with 2 chicken breasts. That would do us for a couple of nights, and I had a tin of tomatoes which could be used to make a pasta sauce for another. I also had some tinned peas and beans on my pantry shelf, so we had ‘vegetables’ at least, and thank goodness I still had around 4 litres of ‘long life’ milk on the shelf. (Phew – I couldn’t survive without my endless daily cups of tea !)
The things that we were really in need of though, were fresh fruit and vegetables. My vegetable garden is also looking pretty miserable at the moment, but I did find some nice red lettuce which I was able to pick (& thought that I could make a salad with it by adding pickled onions and gherkins !).
Then late on Sunday afternoon, I heard a knock at the door and Justin was standing there with a big bowl of juicy red tomatoes for me “A zawadi (gift), Mama” he said “from my girlfriend’s garden …. she has a lot of tomatoes right now, and she wants to give you these”. I was touched by her kindness and a few hours later at nightfall, Justin was back again. This time with a sack over his shoulder which contained potatoes, onions and carrots “Mama - the people on the farm have heard you are back and I told them that you do not have any vegetables, so here is a gift from some of them for you”. Again, I was touched by their kindness.
The next day Simon, our personal askari (guard) came to the door with a battered cardboard box in his hands – in it were 2 small pumpkins & some lovely sweet potatoes. “Welcome home, Mama” he said as he pushed the box into my arms “I thought you would like to have these, from my very own garden – I picked them this morning”.
Wow. I was touched – and humbled – by the generosity of all these wonderful people. My husband’s workers, their families and our own staff had just come together, seen what we’d needed – and provided it. Gladly - as a gift. These are people who have very little, very little indeed – and yet they never falter to give, never hesitate to help out … even to people who have much more than them.
This is the spirit of the Tanzanian people. It is things like this which make us proud to call Tanzania our home. Although not the country of our birth, you can see why Tanzania is most definitely …. the country of our hearts.
Re stocking my kitchen after being away from the farm for a few weeks is usually not a problem, as when we arrive back from holiday it is usually during the daylight hours, and we can pick up a few basic items (like tomatoes, potatoes, onions) in the small villages on the way out to the farm. This time, however, we arrived back in the dead of night so could not buy anything on our way home.
All we had to eat in the house for the next 3 – 4 days (my husband was due to go in to the big city for work related things on Wednesday) was tinned produce and some fresh farm eggs which Justin had bought in for us.
I searched for more items and found some flour in the cupboard so was able to bake some bread, I also found a frozen portion of beef fillet at the bottom of the freezer along with 2 chicken breasts. That would do us for a couple of nights, and I had a tin of tomatoes which could be used to make a pasta sauce for another. I also had some tinned peas and beans on my pantry shelf, so we had ‘vegetables’ at least, and thank goodness I still had around 4 litres of ‘long life’ milk on the shelf. (Phew – I couldn’t survive without my endless daily cups of tea !)
The things that we were really in need of though, were fresh fruit and vegetables. My vegetable garden is also looking pretty miserable at the moment, but I did find some nice red lettuce which I was able to pick (& thought that I could make a salad with it by adding pickled onions and gherkins !).
Then late on Sunday afternoon, I heard a knock at the door and Justin was standing there with a big bowl of juicy red tomatoes for me “A zawadi (gift), Mama” he said “from my girlfriend’s garden …. she has a lot of tomatoes right now, and she wants to give you these”. I was touched by her kindness and a few hours later at nightfall, Justin was back again. This time with a sack over his shoulder which contained potatoes, onions and carrots “Mama - the people on the farm have heard you are back and I told them that you do not have any vegetables, so here is a gift from some of them for you”. Again, I was touched by their kindness.
The next day Simon, our personal askari (guard) came to the door with a battered cardboard box in his hands – in it were 2 small pumpkins & some lovely sweet potatoes. “Welcome home, Mama” he said as he pushed the box into my arms “I thought you would like to have these, from my very own garden – I picked them this morning”.
Wow. I was touched – and humbled – by the generosity of all these wonderful people. My husband’s workers, their families and our own staff had just come together, seen what we’d needed – and provided it. Gladly - as a gift. These are people who have very little, very little indeed – and yet they never falter to give, never hesitate to help out … even to people who have much more than them.
This is the spirit of the Tanzanian people. It is things like this which make us proud to call Tanzania our home. Although not the country of our birth, you can see why Tanzania is most definitely …. the country of our hearts.
