Follow the Journey

Here’s the Thanksgiving story (October 14th):

Starting the day, Jack and I woke up and our homestay mother put us right to work. We were sent to the ‘shamba’ (farm field) to clean up the old corn stocks. Mama John (the homestay mother) gave us Djembes, a gardening tool much like a hoe, and told us to chop down the old dried-up stocks. We worked for about half an hour, went to get water and the locals insisted that we were done for the day, and that we were such hard workers.. They said we must “pumzika” (rest) because they actually believe that white people don’t and can’t work haha, but Jack and I continued. We almost chopped down the whole shamba by around 1:00. At one point, i found this mysterious fruit on the ground so I cut it open with my djembe. This mysterious fruit just so happened to be a PUMPKIN!! I thought that was a sign of sorts. The day of Canadian Thanksgiving was on the same day as a big Tanzanian holiday! They call it “Nyerere day”. This was the day that Tanzania’s ever so beloved political leader passed away, and on this day politicians gather to discuss the values of Julius Nyerere and reflect on them in regards to their current government systems. Taking advantage of this coincidence, I asked Mama john if I could decorate the dinner table. I gathered some things from the corn field to make a nice centerpiece and some corn stocks to border two signs I wrote, one saying “happy thanksgiving”, and one saying “happy Nyerere day!” We ate some delicious maharage na wali (beans and rice), and half-way through our meal, Grant and Gwen (the group leaders) and Mama Margaret (the leaders’ homestay mom) came over to check out the decorations. Gwen loved them and said they were perfect, then Mama Margaret walked in.. She picked up the centerpiece silently, stared at it for a second, then ABSOLUTELY LOST IT! I’ve never seen a woman laugh that hard at anything. We all then started to laugh, then when the laughter died down, she picked up one of the corn stocks that I used to border the signs I made, then she laughed some more. I thought she was going to pass out she was laughing so hard haha!. She thought I was crazy!!!  The leaders have always been talking about ‘cultural exchange’ and oh man, I don’t think it can get any better than this!