By Ben
Kamwene friends and family,
Sorry it’s been a while since the last blog post. We’ve been on a holistic retreat in the Southern Highlands region of Njombe. We spent the week meditating, doing yoga, eating and cooking farm-to-table meals, and learning about ourselves.
At Ohana Omani we were greeted by an amazing pair of sisters named Chevy and Curry who led our activities for the week. Curry would start every morning with various yoga/meditation practices. Some days were basic sun salutations consisting of downward dog and cobra while other days we did hugging circles.
Chevy, an amazing cook, would teach us how to gather various vegetables from the garden and utilize them in the kitchen in meals such as coconut curry, savory bread pudding, and chili. Every meal we had fresh salad, which we missed, as fresh greens aren’t common in Tanzanian cuisine.
Each day consisted of conversation circles where we discussed topics from permaculture and sustainable living to our own emotions and aspirations in life. There were both tears and laughter and we were thankful for a safe place that Curry and Chev created to express these emotions.
We also did various projects on the farm such as pruning fruit trees and hedges, clearing space for pine trees to grow, and irrigating water to make a pond. This work allowed us to give back for all that Ohana Omani did for us. We also took a tour of the farm and learned more about living consciously and what it looks like living close to our resources.
The most challenging day was when we agreed to fast and be silent, while spending six hours alone in nature with no distractions (not even a watch to tell the time!). During this time we all self reflected and learned to enjoy our own presence.
Overall everyone thoroughly enjoyed our time spent at Ohana Omani and the sisters who ran it left a huge impact on all of us. As we were leaving we wrote a song to thank everyone at Ohana Omani and there were lots of tears as we made our way to the next home-stay in Uwembe.
Stay tuned to hear how the home-stays went!