Tanzania does not celebrate Thanksgiving-it is just another day. Jason and I both teach on Thursdays, so we will be spending the day in class. Many Peace Corps volunteers get together on American holidays, but Jason and I will have to miss our region’s get-together so this past weekend we headed down to Tukuyu to visit our friend Beth and celebrate Thanksgiving together. What does a Tanzanian Thanksgiving look like, you ask? I will show you.
We planned on having chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls, peas, and an apple cobbler. Miraculously, everything came together and our Thanksgiving dinner was a success! First off, all of us were too, well, chicken to go through the whole process of killing a chicken. We had a mama do the killing and the cooking for us. A mama also helped us start our peas, as the electricity was out and we only had Beth’s charcoal jiko to cook on. Eventually we ended up with two jikos and we were really cooking! Once dinner was all cooked we sat down and ate ourselves into food comas. We enjoyed the fellowship with Beth-we played games and tossed a Frisbee around with some of the kids who live at Beth’s school. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving day.
Me cooking over the charcoal jikos-we had to have help to get them started as they are hard to light
Our Thanksgiving table-Beth set the table so pretty!
Jason is very excited to dig in to the good food
Looking at the picture makes me hungry all over again! Such good food!
Jason playing Frisbee with the neighborhood kids
Being in Tanzania these past few months has helped me to appreciate the simple and small things in life. We don’t have much, but what we have is enough and I am truly thankful. I thought I would share some of the things I am thankful for this year:
- The view of the mountains I have while hand-washing my laundry
- Water-and not even clean water, as we cannot drink what comes out of the tap until we boil it, but I am so thankful for water when it is around
- Family and good friends both near and far, far away
- My students, who make every day worth the struggle of living in a culture different from my own
- Spices-they make beans and rice so much more interesting
- Our gas stove-so useful when the power goes out
- My husband-for following God’s call and leading us to Tanzania
- For the opportunity to live a life full of adventure and service!
Peace,
Heather
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