Making new, international friends

Iâ€™m one person who believes that I never meet new people by accident. Everyone who crosses my path, does so for a reason. Makini was the only friend I knew when I went to Mzumbe but he wasnâ€™t the only one I left with. I loved the fact that we were all from different backgrounds, which made it so much more interesting. The house was always filled with energy of some sort; from teaching each other how to dance and sing cultural songs, to having deep conversations about life (apparently some day we were talking about marriage and I dozed off on the living room couch. They say {to be confirmed} that I was still contributing to the convo while asleep. Goodness me! I donâ€™t even usually sleep talkâ€¦.so itâ€™s my word against theirs. Haha! )

As life has it, we had our share of ups and downs. But conflicts were resolved and happy moments celebrated. Iâ€™ve picked the most memorable of those to share. So here it goes.

Cooking-

”Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly!Â ” M.F.K.Fisher sure wasnâ€™t wrong about that. The kitchen is where we all met to make mandazi, cake, bubble tea, muthokoi and Mozambican badjia together. Boy wasnâ€™t it fun!Making Chinese stir fry for lunch

Did you notice our makeshift rolling pin? I bet you didn’t, so watch it again and see the solution oriented people we were right there! ~~Oh yeah! Lift your hands in the air! Like you don’t care!~~ (I just wanted to rhyme! Hehe!)

2. Milk thief scenario-

Speaking of foodâ€¦I love milk. So for the first few days, I was sad because the only milk we could find was store-bought milk that was so expensive! Thank God we eventually were directed to a nearby homestead where they sold it quite cheaply. This was yet another task that we did together; each with his/her own bottle, walking the path together to go buy milk. One unfortunate day, we had bought milk and I offered to boil it for everyone, so that it wouldn’t go bad quickly. I did so & poured the milk back into each person’s designated and marked milk bottle. Lo and behold! A few hours later, Serge wanted to drink his milk but found most of it gone. In fact, he only found a quarter liter left! Yet he had bought 1 entire litre. Who had stolen the milk? Watch the video Maggie, our media correspondent on the ground made, to find out!

Church-

It was so lovely going to church and experiencing the fellowship there. The service was filled with lovely song and dance!

Entertainment :Dancing, singing, watching movies-

As Iâ€™ve said the house was constantly booming music. From Taiwanese songs (to which we sung along despite not knowing how to pronounce the words right) to learning how to move our waists gracefully in Mozambican dance. Moving to the beat together was definitely a favorite pastime. Leila and I actually bonded so much through composing songs with a guitar we’d borrowed (I know how to play only 5 chords, but those sufficed!). We were even able to teach Maggie, Jason and Tony a song in Kiswahili! They did a perfectly good job at it btw!

Accident-

This was the lowlight of the entire trip. Jason was hit by a motorcycle on his way back home from lunch at the university. You can imagine the horror on my face as he was brought in unconscious&profusely bleeding, to the emergency room at the health centre. I hope I never have to see someone I know brought into the hospital I’m at in such a state. Especially because he lost his memory temporarily. It hit me most when he asked me what my name was as we rode with him in the ambulance.Â

For an entire week, we stood by him until he got full recovery. Dr. Lillian was great help through this process. She cared for him even as he was admitted at the Regional hospital. And didnâ€™t I also see great solidarity from the guys amongst us. Makini, Tony and Michael slept with Jason at the hospital and took great care of him. Serge then became Jasonâ€™s personal bodyguard anywhere they went together. As ladies, we ensured he ate well and took him for dressing too. Eventually, God did make it all work for good.