This afternoon I went wandering throughout the village to chat with neighbors. This is my favorite activity to do here—it is so much fun!! Two of the ladies I visited with today stopped by my place this evening.
This Anganga (Grandmother) came asking for mboga (relish). Her body uncontrollably shakes constantly but she dances quite wildly. I also suspect that she may have a few mental challenges. She has stopped by several times before and I have always been able to avoid her pleas. Today she looked extra desperate, so I went searching to see if I could find a little something.
I have no fresh vegetables left since the last three days I have been spent in a home in a nearby village. I am also planning to leave tomorrow morning to spend a final night with my chicken roommate in Malawi and then visit some projects in Lichinga. I am definitely not stocked with food, let alone food that would be familiar to her. I found a couple of small green onions. I don’t think she was very satisfied with my offering since they were fairly dried out and she started making other suggestions. The only word that I understood was somba (fish), but this reminded me that I had a small bag of dried fish that I had purchased for the cat. People thought it was crazy when I was buying this fish for the cat to eat; most people in Chanika village gobble it up.
When I was at this Anganga’s (Grandmother) home earlier she was busy fixing liponda (greens) that she would prepare with wugali (maize porridge) to feed her family. We had a nice conversation and I told her to stop by later to say hello. A few other words were exchanged that I did not completely understand, I thought she was wanting to me to taste the liponda after it had finished cooking.
Anganga showed up at my door this evening. I guess during our chat today I had agreed to give her mboga. Last week when I visited this same lady she served me rice porridge with ground nuts (crushed peanuts); so I at least had a relationship with her and felt I should carry though on my miscommunicated promise.
I was desperate to find something that would be familiar to her. I came up with a couple of small cans of tomato paste that I have been using as candleholders; note that tomatoes are very common around here. I quickly realized that she had never opened a can of food before. The guard showed her how to use a knife to open the cans. She was very thankful as she realized our earlier conversation was a miscommunication and happily departed home with her new bizarre cans of tomato paste.
Do I ever feel like an ungrateful giver, feeding people my candleholders and the fish I bought for the cat. All the while i enjoyed oatmeal sprinkled with sugar and a nice cup of tea.
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