Arusha, Wednesday 7 Thursday, February 15 & 16, 2017

Wednesday was simply “The Day Before,” as I became totally focused on the coming meeting of the ACC women’s group on Thursday.  Mazo and his kitchen crew had the luncheon menu: vegetable curry, rice, chapatis, tomato and avocado salads, mixed fruit salad, coffee, tea, fruit juice, and bottled water. My main worry was the nearby road construction and if it would impede access to Kundayo. The configuration of the makeshift on and off exits seemed to change by the hour, so John did a reconnaissance walk in the morning and then another one in the late afternoon and reported that he thought the women would be able to find their way here. I continued to worry.

I had brought a packet of Betty Crocker Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies mix with me from home and planned to bake them for the luncheon.  However, the electricity went off right after lunch, so I felt liberated from that task. I wasn’t sure how well the little poorly insulated oven in our cooker and the flimsy cookie sheet I had bought in a Dollar Store would work anyway. Without electricity, there was no fan in the apartment, so I spent the afternoon out on the veranda,

As luck would have it, the electricity came back on just before dinner time, so we had Russian sausages, boiled potatoes, fresh green beans, and ice cream with mango slices for our meal.  Then, I felt an uncontrollable urge to bake the cookies, which I did from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. They browned a bit more quickly on the bottom than I wished, but in general they were fine, and there were 3 dozen of them, more than enough.

I awoke early on “The Day,” and made sure our apartment was in fairly decent shape in case anyone peeked inside. John helped me arrange the chairs in the Moto Lounge, our meeting place, and then went off to check the state of the road construction.  He returned with a favorable report, and then went back to stand at the side of the road where he would be seen. Right at 9:30, Deborah drove in and soon after Margaret and Grace arrived.  Then, we waited and waited. Finally, just as Deborah was about ready to begin the meeting, Linda arrived with Eunie, and that seemed to be all who were coming. This was the smallest group ever in my three years as a member. One regular member had had to take her son to the hospital, another had food poisoning, two were known to be traveling, one had just returned from a trip the night before, and so the list of those missing added up. Oddly, even though I was disappointed, I was not as obsessed about the smallness of the group as I thought I might be. My five favorite members were present, and we had a great time until noon.

Left to Right: Grace, Margaret, Linda, Eunie, Me, Deborah

The Kundayo cook had prepared a beautiful buffet for a dozen or more, so the women insisted that John join us, too. He had a fine time getting to know just who was who and learning more about each of them.  Eunie regaled him with stories of the long past days in the bush and how she survived a terrible plane crash in the Rift Valley. Margaret described the work of her school for children with autism, the only one of its kind in Arusha. Mary talked about life as a retired midwife and her husband’s continued work as a fertility specialist. And, Linda flitted here, there, and everywhere as usual.  Poor Deborah had to eat and run because she had another meeting at the church at 12:30. People seem to linger much longer than usual, and some of them remarked that the Kundayo garden would be a lovely place to return to for other meetings. The morning was perfect with bright sun and a soft breeze, and everyone seemed very happy to be here together.

Linda at her best.

In spite of the very small turnout, I was very content with how the morning had gone.  I generously tipped the cook and Beatrice, our server, and thanked Mazo for everything. Later in the afternoon, Beatrice brought the bill, and I was amazed that the whole lovely buffet cost only $5 per person. I may try something like this again if I have a gathering of friends here, as my tiny kitchen with its two saucepans and one small skillet cannot really handle much cooking.

Within a half an hour of the women leaving Kundayo, thunder rolled and the clouds burst.  We had continuous showers, some of which were quite heavy, all afternoon. John kept saying how glad he was that he hadn’t gone out for a walk. I was grateful for the cooler temperature and the cleaner air, as well as thankful for the help this would be to farmers. Elizabeth had just sent me a photo of her dying watermelons, so I hope some of this rain fell on them, too.

Mazo had added mandasis, triangular, holeless donuts, to the menu, but the women were far more interested in my cookies. As they left, most of them took several cookies home with them for their husbands or a friend. Later Mazo had the plate of mandasis sent to our apartment, and I have been eating them with my coffee and tea breaks. At 7:00 p.m., when I would normally be thinking about making dinner, I still felt too full to eat again. Eventually, John heated up the leftover chicken pasta and sliced a cucumber for us. Then I had another mandasi with a cup of tea.  They are delicious!