Well, I have discovered that like my (Aaron's) Uncle Rick in North Carolina, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. So, it is our privilege to celebrate this great American tradition in Uganda. I was a little panicked of how we can get a turkey here, as they are not common, but yes, you can find them. It was getting closer and closer and I had been working hard on trying to find out information. My Indian friend (yes, we are best friends with all the supermarket people here in town!!!) Jamaly, showed me from the newspaper ad how I could order one from Kampala, and which bus I could have it shipped on and said he would be out of town. I was trying to get the supermarket to do it since fridges are tiny here. I don't think he went out of town, it was his polite way of saying, "not worth it lady", but he also assured me that, "close to the end of November and near Christmas, you will find people moving down the street with turkey's, moving, moving down the street. You can get your turkey here, madame." If I was sassy, I would have said, YOU CAN GET YOUR TURKEY HERE JAMALY!!!" But, I would never be that rude or sassy. Not wanting to deal with a fresh turkey butchering option the week of Thanksgiving, I kept at it (that Kampala connection failed as they denied being able to ship to our town and couldn't I drive to Kampala and get it??? hahahahahah was all I said....) Finally broke down and asked the BROTHER of the main supermarket guy (who was taking his pregnant wife to India to have her baby). How rude to go when I needed him most... ha! So, I had my doubts about the brother, BUT he came through!!! Monday before Thanksgiving, I was resigned to have chicken--I had talked to my friend twice and he was a bit nonchalant about calling and arranging the turkey (I generously gave him grace as we are not IN America and he's not AMERICAN...) He is this young, hip Indian dude who has connections in Kenya and got me that express frozen turkey the Tues before Thanksgiving. Impressive. I don't know.... It was all so spy like and smooth. So, actually, I got 2 because I didn't know as chickens are so scrawny here, but I want to report that turkey's are fat and one would have fed us all. Next year, I am getting Dr. Gilbert's dad to raise one for me (I just found out he raises chickens and lives in a village near) Also, I found out that our German friend is not only a holy priest, but grew up on a farm and could assist me and Johnson in "preparing" the turkey.
I still never saw people moving, moving with turkey's under their arm and I didn't even visit Jamaly during that time in case he was telling me stories.... nobody got hurt.
Thankfully, my friend Maxine sent me a turkey bag--yes, friends, I forgot again to bring one with me....so, the turkey turned out perfect, thanks to the bag!
This Thanksgiving was one of my favorites ever. We had Germans, Ugandans, Congolese, a Rwandan student and an American student, plus our 2 families. The day was peaceful and beautiful. Our 10 year old friend Jesse read Psalm 100 and we ate and chatted and heard from a few of us what we were thankful for this year. People brought dishes and we made things sort of like what we can get back in the U.S.. I am most impressed that our student friend Leah who called me around 11am to ask what time lunch was (at 2pm or so) and managed to throw together tasty green bean casserole and mashed potatoes for all of us--did you know that fried onion topping is also an Indian thing, so, unlike in England, it is readily available here. I am also most impressed with Leslie's pies and gingerbread men! Everyone did a good job. I ended up finding Ritz like crackers from Malaysia, but imported here and found broccoli and some Kraft canned cheddar cheese that sort of made a casserole made famous by Aaron's mom. I was also able to make a sweet potato streusel dish that was decent and Leslie's girls picked cranberries out of a trail mix which allowed Leslie to make a relish--amazing!! I like that at Thanksgiving, you can have such a mix of people--family, friends of all different life stages and share a meal and some common gratitude. I have to say, I remain humbled at the gratefulness of our African friends--for life, water, health, food. We have a lot to learn. Johnson declared that his family in the village would not recognize him because he ate so much and got so fat. That is Thanksgiving in Uganda.
No comments:
Post a Comment