Mozambican Eatin’

During the summers of 2003 and 2004 I spent my time in Mozambique, Africa. I was staying at a large orphanage and playing with the children all day long. We enjoyed our meals with the kids most of the time, and these were meals prepared by African women who worked at the center. This was my first time out of the country and I remember experiencing major culture shock. The meals consisted of a hefty heaping of rice on a plate and each meal it was topped with something different. Usually some type of beans, other times it would be potato or casava and some sauteed greens, once a week the children would enjoy a fish on top of their rice. The fish was literally a whole (head, fins, tail and all) fish cooked and laid atop their rice. The children would eat EVERY SINGLE crumb. There would not be one thing left on their plates. I was shocked! I was young and inexperienced and was too afraid to eat the fish, so I always gave mine away to a hungry body sitting next to me. They eat with their hands, and so would I. It was a wonderful experience for me and made me grateful for the wonderful food I have enjoyed throughout my life.

Occasionally we could invite one or two of our little buddies into the staff compound and let them eat our food with us. We would go out to the market and buy live chickens and we would kill, pluck, and cook them in the staff compound. We would make fries from potatoes and maybe a macaroni and cheese side. This was food that these children might have never tasted before. The reaction was the same for each child that got the opportunity to try it – they were so happy and full of joy! I remember one four year old girl named Elena, ate some chicken with us and she ate all the bones too! Amazing! Such a different way of eating for Africans, especially homeless orphans like Elena was before she came to the center.

The children were not supposed to go outside the large orphanage compound unless they were accompanied by a family member, staff member or volunteer/missionary. One of our favorite things to do was to take a half dozen children down the street to the market and buy them a coke and a package of biscuits. It only cost us about ten cents, and it made their day!

Every morning breakfast was a fresh loaf of bread. Everybody would pretty much eat one whole loaf and that was it. The bread would be made by local women and the orphanage would send someone out at sunrise to buy hundreds of loaves.

Life is so different in that part of the world, but everybody seemed so happy!