bringing dinner back

“Between true friends even water drunk together is sweet enough.” — Zimbabwean proverb

I am so looking forward to tomorrow’s Thanksgiving feast with my sister, family, and my friends from Zimbabwe. I say “friends” although I do not know my friend Prosper’s wife and children very well at all — yet. I’ve known Prosper for a couple of years, since he fled his home country under persecution and worked for two years to fight for asylum for himself and for his family. They finally joined him this summer.

I look forward to celebrating my first African feast with them, sharing in this American tradition of Thanksgiving and perhaps becoming true friends over the years ahead of us.

Children in Zimbabwe pick up corn off the street (NYT)

Some interesting facts about Zimbabwe:

1.The country is bankrupt. President Robert Mugabe spent too much money fighting with the Democratic Republic of Congo and ruined farming in his the nation by forcing successful white farmers off their land and giving it to black friends of is who didn’t know what they were doing.

2. Earlier this year, the worthless 100-trillion-dollar Zimbabwean banknotes were being sold to foreign tourists as souvenirs for $2 each.

3. Although the government is incredibly corrupt now, Mugabe does leave a legacy of education in his country. The literacy rate is estimated at 76 percent, thanks to the free education put in place by Mugabe in his early years.

Victoria Falls

4. Average life expectancy is between 37 and 45.7 years, depending on what you read.

5. The official annual inflation rate rose from 32 percent in 1998, to 133 percent in 2004, 585 percent in 2005, and approached 1000 percent in 2006, although private sector estimates put the figure much higher, according to a group called Sokwanele (“Enough is Enough”).

6. 15 percent of the population has HIV/AIDS.

7. Zimbabwe’s infant mortality rate has increased 20 percent over the past 20 year, Reuters reports.

8. Almost 5,000 people died from cholera last year, mainly because of the country’s economic troubles.

9. Victoria Falls, one of the most beautiful sights on earth, is in Zimbabwe.

10. A 2008 UN study found that 7 in 10 people had eaten either nothing or only a single meal the day before, according to The New York Times.

11. The cornmeal-based dietary staple of Zimbabwe is also the national dish, called sadza. Sadza to the Zimbabweans is like rice to the Chinese or pasta to Italians, according to Food in Every Country.

12. Zimbabweans eat with their right land and it is considered impolite to eat with the left (even if you are left-handed). It is also polite to leave a little food on your plate to show that you have been sufficiently fed.

How can help:

• Friends of mine in Philadelphia, Debrianna Obama and Peter Harris, have started a school in Zimbabwe. The Kubatsirana Primary School educates and feeds 200 children in grades 1-6. A $100 donation to the Kubatsirana (which means “helping each other” in Shona) sends a child to school for one year.

Child being fed at school by ZOE

• ZOE Ministry has been desperately trying to help feed orphans since the government fell apart. I have traveled with ZOE (to Rwanda) and know this organization to be doing the right thing by orphans in many African countries. A recent report from Zimbabwe to ZOE: “Things are worse than ever, but you should know that the ZOE food is really helping a lot of children. There’s almost no teaching going on in the schools, but food is being prepared by headmasters, and children are coming for a daily meal.”