My favorite picture of the kids at the beach.
Safari Means Journey
Safari is a Swahili word meaning Journey. This is our journey as a missionary family living and working in Tanzania, Africa.
Preaching and Teaching
The Bible is taught through preaching, teaching, tracts, and home Bible studies.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Roadside Roasted Corn
The Corn Crops in Tanzania are one of the most common sights that you will see during the growing season. Everyone, Everywhere, is growing corn. The most popular way that corn is eaten is through Ugali. The dry corn seed is ground into a corn meal, and then cooked into a hard dough and eaten in the form of Ugali.
Another popular way to eat the corn is is by roasting the corn on the cob. Here are some pictures of a man roasting corn on the roadside. Even after many years of living in Tanzania, I was hesitant to eat corn in this way. I wasn't afraid of the taste but of getting sick. You see this corn is usually always cooked on the side of the road so that the people walking by will have easy access in buying it. If you stand along side a road in Tanzania, you will probably soon be covered with dust, and vehicle exhaust fumes. During the dry season you can see the dust fly up in the air and then land on everything... including the corn roasting along the roadside. Regardless of this fact, I have been curious of what this corn taste like. One day a friend gave us some of the roasted corn. Out of politeness, I put the vision of dust and smoke out of my head and took a bite. To my surprise it was really bad at all. It didn't have a dirt or smoke taste at all. I was pretty bland, hard and crunchy. It tasted nothing like the soft, sweet, taste of corn on cob in America. The kids quickly wanted some, and They Loved It. It is funny what you get use to after living here for a while. Not long after this experience I found myself driving by a roadside corn stand and I was wanting to stop and get some. I thought to myself, "It is hard, bland, and probably dirty, Why are wanting to eat that?" And then I actually answered myself. (Yes, I know, kind of scary that I not only talk to myself, but answer myself) Anyways, I thought,"Well, because it is good, and I like it." Soooo the kids and I pulled the car over and I bought everyone some roadside roasted corn...And it was Good regardless of what I told myself.
Our Favorite Picnic Spot
Sometimes we like to go out as a family and explore new areas around where we live. One day on one of our exploring trips, we found this place. It is not too far of a drive past the road where you turn onto to go to the church building. This river is the Ruaha River, which is said to be about 300 miles long. In the less populated areas of the River there are crocodiles and hippos. This particular section didn't have these types of animals, but it did have some interesting birds.
The water from this river is often used by many people for their everyday water needs.
While we were on our picnic we saw several people coming to the river to collect water in their buckets. Most of these were kids whose daily chore was to collect the water from the river and bring the Heavy buckets back home. They take the water back to their homes for cooking, bathing, washing clothes, etc.
We have only been here once, but I want to go again soon. It even has a perfect sitting rock that we spread our blanket on.
A little back from the river was some really large, and smooth rocks. These were perfect for the kids to climb on. This was almost as good as a McDonald's playground. Okay maybe not, but the kids had a blast.
This particular picnic day was filled with the warm sun and perfect breeze. It had the sound of running water, kids laughing and playing, and the feeling of family fun.
