Friday, May 29, 2015

The Great Zim Childhood



I was amused by the above list, sent to me recently by a friend, of eleven memories you have if you grew up in Zim.  It's a great list and I'm sure it could have been fifty pages longer, but it's a good start... Wait, well... that is, if you could afford it...  What so many Zimbabweans able to access things like HIFA and Sam Levy's and this internet page so quickly forget is the fact that this broad blanketed "Zimbabwean childhood" actually only describes about five percent of the population, if that.

As I recently answered a classroom full of excitedly squirming kindergartners all raising their hands with questions about how people lived in Africa, it became very clear very fast that for every question there were two starkly different answers I could give. One involved what people with a lot of money lived like. Answers tended to describe people attempting to live as Westernized of lives as they could while "making do" with the challenges of living in Africa.  And one answer involved what the povertous did to survive life with almost nothing.

I just moved to a "First World" country in which people talk constantly about the stark contrast between the wealthy and the middle class and the poor.  Indeed, the differences do seem extreme... until we remember almost all of us still get to sleep on a bed at night. It puts our differences in stark contrast to those living in true poverty in other parts of the globe.  The list above is fun, but even better?  It reminds most of us about what we seem to forget so quickly... Wherever our childhoods, wow, we're lucky!



Monday, May 25, 2015

To Braii


Happy Africa Day!!  This day falls on America's Memorial Day, so I get the good luck of having two great reasons to celebrate!  And speaking of celebrating... experiencing some beautiful weather today as we celebrate has put me in the mood for one of the most popular southern African past times one can find... the braai.  In South Africa and Zim, the word braai is one of the most beloved words in existence.  As both a verb and a noun, braai refers to the act of grilling meat outside.  And boy, is it an act.

Learning to braai is a right of passage for the upper classes of southern Africa; when we had asked contacts in Zim about what to move with us to the continent the first piece of advice was to go out and buy the best grill possible.  Any get-together that does not involve tea seems to involve alcohol and braaing meat in a situation in which the words "lean" and "still hungry" have no meaning.

Many of the Shona we met were fascinated with this style of cooking raw meat over the fire's heat in the way that we do, either on a grate or in foil.  My housekeeper was fairly horrified -even when it was just in the oven or on the stovetop- as one of the first rules of cooking in her village was to never eat meat that was not boiled first.  I am sure this was a lesson that proved very important for sanitary purposes, but was difficult to get out of her entrenched view despite our refrigeration and washing methods.  We had a number of Harare Shona ask us to teach them how to cook meat over a fire, and I have to be honest- we were surprised! Though fires are used all the time for a variety of foods, including meat, the formal act of braaing was seen by many of the economically challenged Zimbabweans we met  (not trying to overgeneralize here- I'm sure some people don't fall into this category) as being something fancy that was done by upper classes.  Huh, who knew!

Many of the meats used in southern African braais come already seasoned and spiced from the local butcher.  That can be hard to replicate from other parts of the world.  But other meats, like sirloin steaks, come undressed and begging for a little tropical taste.  Here is one of my favorite braai recipes, excellent for plain steaks or chicken breasts alike. It combines the tropical heat of a spicy rub with some sweet pineapple juice perfect for tenderizing.  In celebration of the holiday, I invite you to bring a little Zimbabwe to your plate!

It takes a little ahead-of-time preparation, but it is well worth it...

Cheri's Tropical Heat Meat, Zim Style

4 plain chicken breasts or steaks

1 1/2 cups pineapple juice

1/8 cup brown sugar (Don't want refined sugar?? Try 1/8 cup maple syrup instead!)

1 1/2 tablespoons cayenne pepper (Don't like spice?? Replace this with 2 tablespoons of paprika!)
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt & pepper
(I'd say "to taste," but you don't want to taste at this step! I use 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1. Stab the meat with a fork and drizzle half of the juice over it; let it sit for twenty minutes. Flip the meat over and drizzle the other half of the juice on the second side; allow it to sit for twenty minutes also.  This adds sweetness, but also tenderizes the meat.


2. Throw away any extra juice run-off.  Mix all of the remaining ingredients in a bowl and then put into a plastic zip bag with the meat. Make sure to squish the meat around in the bag, getting all sides covered with the rub.  Allow this to sit in the bag in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours... Or even overnight if you like!  


3. Cook the meat over the a grill the same way you would grill any other meat.  Make sure to cook the meat properly and thoroughly.  There may be some juice left in the bag after the meat has been removed. You can baste or pour this on the meat during the last half of cooking to add some extra flavor.  Enjoy!!


Thursday, May 21, 2015

Ndebele Dolls


Though the smaller Ndebele population is often overshadowed by the larger Shona population when it comes to Zimbabwe, the Ndebele people's presence stretches far into the countries of South Africa, Zim, and Botswana.  I recently had the amazing joy of sharing a few pieces of my Zimbabwean Shona and Ndebele experience with a local kindergarten learning about Africa. I had no problem filling all the time I could get with pictures and stories. But the teacher had requested I bring in a few craft ideas for my time, as well... and suddenly I was stumped.

The arts and crafts presence of the Shona Zimbabwean tends toward beaded necklaces made from drilled seeds, carved wooden objects, imported fabric sales, and soapstone and metal sculptures... not extremely colorful, and not exactly what I should be doing with the average kindergartner!  Then I remembered Ndebele Dolls: These unique dolls are colorful and unique treasures just like their makers, the Northern and Southern Ndebele people.


While dating, it is traditional for a Ndebele suitor to place a doll outside of a young woman's home to indicate his intention to marry her.  The young woman names and cares for a Ndebele doll while preparing to marry, then names her firstborn after the doll.  These dolls are now found exported all over the world, and serve as a huge source of income for some Ndebele people. 

My Ndebele doll is one of my favorite colorful finds from my time in Africa.  You can see why!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

The Latest, Overdue


The only surprise I get from this story is that News Day-Zimbabwe had the guts to print it.  This is the kind of stuff that in no way surprises Zimbabweans; millions have no doubt about these things going on behind closed doors, but the undercurrents of fear in Zim keep people from talking out loud about these nightmares of yesterday and today. This broad-scope, politically-motivated massacre that most of us have never heard about is only the tip of the iceberg: