Iraqw Homestay

The Iraqw tribe is a tribe of East Africa that has its origins in the Middle East. Most of the people in the area surrounding our SFS camp are Iraqw people, and on Saturday we had our Iraqw homestay. Each person in our group was partnered with another student and assigned a household around Rhotia. We spent the day (8-5) working, cooking, relaxing, playing and talking with our host families. Elaine and I were assigned a wonderful family whose house is situated on top of a beautiful hill (the views were breathtaking). 

The outside of our host family's house

The Mama (head mother of the household) is a sister of one of the staff members, Paolo, at the SFS camp. In the morning, we had tea time. And let me tell you, the chai tea the Iraqw people make is literally to die for. I probably would have licked it off the ground if it had spilt. During tea time we also talked with the nephew of the Mama, Joseph, and told him about America and asked him about his schooling. Joseph even gave us a swahili lesson after laughing at our horrible attempts to explain things in swahili. After tea time, we started preparing the food for lunch in a small mud hut not connected to the home. We got to shell peas and cut up some meat, onions, tomatoes and cabbage. We then helped cook lunch over a firewood stove made out of soil/clay. I’m pretty sure I over inhaled some smoke, but I didn’t pass out and my slightly blurred vision eventually returned to normal. Elaine and I also “learned” how to cook ugali, a staple food in Tanzania, that requires extremely rapid and precise stirring. We were obviously pretty pitiful at it because our Mama took control of the stirring pretty quickly. 

Cooking some rice

Attempting to stir some Ugali

Cleaning some dishes with Mama and Victoria

After cooking, we sat down to lunch with the Mama and the rest of the household (two nephews and a niece, along with a family visitor). I had an extremely hard time with the meat because it was extremely chewy and still covered in fat, but luckily I was able to swallow a couple pieces so as to not offend our hosts. Everything else about the meal was fantastic and the cabbage was probably my favorite. After lunch we helped clean dishes, and then all of a sudden and without our knowledge it was Tanzanian siesta time. We relaxed in the living room for a good two hours before we were welcomed with another tea time. Our final activity of the day was sorting dried peas from a pile of leaves and dirt. When the car pulled up to take us back to the center, I really did not want to leave. Even though we had a slow day, I wanted to stay and learn more about the family and their lifestyle. It really was an amazing experience, and I wish that others could share it.

 Joseph and the calf

 The youngest member of the household (2yrs old) being shy

Finally came out of hiding to say hi! This little monster decided to keep shaking my hand all afternoon, and he even became so enamored with my pasty white skin that he started petting my leg.