...... "Whenever
a friend goes to Africa or is coming to America to visit, I ask them to
bring me this stuff," he followed up with. This is undoubtedly one of
the best gifts a friend can give, a piece of home.
After
nearly an hour of carefree cooking, the much-anticipated dish was
nearly complete. All that was now needed was the taste test. "Stick out
your hand," Ndikum said. Being the adventurous type, I cooperated and
before I knew it, egusi soup was splattered on my palm. "This is how we
do in Africa," said Ndikum, as I was instructed to lick it off my hand.
The savory base from the cow meat and oil livened my taste buds, while
the infused creamy tomato smoothed everything out; I couldn't wait to
dig in.
Just
as we sat down and began to pig out, a knock came from the door.
Mustafa, a Cameroonian man who lives in the same apartment complex as
Armyao, came in and immediately began talking about his car problems
that day. "It sucked man, I was so pissed," he said. To cheer him up, we
offered him some of the egusi soup and he politely declined. "Mustafa,
you must try this," I said, "it is delicious!". "No it is alright, I
have been trying that for my entire life," he cleverly stated. This
interaction only reinforced my understanding of how ingrained this dish
was to the West African culture.
I
have always cherished the rewarding nature of cooking; but cooking
alongside refugees, asylees, and the like, has expanded this juvenile
feeling into something that cannot simply be stated through words in
order to fully convey, but instead must be directly experienced. That
is, a sense of worldly connection.
communities
in Central America made her realize the power of community leadership
in development, and furthered her desire to work with the refugee
community. In college, she worked to promote the empowerment of local
communities through international investing and microenterprise, but her
favorite activity by far was teaching ESL to adult and high school
students. Her senior thesis focused on the importance of community
leadership in women's development efforts. As the new AmeriCorps VISTA,
Kristen looks forward to working as Resource Coordinator to help further
Iskashitaa Refugee Network's transformational impact.
crashed
my sense of focus. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking
for: the Iskashitaa crafts tables in the Folk Arts and Global Market
center. Covered with hand-woven baskets, palm leaves, scarves, and other
vibrant merchandise, the color-blasted tables were not hard to miss,
much less the smiling and welcoming faces of the Iskashitaa members.
Watching her wrap the yarn around my fingers, I began to ask her about
herself and how she came to be the sweet Nepalese teen teaching the
silly American girl how to make her own clothes. Originally from Bhutan,
fifteen year-old Krishna told me about her family's journey.
n
the Main Library and low-rider exhibits, will also feature refugee
talent. Refugee cooks, including Afghani, Bhutanese, Congolese,
Eritrean, Iraqi and Russian women, will demonstrate dishes taught to
them by their mothers and grandmothers. Samples and recipes will be
shared, allowing everyone a taste of these traditional foods. With a
table anchoring a corner of the "Heritage Food Pavilion",
Iskashitaa will also be well-positioned to retail our newly expanded
line of specialty products, among them hot lime pomegranate marmalade,
hot chile mango sauce, mesquite syrup and garlic in olive oil.
