Thanksgiving in Uganda

The perky Brit started the day off with a rousing "Happy Thanksgiving" as he greeted the Ugandan teens. Silence. "DOn't you guys know what Thanksgiving is?" Mind you, this is the brit talking. He hardly knows himself. So he turns it over to the American to give the Ugandans a history lesson.

I smiled, not realizing what the day would bring.

It was many hours later. Supper time. He stopped in front of the serving table, where us four mzungu ladies were ladling soup, dishing up rice, and scooping out boiled pumpkin.

With a huge smile, and deep emotion, in his thick Ugandan accent: "Thank you so much for all you have done today. Thank you for giving up your very special holiday to spend it with us, and to serve us such delicious food. It means a lot that you would sacrifice so much for us."

We smiled.

Giving up Thanksgiving was completely, totally worth it when we heard that.

Mostly.

Instead of mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, and stuffing, we were dealing with some seriously local food. Chrissy, our resident meat-disher-upper for the week, scooped her ladle into the pot and came up with this.



In case you can't quite figure it out, thats a fish head. The whole. entire. fish. head. For Thanksgiving dinner.


Coupled with some watery boiled pumpkin, some cabbage, and a hefty helping of rice, it created a nice, balanced meal. (What nutrient comes from eyeball, anyway?)

Lets just say.

I didn't eat much supper that night.
Sorry, but I couldn't.

But now that I'm safely on US soil, I have decided: I NEEEEEEED Thanksgiving Dinner. Ergo, tomorrow night I'll be pulling out all the stops and making a masterpiece: emphasis on the mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.

Who's coming over?