Oobleck is a Staple Food

Do you remember oobleck? You probably made it in elementary school science classes. Essentially, it's flour and water mixed together... and it's super fun to play with! I'm sure it comes in plenty of variations for kids having fun learning in US classrooms-- maybe different colors, consistencies and concentrations, to spice things up and keep us entertained and excited about learning. Kids here make oobleck, too.

But for them, it's not a science experiment. It has nothing to do with "having fun learning", in fact, not all of the kids who make it get the chance to go to school "learn" at all... and many who do probably don't even go to school in "classrooms" as we know them. Here, oobleck is a staple food, and it's called "ugali."

During my first week here (as you can read in earlier posts), we worked to complete Family Needs Assessment forms for the orphans and their foster families, that we are working with here. The purpose of these forms was to help our organization determine the conditions and needs of the children and their families. As Gina mentioned, we were trying to establish basic information-- age and education level of the children, income of their (often single) parents, daily food consumption. Pretty much every family responded "ugali" to the question of "what foods does your family eat on a daily basis?" For some families, "ugali" was the only response. For many, there is only one meal per day.

This is to say that on a daily basis, children here are (literally) living off of this concoction of flour and water. If they are lucky, they'll get a banana in there, too. Maybe some rice. Probably no meat, probably few vegetables, probably no fruit other than that banana.

That is ridiculous, and incredibly hard for me to comprehend (I don't, and can't understand what that would be like). Maybe on a rough day, we'll be running late and skimp on breakfast, eat a small lunch, and come home famished. But the difference between us and these kids is not only that we had a breakfast and lunch in the first place, but that if we got really desperate, we could buy something so frivelous as a candy bar at one of the many stands on the way home, reach out to one of the many fruit vendors walking the streets offering delicious fruits for under 20 US cents, or raid the pantry when we came home. To us "wazungu" (white people, foreigners), there is food everywhere here (I KNOW this is not the case throughout Tanzania, where there is a SERIOUS food shortage... but in urbanized Moshitown, even on the outskirts, there is no shortage of food, provided you have the money to buy it). Our walk to and from work every day entails passing numerous food stands, general stores, a market, and dozens of women carrying buckets and branches of fruit in and out of town. It seems very possible that, were I simply one of the hundreds of tourists that flood this area, I would never realize that behind the tourist-driven economy of Moshi, there are hundreds of people starving in a country that has an alarmingly high rate of malnutrition among children (and adults).

With that said, I think back on the families that have invited us to cook with them-- preparing veritable feasts, even by my American standards (there was always WAY more food than I could eat!). This "oobleck" realization makes the generosity of these families stand out to me, even more. It also makes me think, and worry, about the families that can't, won't, and can't invite us to cook with them. It makes me think about our Saturday gathering a few weeks ago, where we debated and wondered about whether or not to provide food and, when we decided to provide something, what foods and how much we would provide. It is very possible that for some of our guests that day, our mandazi (donuts), vitumbua (teacakes) and soda were not only the most EXCITING foods they'd had in awhile, but maybe the only foods--besides flour and water-- that they ate that day.

Definitely, as soon as we get this program up, food support and supplements will be an IMMENSE help to these families, and the nutrition (and futures) of these children.

(This was posted by Molly)