Thanksgiving in Uganda

Thanksgiving is, of course, not a celebrated holiday in Uganda. So observing Thanksgiving in East Africa is going to be a little out of the ordinary.

Thanksgiving reflections:

This was not my first non-traditional Thanksgiving though. There was one year when I was a flight attendant that I spent Thanksgiving flying to Salt Lake City, hanging out in the airport for 4 or 5 hours, and then flying home. And there was another one when my Dad was deployed (to Iraq I think?) and my brother was not around, so my Mom and I attempted going out to eat in the South Bay on Thanksgiving without reservations (which I would not recommend). So an out-of-the-ordinary Thanksgiving is not an anomaly per say.  What was different this year though, is I think for the first time in my life I really felt the level of gratitude that I think one is supposed to experience on that day. Maybe it was not having the distractions of worrying about what to bring, or where to go, or how many homes were to be visited that day.  Maybe it was not having the distraction of lots of delicious food to taste and sample, and not feeling full and comatose for most of the afternoon/evening after stuffing myself silly (at least, this would apply to Thanksgiving meal #1, below).  But more than anything, I think it was being in Africa, and realizing how much I truly have in comparison to the majority of the rest of the world. 

Part 1: Breaking Bread at the Landmark Hotel

Thanksgiving meal #1 in Uganda occurred on Thanksgiving day, naturally. I officially had the day off; however, it was only the American staff that took the holiday (of which there are 2 of us in Soroti right now); and since I live in the office, and all of the Ugandan staff had to work that day, it was more of a quasi-day off. So I decided to sleep in a bit, then skyped with loved ones, did a work out video (courtesy of a fellow volunteer—thank you Heather!), and then eventually I made my way (down the hall) to the office. I worked off and on throughout the day, and made a run to the outdoor market in the afternoon (where some guy was really persistently trying to sell me a cucumber, which I had no interest in buying, but made me start to wonder if I should take offense… But I digress).

That night, I met a new friend, a Peace Corps volunteer, in town for dinner. We both were of the mind that even if it’s nothing like Thanksgiving, we are at least doing something to commemorate the day. So I walked to the restaurant, and we had an ok meal. It was American style food, so even though it wasn’t remotely Thanksgiving-ish, it had the slight feeling of home. And there were lots of options on the menu. However, in Uganda (and also Kenya for that matter) you learn to ask what they actually have in stock before you order, as it's quite common that a good third of the menu is not available that night, but there's no way to tell that up front.  So I asked, "Do you have the veggie burger this evening?" and they said "No, we have run out." So I ordered the avocado, tomato and cheese sandwich and chips, which they said they had. Turns out, they were out of avocado. So I asked, "Do you have the veggie pasta?" which yes, they did have.

Thanksgiving Dinner #1

It was fun to talk about our different Thanksgiving traditions and celebrate a bit. Afterwards, I took my first bicycle taxi home, which was quite an experience, but for the sake of time and space, I’ll have to describe it in another post.

Part 2:  Thanksgiving, PCV-style

On Saturday night, the same Peace Corps volunteer (or PCV as they’re called for short) invited myself, 2 other PCVs and a cultural anthropology PhD student, who is here for a project, over for a potluck Thanksgiving. I think we did pretty well given the limited local options. I even found canned cranberry sauce, though it was a pricey 12,300 shillings (or about $5).

Final preparations

One of the guys got a turkey from somewhere, and slaughtered it that morning (Yikes!) and had it prepared in time for dinner. Another made mashed potatoes, and my housemate made a tomato/potato/egg soup that was quite nice. I cooked sukuma wiki (kale) because I figured we needed a green vegetable, and there are no green beans or asparagus around that I know of. And finally our host, who had a small toaster oven (a rarity around here) on loan from an out of town PCV, made chocolate cake (Yay!).  

Sukuma Wiki (I promise it tasted better than it looks!) 

Thanksgiving Dinner #2

I also brought some trail mix to serve as our appetizer, courtesy of one of my care packages I recently received (thank you Aunt Betty!).

Enjoying Thanksgiving dinner

Trail mix direct from the USA and chocolate cake from a recipe in the Peace Corps Uganda cookbook 

It turned out to be a really nice meal. We talked about what we were thankful for, and our past Thanksgiving experiences, and then the topic of conversation turned to the slaughtering, which was a bit more than I was ready to hear; but all in all, it was a good time.  

Good times had by all

The holiday made me really miss loved ones, family and friends. But I also felt thankful for the opportunity to meet new friends and to come together and share this experience.