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Five hours for Lunch?

Five hours for Lunch!?

No ordinary lunch date!

A five hour journey might sound a tad on the long side when it comes to finding a spot of goat for lunch. But, this was so much more than a spot of goat!

Driven (at least when we weren’t getting out to push!) down a dusty, rutted dirt track in a Mercedes Benz belonging to the local Secretary of Tanzania’s ruling party (the CCM) it was already an unusual start to the day. Arriving at the village of Eluwai we were told it might be an idea to get out and walk.

We were met by a wall of colour and piercing singing. Grabbed by the hand this seething mass of excitement shepherded us towards assembled dignitaries and the much anticipated goat and rice. This was no ordinary lunch, this was lunch with the Masaai!!

Our stay was all too brief as we had to retrace our five hour journey back to Moshi but we saw that the water tank built by COCO is still standing despite an earthquake five months ago and that the pupils at the school appear to be benefiting from the dedication of their teachers. However, as so often with visits to a project site, this lunch left us with food for thought. There remains much that could be done to help the community at Eluwai establish a more secure existence: watch this space!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .