Wild Rat is actually very tasty!

One of my weekly activities in Bath now is with the wonderful kitchen team of cooks to prepare a mid-week community meal at our church. I think of them all on Wednesday's when I know they will be preparing and then serving the meal ... and think of the amazing oven and commerical dishwasher in the purpose-built kitchen! But I just love how the people here are even more hospitable with the limited equipment, ingredients and space they have! We have so enjoyed such amazing hospitality wherever we have gone. A warm welcome with food and so much singing and dancing!

It was such a delight to meet Beatrice (pictured below with the cow she purchased through the village groups savings and loans scheme) who was so proud to show us her fuel-efficient stove which allows her to cook with far less firewood and in a far healthier environment without all the smoke. She has also set up a wooden rack outside for solar drying her dishes, and a tippy-tap for washing hands. 

With Beatrice and her cow!

Beatrice's fuel-efficient stove

Tippy Tap for handwashing

We have also really enjoyed the food ... I finally had my first Rolex! And the posho and delicious groundnut sauce! Amazing fresh fruits ...and another first for me was wild rat! I didn't know what it was when I ate it ... which was probably a good thing! But it was honestly really tasty! 

A giant wild rat

Yummy Rolex

All the Ugandan trimmings! (posho, beans, cassava, g-nut sauce, matoke, millet bread....)

While we were in Gulu, Uganda, Tim and I were delighted to meet up again with our friends Mike and Marianne and their son, Elias, working there with Emmanuel International. We realised when we arrived at their home, that they were just around corner from Titus’ home and the Amigos Gulu office! It was great to introduce everyone as Mike and Marianne welcomed us and the guys with us from the Amigos team when we arrived in Gulu. Tim and I were also able to spend another evening with them over a meal and catch up with them. 

The Amigos team with the Botting Family in Gulu

Reading a new book from Sue Fallon with Elias at bedtime!

The only frustrating thing about this wonderful visit is that time is very short and we have such a full schedule of things to pack in! I was disappointed to miss seeing good friends in Uganda while I was so close! But I am looking forward to hopefully being able to come back before too long and have some extra time to visit Jennie and Adrienne and also meet new friends through connections in Monkton Combe!

So often in the UK, as in many places I am sure, we feel the pressure to have the perfect kitchen, the perfect dishes, lots of space, prepare the "perfect" meal ...or surely we cannot offer hospitality ... but here it is so simple. You just offer what you have and enjoy being with one another in whatever space you have. Life is meant to be shared in community!