Finding hope in a bowl of Nshima - Published May 2007
Finding hope in a bowl of nshima
“Make sure the water’s hot.” Ester adds maize flour to the mix and starts stirring the pot. She is teaching me to make nshima, the local staple food here in Zambia. She has a mother’s instinct of the skills I must develop in living in Zambia—making good nshima is at the top of her list!
Ester is one of the hardest working women I know.
Not having the opportunity to finish school, Ester now works as a maid. She is paid ZMK 180,000 (approximately CAD $50) a month with which she supports her mother, daughter and granddaughter. Since her husband’s death, providing clothing and shoes for everyone in the family has been a struggle, let alone enough food for everyone to eat.
Yet she dreams of saving enough money for her daughter to go to school - the key, she believes, for the next generation of her family to have a better life than her own.
“Then you pound the mixture to remove the lumps of flour” she tells me. Ester starts to vigorously mix the nshima like she’s working a piece of dough.
Not only has Ester taught me to make nshima, but also to make my own floor wax, and most importantly, to take pride in my work and not give up.
The obstacles that stand before her are great, but her unwavering focus on making tomorrow a better day for her daughter and her family, drives her dedication to all that she does.
“Let it simmer for 5 minutes.”
During my time here in Zambia, I have come to share this dream: that Ester, and the mothers across the country just like her, will have the opportunity to send their daughters to school, to have crops with which to feed their families, and above all, to ensure a better future for the next generation of Zambia’s mothers.
“Then you make little servings for everyone.” Ester’s nshima is perfect as usual.
My nshima needs a lot of practice. But I have already learned a more important lesson from my friend and cooking teacher: Poverty here in Zambia is not one of will or spirit, but a poverty of opportunity. I am committed to helping create opportunities for women like Ester to improve their own lives and the future of Zambia.
Josephine Tsui volunteers in Zambia, where she is working to promotes cultivation of sorghum among small-scale farmers. This alternative crop is more resilient to Zambia’s prolonged and tough droughts than the dominant crop of maize, allowing families to grow the food they need.
In celebration of Mother’s Day this year, we would like to invite you to honour a special woman in your life with the Gift of Opportunity - the opportunity for clean and safe drinking water, for irrigated crops, and for people in some of the world’s most impoverished communities to work their way out of poverty. Your gift to EWB will help courageous people in developing communities build a better life.
This post was published in Engineers Without Borders Canada websight in May 2007. You can see the website here: http://ewb.ca/en/whatsnew/features/mothersday1.html
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