Dinner with the nannies

Posted by Ali

On Friday night as Kezia and I were leaving Cradle we noticed Bibi Helen (grandma Helen), the night supervisor, talking to Danielle near the stairs to the apartment. She asked us if we wanted to eat dinner with her and the rest of the night nannies on Monday night. We readily agreed and assured her we liked Tanzanian food. So tonight the nannies cooked us supper. Kezia made sweet popcorn to bring with us (I helped her with the taste-testing and pronounced them delicious) and at 8:45 we went downstairs to a dark and quiet baby home. We washed our hands and waited for the nannies to serve out equal portions of rice and beans (and chicken for the non-vegetarians) on all 10 plates. Then they sang a really beautiful prayer song that I wish I'd captured on video. Since there wasn't enough room for us all to eat together at the small table in the kitchen we took our food into the main playroom and some of us sat on the bench and others on a woven bamboo mat on the floor. And since there was no power we ate by the light on a kerosene lantern. It was like a nighttime outdoor picnic! I just loved the ambiance and the friendship that we shared even though we didn't all speak the same language. We definitely want to eat with the nannies again a lot before we have to go home.