What a busy weekend! Sarah and I decided that we were going to host a Thanksgiving Dinner for all of our co-workers. They do not celebrate Thanksgiving here in Botswana, and we were missing the holiday at home so we decided it would be nice to bring Thanksgiving here. All of our coworkers were very excited about it. We thought we would try to keep it small because we only have two very small toaster ovens and hot plates to cook with. However, before we knew it the guest list was 26 and counting!
We went to Maun on Friday to pick up all of the supplies. While there are grocery stores in Ghanzi, we could not find everything we need here. We also wanted to search for a turkey, but we were unsuccessful. The one thing that was almost impossible to find was cranberry sauce. We couldn’t find it anywhere (and they don’t have fresh cranberries) but then we found some by chance at a small specialty grocery store after we had given up even looking! After buying tons of groceries (and doing a little bit of shopping for ourselves), we were ready to go home and start preparing. My fridge has never looked so full!
The total menu included:
8 whole chickens, 10kg of mashed potatoes, Butternut squash, Cooked carrots, Corn, Fresh garden salad with homemade croutons, Brocoli and Bacon Salad, Stuffing , Cranberry Sauce (this was the only thing that was not made from scratch!), Gravy, Baked brie with fruit chutney and toasted walnut topping served with assorted crackers, Fruit infused jello, Apple sauce, Buns, Sliced pickles and tomatoes, 3 pumpkin pies, Butter tarts, Ice cream and Punch with cut up fruit
Saturday we spent the whole day baking. We made four pumpkin pies (from scratch using real pumpkin – pumpkin pie filling doesn’t exist here) and three dozen butter tarts. Unfortunately, we could not find any whip cream and couldn’t make our own without a beater of some sort, so we bought vanilla ice cream to serve with the deserts. I also made homemade applesauce! Everything was going fine until I realized that my kitchen sink was leaking all over my floor. It turns out the pipe broke so I couldn’t use it anymore. I called my landlord and he said he would come fix it in the morning (and then came two days later).
On Sunday, we woke up bright and early to start preparing the food. I spent a couple hours rinsing (in my bathtub due to lack of sink) and chopping vegetables. Sarah peeled potatoes and made stuffing. We then started to prepare the chickens (closest turkey substitute). Because we were expecting 26 people, we decided to cook 8 whole chickens! We thought it would be fine because between Sarah and I, our boss Monica, and our co-worker Lucia, we would have 4 ovens to use. However, when we went to start cooking them, we found out that Lucia’s oven was broken and Monica’s oven worked but the door doesn’t close. So, after some creativity, we ended up cooking all the chickens in our two small toaster ovens!
We stopped for a little while to get ready for dinner and then finished preparing all of the food. We were going to have the dinner at Monica’s house because there is much more space than at either of our houses. Dinner was supposed to be at 6pm, but in typical Botswana fashion, everyone showed up at around 7pm. Almost all of our co-workers were able to make it, along with many of their children and friends. There are two other interns working in my office from Britain and they brought two of their British friends who work in D’Kar. They were all very happy to see some familiar food!
Sarah and I explained to everyone what Thanksgiving is in Canada and why we celebrate. We then explained what some of the food items were and everyone was given a pin of the Canadian flag. Apple sauce, stuffing, cranberry sauce and the pumpkin pie were the items that received the most puzzled looks. Everyone was so happy and thankful for the dinner and really thought it was cool to experience a Canadian tradition. There were so many people that we didn’t have enough chairs but everyone managed to find a seat somewhere, and we all enjoyed the meal together. We then went around and everyone said what they were most thankful for. The most common were family, friends, good health, life, love and of course..the food! One of the British interns said that he was most thankful for having such amazing opportunities at such a young age and I really agree with him. I am very thankful for everything in my life right now, including all the wonderful people I have met and things I have seen here in Botswana.
The rest of the evening was full of laughs and stories and it was really nice to be able share some of our culture with all the people we work with. It was an amazing evening and a really fun weekend in general.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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