Porridge for Breakfast and Zvikwati for Spoons - Snippets of My Life(8) Just like those many years ago, today I made myself some good porridge for breakfast. Steaming, hot, tasty with peanut butter (dovi), sugar and salt. I had the right level of heat on my gas stove, and did let my porridge simmer. I then stretched with a plate of porridge and enjoyed every scoop. A cup of cold water just made my soul dance. As I hummed an old song to myself, whose words I can barely remember, my mind wondered back to those years. Today I ate porridge as a matter of choice. I even had the power and options to chose the spoon I wanted to use! Back then in Magaya village, porridge was THE breakfast. It was not really a matter of choice. Bread for breakfast was a rare visitor often with us at Christmas or when we had guest from the city. Often soon after harvest, and when we had some disposable income in the house, Amai would buy flour, 2 kg self raising! We would prepare, chimodho, of if we had cooking oil, some fat-cookies, we called mafetikuku. In the extreme of cases, with no oil, and a little flour, we prepared mutukutu buns! Well Mutukutu buns are just so special and rare these days. Essentially you would mix like one cup of self raising flour with 3 cups of mugaiwa, mealie-meal. You sprinkle a dash of salt and sugar and make your dough thick. Sugar was used sparingly, ensuring that you did left some sugar for tea the following day. At times their was no tea bags/leaves so we would harvest Masamba emusango, use zumbani or simply have tea yekupisira! Anyway, when your dough was was ready, you would take mutukutu tree leaves, which are wide and do fold. You would take those which are firm enough, and not the old leave which would crack and break nor the freh new leaves which were not firm enough to hold the dough. It required skill to pick the right leaves, and a real recognition, if amai requested you to take the basket and bring the leaves for mukutuku buns! It was a sign that you could trusted with making the right judgement and decisions! You would have heated your pan (no really a pan, but rata), and you would heat this on the open fire (not this gas stove). You place your mutukutu leaves with the dough inside on top of the heated rata to cook. It was important to have the right amount of heat. When the leaves turned brownish, and you would turn over each peace, so that it cooked on the other side. You just need to keep watch and not burn the mutukutu bans. When they are all done, you would put the bus in the reed round tray, rusero, and peel off the mukutuku leaves. Often our cows produced milk, so tea with milk and mutukutu buns were breakfast! Anyway, when all these goodies were not available as an option, porridge was the option. Then Amai did not have enough spoons for all of us. In serving porridge the big spoon was given to visitors or neighbors whom I felt always arrived in time for a meal. My older sisters would use the other small spoons, and amai, myself and her grand children would all go for Zvikwati! Chikwati is simply a piece of bark or small chip from firewood, that you can use to scoop porridge. We would nicely remove the rough edges, and clean them in a dish. After feasting on porridge, we would through this Chikwari into the fire or just away, kugomba remarara...rubbish pit. At time, I would quarrel with my sister over the spoon, and at times with my nephews and nieces if they took chikwati changu. Mediation was always at hand, and that authoritative voice of a widow raising her little ones. Today, when I sit in big meetings and people talk about poverty, dignity and all this stuff, I always want to ask did you ever eat porridge nechikwati?. When people go on and on and on about innovation, social entreprenuership and creativity, I always wonder how many are reaching out to the daily innovations in communities, those who are making mukutkutu buns..thousands of women are creating life each day, foraging with love, courage and raising new generations of leaders. When people have an attitude, I dig deep into my heart and forgive, knowing that some of these issues are small stuff to worry about, compared to making mukutukutu buns and eating a whole plate of porridge with no sugar using chikwati. Material poverty creates fortitude and gives some deep life skills and lessons. I am who I am because of the journey travelled, surrounded by love, laughter and always seeking solutions to lifes adversities.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 11:19:40 +0000
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