Italians

When I first arrived, Stefano helped me prepare dinner on Thursday evening. We rotate cooking & Thursday was my turn. I had no idea really what to make, but it had to feed seven people, two of which were guys who ate enormous amounts of food. That particular evening, I decided on soup & pasta. Oh how little I knew. It took about 10 minutes after I explained what I wanted to create for Stefano, in very polite English, to say: Italians, we just don’t do that. I would never serve this, but I can help you. All I was trying to do was serve soup & paste. Yes? No, actually, Italians would never serve soup & pasta at the same meal. Pasta is a first course & I tried to serve the soup & well…

There was also the time that I was quizzically watched, as I squirted tons of ketchup into a pasta sauce; beef stroganoff. I also made a jelly meat sauce. It was so delicious, but meat served sweet? Again, no…It was a can of grape jelly, lemon juice & ketchup. What was I thinking? It was also my first experience of purchasing & cutting up meat. It went something like this:  
I purchased the meat from the butcher up the road. It’s a shack with the cow either hanging up or divided into pieces all over a wooden, bloody table. Flies are everywhere, as he throws it into a black plastic bag. After washing it, slicing it, & removing pieces of grass from the poor cow’s last meal, I’m ready to cook. I have seen parts of a cow now that I never knew existed; we always save the skin, bones, etc…for our dog & cats. Enough said. Matteo helped me fire up the wood oven outside (our replacement canister for the stove was still in Arua, waiting for gas to be delivered).

 

Overall, I definitely made them a bit nervous for Thursday dinners. But there is more to Italians than food? Also, I have to mention birthdays. A very big deal; there is singing, dancing with the gateau (cake) & even a song for cutting the cake. Matteo always grabbed either our dog, Fiona or one of our cats to carry around with as we sang & danced to whomever birthday it happened to be. We have celebrated Stefano, Matteo, Maria, Me & Clara.

 

Stefano came to Congo for a summer program in 2009 and returned to serve one-year in Aru. At home in Italy he worked construction and was able to do much of the same here in Congo. Building, painting, & other such work kept him very, very busy. He also spent several months working construction at the Canossian convent in Bunia, another village several hours from Aru. The construction team was comprised of Stefano & a group of guys from Aru. Most have continued working for the Sisters in some capacity here in Aru, including Orio. I will always appreciate his love of music; blasting jams of U2 to Bob Marley to Metallica in the middle of the afternoon. He returned home to Italy at the end of January.

Matteo worked and worked and worked and worked some more. He came first to Congo in the summer of 2009 and returned for one-year, just as Stefano. Congo is like that; you visit once for a few days & become hooked. Matteo spent a lot of time at Cyber Café. He's an electrician & therefore, responsible for all sorts of electrical matters, particularly installing the solar panels, inverter etc. at the new convent, St. Michele. He returned home to Italy in February.

Maria also came to Congo for the summer 2010 program & returned in October to serve an additional 5 months. She worked at the Bakery, just about every day. The children of Aru absolutely loved her. And still very much miss her; her smile & laughter can immediately brighten anybody’s day. She returned home to Italy in February. Maria was also the volunteer, who received me when I arrived; the others had left for vacation. It was a unique experience. Maria & I didn’t speak French well at all. She didn’t know English & I knew no Italian, but somehow we communicated; explaining how the Italian laundry machine works, or doesn’t work; meeting the Sisters, learning about all the green vegetables that I would be eating for the next year, & meeting the kids in our village.

It’s always a little curious to me what the local people think of us. Given the obvious lack of social engagements & the reality that prevents us from leaving our modest, gated home at night, we have created ‘Saturday Night Live.’ It usually involves Karaoke; to the best of my knowledge, there hasn’t been one of us which truly has a great singing voice, but nevertheless, we sing & sing & sing.