African Tea Party

Anissa and Alea enjoying real African tea with their 5 New Hope girls!

Alea Haywood (age 10) loves tea parties. She loves all things pink. She loves fancy dishes and pretty napkins. So it was only natural for her to want to have a tea party with the 5 girls we sponsor through New Hope. She figured that is was rare for them to have something “fancy” and special just for them, so for months before our family left for Africa, she had it all planned out. Into the suitcase went a sparkly pink tablecloth, floral napkins, lace doilies and pretty paper plates.

The big moment finally arrived when we had a “girls only” day with all 5 of our sponsored girls. Our menu included passion fruit and mango gifted to us from families of the day students we sponsor, cinnamon sugar tortilla chips made by Kiweewa Christopher who we sponsor (David Family), mango jam (that we helped make and bought from Pacific Family) served on mendazes that we bought from Kato Joshua’s canteen (who we also sponsor) that he bought from the David Family.

For drinks we served little glasses of strawberry Fanta (for the pretty bubbles) also bought from the canteen and, of course, hot African tea with milk and sugar from the guest house! I loved the fact that all the food was made by, given to us by, or bought from (to help support) African families through New Hope! Not only did it make the tea party authentic, but it also made it feel like a community event! We have learned that most girls in Uganda tend to be less talkative, so though the chatter was minimal at our tea party, smiles were plentiful as we all enjoyed our delicious treats! Love and warmth abounded around the table that day as we reveled in the gift of just being together!

Anissa Haywood (mother of Alea), Lake Geneva, WI