Towards the end of last month, I attended the Nsima party which took place at the Hiroo JICA office here in Tokyo. This party was organized by the Malawi Society of Japan in liaison with the Malawi Embassy  to commemorate Malawi’s independence day, 6 July. The Malawi Society of Japan, which was created in 1983, is  composed of ex-Japanese volunteers who had served in Malawi under the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) program.

Nsima is the staple food in Malawi and many countries in East and Southern Africa. In East Africa, they call it Ugali while in Zambia and Zimbabwe, they call it nshima and sadza respectively. Nsima is prepared by boiling water with maize flour into porridge and then skillfully “paddling” (kuthyakula in my vernacular Tumbuka )  it to create a thick paste with the addition of more flour. The last time I ate Nsima was on 31March, 2008 just before leaving Malawi. Ever since I came to Tokyo, rice (gohan) has been my main dish with spaghetti here and there. As a result, I really enjoyed the Nsima party. I had to do several rounds even though my stomach was full. Here are some photos from the Nsima party:

The Nsima that we love!!!

Zotendera

Munali Spinach.Tamalizamo!!!

Eating is in progress!

Posing for a photograph with Sayaka , who works for Yokohama Association for International Communications and Exchanges (YOKE)

Malawians at the party,me standing between the Ambassador and his wife