Peace Diaries Workspace

STORIES

Student's Traditional Food Story
Story from Liz Barrett, KIT Project Manager

DANISWA LUBENGU

My name is Daniswa Lubengu and I go to Luhlaza High school in Khayelitsha (meaning "new home") I live with my mother and my sister. I attend School at Luhlaza High and I am doing Grade 10. I am busy learning about TOURISM to MRS. Barrett who is teaching me about Computers.

I also do a research about Townships . How did the Black people live in the Townships and how did they do things and I also searching about the traditional things that were happening in the olden days and the other things that were doing by the Black people.

That is what I am doing in the tourism . I have had to visit the centres in the township to talk to people to find out about what Americans and others can see.

I meet MRS Barrett at the SAIRR on Fridays to discuss my work and to use their computer. I don't have a telephone at home.

I have learn a lot in this project like how to talk to people. I have had to learn to catch a train by myself and get lost looking for places. I have learnt taxis are better than trains. And I improve my English a lot.I am learning to tell people about the food that we Xhosa enjoy - it is good food but to the white people they think it is funny when they see we cook the head of a sheep.

Daniswa
I am holding what you may regard as a weed, but to us it is a delicacy.

TRADITIONAL FOODS

My mother, Lesha and I prepared a traditional meal for you. We cooked traditional food such as Umphokoqo, (mielie meal), Umfino (green plant found growing wild - like spinach) and Umnqusho (it means a samp) and I cook a traditional meat like Intloko yegusha , amanqina wayo kunye nehagu (it means a head of sheep and their feet) We also cooked Ulusu lwegusha (stewed sheep tripe) this is best served with pap or umngqhusho. (samp and beans)

			We cook this and combine it with a pap made from mealie meal or with potatoes. It is called Umfino (umfino is a term for wild leaves.) Leaves from the beans plant, beetroot leaves, or sweet potato leaves can also be used to make umfino. Salt and pepper are added to this dish.
			I am wearing a traditional german print scarf and a beaded waistcoat. I am a Xhosa and we enjoy eating our traditional foods. Photographs by: Liz Barrett

Press Releases | Inspiration | Stories

WORLD LEARNING WITH MY SON

Connie Ross
Project Manager, The Colorado Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT)

November, 2002

Peace Diaries! We've found you!

Since 1995, my son, Henry (now 14 years old) and I have been traveling around the world learning about different cultures and what needs to happen to obtain world peace. Since that time, we've been looking for someone or some organization to impart our enthusiasm about the interests of the multitude world-wide who share our vision of world peace. I heard about Peace Diaries in the past month, and want to be a part to make a difference in achieving our goal world peace. Thank you Peace Diaries, I now no longer feel like an island!

Here is our story:

In 1994, my husband died of brain cancer and left me to raise our wonderful son, Henry (6 yrs. at the time) on my own.

In the headiness of the tragedy, I decided that although Henry may be at disadvantage from not having a father, I could take it upon myself to provide him with opportunities that may not have occurred if his father had lived. This quickly led to my belief that education was the opportunity and that world travel was the unique vehicle in which to obtain knowledge. Our travels have taken us down roads that we never dreamed of. Now as we continue to travel through unknown lands, we have a purpose of spreading good will among our global friends.

In 1995, Henry and I embarked on our first world trips, covering about 65,000 miles circumnavigating the world via plane, boat, train, car, and foot. Our trip lasted nine months. We backpacked through countries on the continents of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia (New Zealand and Australia) and in addition to sightseeing, included visits to different schools in each of country. Checking in on schools throughout the world provided us with two things, one a way to see what others kids Henry's age were doing in their respective schools, and two, new friends to meet and play with along the way.

We also kept in touch with Henry's peers back in the states. We wrote articles about our trip that were published in the Colorado Kids section of the Denver Post here in Denver, Colorado, USA. In addition, we published stories (distributed in 4 languages) in an on-flight magazine called "Fly High," on Scandinavian Airlines. When we returned home, we presented a slide show called "Henry's Incredible Journey" to students and adults throughout the state. Henry wrote and narrated the 25 minute show and afterwards, answered questions from the audience.

We continue to travel since that first long excursion and continue to visit schools throughout the world. Soon we will tour SE Asia with this undertaking to spread the word about Peace Diaries and get more kids involved in this fabulous peace mission.

EAST MEETS WEST ADVENTURE
Karen Kaun
Knowledge iTrust Executive Director

October, 2002

In the spring of 2002, we received word from Nahida Huseynova, a teacher in Azerbaijan, that she and her students would like to join the Peace Diaries program.

I knew little of Azerbaijan before Nahida and her class joined the Peace Diaries, but gradually learned more and more, through her emails and her students’ work. Azerbaijan an independent republic, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia with a rich and ancient history. Because of its geographic location, Azerbaijan has been a strategic crossroad between the East and West, fought for by Persia's Cyrus the Great, the Roman General Pompey, Alexander the Great, Tamerlane and Genghis Khan.

Archaeologists date the first human settlements in present day Azerbaijan to the Stone Age. The Azerbaijani people are descended from the nomadic Turkish tribes that migrated west across Transcaucasia into present day Turkey more than one thousand years ago. Today, Azerbaijan is home to more than 70 different ethnic groups, including Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Jews, Russians, Armenians and Lezghins.

In the summer, I received exciting news from Nahida that we could meet each other in person. She would be visiting the United States from September through November on a teacher education program. In September, I hopped on a train to Washington D.C., to meet Nahida. This was the first stop in her travels. Nahida brought her students’ original Peace Diaries artwork with her and gifts for us. A carpet with an ancient scene of a horse rider in a forest is a special treasure.

Following her stay in Washington D.C., Nahida moved on to California where we received word that her host school, Little Chico Elementary School, that they would like to join Peace Diaries Volume II. Peace has a way of taking root where ever it is sown!