The American Experience: cHAPTER ONE
The Vegetarian Family! That’s what I have grown to call them. The lovely American family I adopted during my studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. Thanks to the Mandela Washington Fellowship, a program for young African leaders YALI sponsored by the US Department of State and implemented by IREX.
I have always had a negative perception of the American life style, mostly due to the movies and song we watch, until I met Tavy Aherne (PH.D), an Associate Director for the African Studies Program at Indian University and her beautiful family.
Dr. Tavy, her husband Dan FitzSimmons, a computer wizard and their two beautiful daughters Darby FitzSimmons and Braelyn FitzSimmons are all vegetarians. Yes, that is right. They do not eat meat. Neither white nor red meat, including dairy products.
“I have been I vegetarian since I learnt that daddy and mom were vegetarians,” Tavy’s 9-year-old daughter told me after the dinner her mom and dad had spent a lot of time preparing for us fellows.
I realized that it has always been a culture of Indiana University to give foreign students host families from the Bloomington community or rather from the university community.
“Usually Mandela fellows and we don’t get time to host them since it is a short period.”
“This time we decided to host you for a special dinner,” Dr. Tavy said as we drove to her house.
She looked exhausted to me. Turns out I was right. Dr. Tavy and her husband Dan FitzSimmons have been preparing stuff for our “special dinner” two days before. They also had their summer trip to Coasta Rica to worry about and it was looming. I felt sorry for them because I didn’t understand why these people would care for “Aliens” like Nzani and I?
Search exposer is excellent since it is the only way the Mandela Washington fellows can learn about American family lifestyles as much as they learn from us.
My Kenyan friend Nzani Nzani Kasim and I were lucky to have Dr. Tavy and Dan as our foster parents for that day. Like me, Nzani if a 2019 Mandela Washington fellow from costal Mombasa, Kenya. She is a feminist who’s very passionate about the media. All my life I have never a friend as committed as she is to issues facing young women in her community.
At just 23 she is moving mountains already. I didn’t have brainstorm when someone asked if she would have a bright future. The answer was obvious. She is already there, I told my Zimbabwean friend Passmore Ndolovu whom you shall come to know more about in my next articles. Passmore and Nzani happen to be the two fellows I spent most of my happiest time in the US with.
“They are such a lovely family,” Nzani said joyously.
The expression was clear on Nzani’s face too as we joked about our experience. Nzani was overwhelmed by the children, especially Tavy’s elder daughter Darby whom Nzani had been told was passionate about Africa and was learning Kiswahili.
“Mambo? Jina lako ni nani?” Nkani tested Darby’s proficiency in the coastal Swahili of Kenya but the little girl’s reply made every laugh since she replied in English clearly indicating that she understood what was required of her was her name.
The Hoosiers! That’s what the Indiana call themselves. You can’t leave in Indiana and not become a Hoosier. The temptation is almost irresistible. The songs, the people and the way they treat you, will entice you to get along with ease and get accustomed to their way of life.
“I am a vegetarian too,” I heard my voice. I was wrong. I wasn’t sure I was thinking out loud because I realized all eyes were on me. I hoped so and continued to narrate my whole experience with the allergies I had whenever I ate meat before 2012 when those allergies vanished.
“My little brother and I used to only eat white meat such as fish and chicken,” I explained my weirdo.
“Ah that’s a pescetarian,” I heard Dan’s say.
“What?”
“Yes, that’s what they call people who do not eat meat except fish,” Dan explained. It has never occurred to me that I was once what I didn’t know until this day. We had a long discussion on the topic because I was curious how someone can leave for the rest of their life without eating meat.
Yet where I come from some people would kill to have meat. Many have married for the sole purpose, some have married for it. How dare they say it’s bad to eat meat? Then I began seeking answers on how the children copped with Vegan parents and why they decided to become vegetarians as well.
“I just love animals. That’s why I feel it’s unfair to eat them,” 9-year-old Braelyn said pitifully. I understood her point without hesitation. As an animal empath I felt the same too, once upon a time when my mom asked me to slaughter a chicken.
My hands shivered whenever a hen or cock struggled for its life in my hands and I would resign to the backyard to mourn. I happen to notice how cold little Braelyn turned when I explained how horrible I felt when my parents forced me to eat meat.
We patted goodbye and Dan dropped us to our hostels. Just to check how Dr. Tavy felt about our stay with the family, my sister Nzani and I wrote her an email thanking her for treating us to that special dinner. They reply was even warmer.
“Dear N’Zani and David,
It was wonderful to have you both visit our home last night. We feel fortunate to have been able to share that time with you both! I am sorry that we won’t be able to attend the closing event —we are traveling the next two weeks. We hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Bloomington. We look forward to seeing what you are up to through Instagram and Facebook!
Best wishes, Tavy.”
After that night, I decided to learn more online about the difference between a Pescetarian, Vegetarian and a Vegan. By the way, a Vegan is not the same as a vegetarian.
A pescetarian is someone who eats fish and seafood, but no other meat. The diet of a pescetarian is often very similar to that of a vegetarian, usually containing vegetables, fruit, dairy, nuts and pulses but also includes fish and seafood.
Cutting out red meat reduces your intake of saturated fats, one of the leading contributors to increased cholesterol levels. This is important, since high cholesterol levels can have a significant impact on your risk of heart disease.
To even I understand better I landed on an article by jennchen115. It was posted in September 15, 2011. Here is a passage from Jennchen’s article.
Pescetarian, like vegetarians and vegans, does not eat any type of animal meat or flesh. They DO however, eat fish. Some consider life in the sea, not as meat because they are cold blooded. But traditional vegetarians *Me me me* considers ALL living animals, to be meat. The term isn’t very commonly used *I probably can’t even pronounce it correctly* but the method is very commonly practiced. Most people consider this method as a stepping stone to become a true vegetarian.
Vegetarians does not eat any type of living animals INCLUDING fish. However, unlike vegans, they DO eat eggs and dairy products. That’s where the term lacto-ovo-vegetarians come from. “Lacto” in Latin means milk and “Ovo” means eggs.
Vegans, does not eat/wear anything that comes from animals. They DO NOT eat eggs, dairy products, meat, shellfish or fish.
By the way David Monodanga is now a pescetarian.
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