Tanzanian Khanga

 

Photo courtesy: Fanny Scherzte — Wikimedia Commons

Khanga sounds like a children’s version of cricket played in Australia, kanga cricket, but I’m referring to fabric.

Mouth Watering Maharagwe

While living in Dar es Salaam, I was invited to a Hindu friend’s house who ran a kitenge duka on Independence Avenue at that time. At lunch, I devoured a kidney bean curry like a taste bud smorgasbord.

Tanzania’s vibrant kitenge

Photo courtesy: Jfoth (talk I contribs) Wikimedia Commons

A friend tweeted, “What’s kitenge?” (And this from a person who loves to design and play with fabrics). Oh, what she’s missing out on.

A Tanzanian treasure rediscovered

While living in Dar es Salaam, I had a problem sending my mother a gift. There were beautiful fabrics (kitenge) but she didn’t sew; there were loads of books, but my mother wasn’t much of a reader.

Finally, I stumbled upon tins of Tanzanian coffee grown around Arusha near Mt Kilimanjaro. The container was decorated with giraffes with a space down the bottom where I filled in the address and off it went.