Anecdote from Africa II

Table fellowship was a concept I wrote an extensive paper on a few months before leaving for South Africa. I was fascinated with researching the ways Jesus used meals throughout the Bible to teach lessons and demonstrate characteristic of who He innately is, bringing people together form all different demographics and religions together. At the same time I was reading a Shauna Niequist book where she often talks about her dinner club of friends who meet monthly to share a meal together and the power she has found in coming around the table together. I had all this knowledge of table fellowship floating around in my head before departing for South Africa, but had yet to see the power of it all. Arriving in South Africa my life quickly transitioned from meals on the run or alone while doing homework to meals always with people, around tables, without cellphones, and in the most beautiful places. 

I remember the first meals together. For the first few weeks due to jet lag, everyone was up early and eager for breakfast. We would line up, getting fried eggs, toast, fruit, yogurt, and muesli. We would sit in the dining room filled with round tables covered with table cloths, set and prepared for us.  A few trips back and fourth were always required to collect our food, water, and instant coffee. Once our table was filled, we would often join hands to give thanks as the South African morning sun shown through the dewy windows. Conversation would begin, often nothing very complex early in the morning, sometimes we would talk about plans for the day, homework, who saw the most zebra in the reserve that morning, or recap on our game playing of Werewolf the night before. For thirty minutes we would sit and engage with one another and subversively learning each others quirks and passions and hearts. We all were hungry so we all came to eat. It seems like God made hunger as a secret way to force people together. 

I cherish those simple breakfasts, it is how I came to know my fellow travelers well. 

For a month I served in a local township at a family center. After our first day we shared a meal with the staff and volunteers who worked at the family center who provided hot meals daily for children and cared for those affected by HIV/AIDS and TB. The first day dinner consisted of a pre-party of the guys killing chickens for us to eat. We watched as they sawed the heads off of the chickens before being plunged into hot water and de-feathered. We drank tea and talked with those from the community while the smell of Zulu bread grew from the kitchen. The family center and our service team shared this meal of chicken and Zulu bread sitting in a circle as there was calling to each other in Zulu across the circle, singing happy birthday to one of our team mates, and making the boys eat the chicken intestines. The prayer for this meal was offered by one of the family center staff. I will never forget when he was welcoming us to eat and said, "Now that we are all friends, let's eat together." After one day and we were already valued and accepted in our South African township. The first meal we ate together solidified the foundation for relationship to be built on. 

The list of meals I could write about is extensive and so beautifully etched in my memory I hesitate to try and recreate it. 

Meals eaten outside at picnic tables, always returning inside for a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Meals eaten in Durban at Surfriders. Meals eaten at Flavour in the rain. The dinner during battle fields tour, the breakfast on safari with the best bread and butter, the church potluck our last Sunday at Spirit Life,  Meals eaten in the living room of Wellwood of sushi, thai, or Pic N Pay meals pieced together. Meals on the beach in Fish Hoek, meals in Kaulk Bay, meals in Cape Town of the best shawarma. 

Table fellowship brought us together three times a day in South Africa. We laughed deeply, shared bravely, and cared with compassion. The table is a equalizer, an acknowledgement we all have this weakness called hunger and we can meet this need for each other and with each other. 

Hamba kahle. 

Rachel Kehlee Photography