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Reflection: |
My colleague and I left our
modest hotel in Dar es Salaam
for a stroll through the
business district. Two little
boys were sleeping at the
entrance of a nearby bank. The
door opened and a manager came
out, shouting in Swahili:
"Get along now. You can't sleep
here. Important customers will
be coming." The older boy,
about seven, helped the smaller
one up. Rubbing the sleep out of
their eyes, they scuffled off
down the sidewalk in front of
us. At the corner the barefoot
youngsters crossed to a vacant
lot that had become a local
rubbish heap and began
scratching through the garbage
to find their breakfast.
It was in this Tanzanian
city, our first stop on a
six-week project in Africa, that
I learned never to eat
everything on my plate, but to
leave a portion. It would be
returned to the kitchen, but
would not go into a garbage
disposal. Someone hungrier than
I would be happy to have the
leftovers.p> |