On an October Night: African Dinner at King Middle School
On Thursday October 7th I sat down with over 200 people at King Middle School to eat an extraordinary dinner featuring Ugandan dishes, homemade casseroles, & the largest fruit salad I’ve ever laid eyes on. After dinner I joined an ecstatic audience who cheered for the King Middle School Sudanese Dance Group and the dancers & drummers from the Portland Arts and Technology High School who performed a high energy West African dance. Next we all jumped up on stage to dance to music provided by the amazing DJ Bernarzo from Club Babylon.
Many people made this wonderful night happen. Our good friend David Katende brought cooking experts Vaniser Nalukenge and Jaja Maine (the matriarch of Ugandans living in our state) to lead King students, staff, and parents in preparing the food for our celebration. John Naylor from Rosemont Market donated crates of perfect melons, grapes, & strawberries. Hannaford Supermarkets sponsored one of the most fun shopping trips I’ve ever been on. Principal Mike McCarthy and his community of educators, parents, and students couldn’t have been more helpful and celebratory.
That night at King Middle School made me feel very lucky – lucky to be well fed and surrounded by good will, music, and dancing. A few of the moments that have stuck with me since that night:
Weeping 8th graders insisting they could finish chopping the onions.
Jaja Maine slipping me warm fried bread & Vaniser assigning me as taster of all things beef.
Proud King kids bearing enormous bowls and endless platters of food into the cafeteria.
After dinners and the performances, watching every Ugandan grab something to tie around his or her waist – a sweatshirt, a scarf, whatever – as we all rushed the stage to dance together.
The next night, many of us gathered in USM’s Hannaford Hall for the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International performance. The party continued. And afterwards, I found myself for the first time in my life, craving Ugandan food.
vaniser Nalukenge says:
Yes iwill love to do it again kids were great so David Katende, Jaja Maine ,Djbernarzo let us do it again
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DJbernarzo says:
That was a great night . I’d love to do it again with my mom (Jaja Maine) featured in the article