Dinner at Home with the Dossous

An invitation to dine at someone's home is an honor, no matter where you are in the world. Recently we were honored by such an invitation from the Dossou family, whose daughter Claudia goes to church with us and is a good friend of Stro. Claudia was among the first to participate in President Obama's Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), through the US Department of State. She is now in a high level job with the Congo branch of the MTN cell phone company doing community relations, corporate social responsibility, and special projects. Her parents, Charlotte and Claude, and her younger brother Teddy were all there.

I think I was most excited about our evening because it was a personal invitation (vs. the diplo circuit) and because I would be able to get past the outer walls of a house and garden. As we drive and walk around here we are always on the outside of mostly nondescript to pretty unkempt metal or concrete walls that hide all the details of the life behind. So it was a delight to enter Charlotte's well-loved and very tidy garden. Her big potted plants border the sitting porch and have obviously never suffered neglect. They have a wall of lemon grass in two varieties, the milder of which made for an excellent infusion at the end of the meal (citronelle).  The walk is bordered by a version of boxwood that is a lighter green and very happy in this climate. In the corner is a moringa olifeira tree, the leaves of which are used in salads and also pounded and ground into a dried herb. It is supposed to cure over 300 maladies -- in other words, it's "good for what ails you," as my grandmother might have said.

Charlotte is a Brazzaville native. She is tall and dresses beautifully in a locally understated way. She speaks French and Lingala and I felt very frustrated that I would not converse with her more, but will try again, even if I have to take a translator. She is active in the fabric business in some way and has a boutique I hope to visit. She recognized the fabric in my pagne as having come from a big Ivorian design house called Woodin. Charlotte is also an esthetician.

Charlotte's husband Claude is a native of Benin and he travels frequently in West Africa and around Congo. He is very active with International Lions Club and is excited that the international president is coming to Congo next year. Claude is much shorter than Charlotte and has a great sense of humor. I can see in Claudia some of his personality and her features clearly come from both parents.

Little brother Teddy is 18 and writing his baccalaureate exams this week. His dream is to work in systems security in the banking industry. He is headed to university in Bordeaux and will study "informatique," or computer science. He has the look of a student and is tall and lanky like his mom. It took awhile but eventually we got Teddy talking, back and forth in English and French but in French very fast!

All of them were involved in playing host, first by offering drinks and some snacks and then assisting us with the buffet. The feast spread on the large colorfully decorated table looked to me to be enough food for twice as many as we were. Charlotte and Claudia had gone to the considerable effort to put together a meal of traditional dishes--manioc, white yam, a Beninois dish of dark greens braised with fish, fried fish, roasted chicken leg quarters, rice, green beans and carrots, a special warm onion relish, a huge platter of salad, smaller salads with hard-boiled eggs and avocados, and an array of fresh fruits, including papaya, watermelon, apples and oranges. And of course her very own pili-pili (very hot pepper sauce). I am enjoying trying everyone's very own pili-pili sauce. So far, Well-come is winning. His is both flavorful and hot.

We started by being served salad on our plates and then sitting in the all-rattan seating area to eat. At the second course, we were invited to continue on our own with lots of hovering to explain what we were eating. The same with the fruit dessert. Thanks to Stro's and Claudia's bilingual skills we managed to carry on a lively conversation throughout the evening.

It took some time to take our leave, which is typical of social events here. One "asks for the road," which is only the beginning of the departure process. Each person says goodbye with two kisses, just as we said hello. The departing guests are wished "bon vent," or good winds. We got into a round of picture-taking with many cameras that prolonged our goodbyes, but in the end the Dossous walked us out of the gate (also customary) to our car. The night was soft with a slight breeze. Our tummies and our hearts were full.