The Afrishare House is the accommodation Afrishare Solutions offer.
It is a nicely built and decorated house; and it is a house, not a hotel and not a motel.
It consists of about 8 bedrooms with wooden furniture, a living room with 1950s Western décor and a photo of Zanzibar hanging on the wall. The dining table is also found in the living room and the kitchen is right next to it.
The house is located a 5 minute drive out of Moshi in the area of Soweto. Soweto, before getting built up, used to be a foresty area where dead bodies would often be disposed by the murderers and that’s why it was given the name of the original Soweto: the South African scene of violent anti-apartheid rioting in 1976, where a student protest led to clashes with police – in 2000, the district was officially incorporated into Johannesburg. Nowadays Soweto looks nothing like a creepy area and is rather a family housing area.
Let’s just say I am glad I didn’t accidentally unearth any human remains during my stay.
The house is run by Ibrah, the owner of Afrishare Solutions. Ibrah is a very well established business man with a university degree and a family man. I think the first thing that stroke me at the airport when I first met him was how warm he is. In the month to follow I also established that he is the most knowledge thirsty and curious person I know – he never stops asking questions! He is also very charismatic, has a great sense of humour, is great at teaching Swahili and is literally worry free – as he often says “I am free like a molecule”. I have to thank him about the fact that whenever I am stressed I am reminded of “be free like a molecule”…
(To read more about Ibrah or to contact him please visit the CONTACTS post).
Hussein is the cook of the house. He is very dedicated to his family; he works at the house Monday to Saturday and only visits his wife children on Sundays, in order to make sure that he provides enough money for them. Hussein is a house-proud person who is extremely welcoming and was very fatherly to us. He would always make sure that we had whatever we needed and loads of delicious food to indulge in. The most surprising thing was that although he could not afford spices, his food tasted amazing and I really do not know how he did it! I can assure you that I will hardly ever meet another person who is more passionate than Hussein when it comes to food and cooking. My favourite recipe of his which I looooooove is fried cabbage and onion. Hussein’s instructions are:
- Add oil and butter to the pan
- Add some garlic
- Add grated cabbage and grated white onion
- Add very small pieces of green pepper
- And indulge – try it!
I surely miss the Afrishare house and I deeply wish that one day I shall return.
A TASTE OF TANZANIA 