A new Gelateria … in Sassuolo, Italy

Posted on March 22, 2015 by johnageddes

I am fortunate to have friends in Italy that welcome me to their home when I want to visit. I forget between visits what a good cooks Gloria and her mother, Maria, are.

Last year’s Easter dinner for me was Gloria’s home-made tortellini.

The meals are a tasty variety of home-made dishes combined with good company. How lucky I am to enjoy this when I visit these wonderful friends.

My first meal on the evening I arrived last spring was one of my favourites – Pasta Genovese. This is a combination of pipe rigate pasta cooked with green beans and little chunks if potato and coated with a home-made pesto (olive oil, basil, pine nuts). Gloria chooses whatever pasta she cooks to match the sauce and it is always done to perfection. (Yes, Sherri Robinson, I have promised you the recipe for this and I have not forgotten).

Lunch à la Gloria. Minestrone with Parmesan, Crusts of Italian Bread and some home-made red wine.

In the morning I was greeted with some espresso coffee. Maria and Silvano (Gloria’s parents) had arrived before I awoke and brought with them some home-made ricotta cheese from the farm. I had brought some maple syrup from Canada and so our breakfast great was a little bowl of ricotta cheese drizzled with maple syrup. Cheesecake without the cake.

For lunch we had minestrone soup sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and torn pieces of Italian bread. This was followed by chunks of spare ribs with fresh strawberries ( in season here since late February) for dessert. All meals except the breakfast are accompanied by sloshes of home-made wine poured into juice glasses. The wine has a slight effervescence to it and makes a delightful pop when the cork is released.

My friend Antonio has opened a gelateria in Sassuolo, Italy.

We also always make a trip to a Pizzeria in Sassuolo run by Luca and Gloria’s friend, Antonio. He keeps serving us up pizzas that he makes up as he goes along until we are full. I always get something with truffles on it, my favourite. Well, this weekend, Luca sent me a photo of Antonio in his new Gelateria. Now, after pasta (and wine) my favourite indulgence in Italy is gelato. Nothing like it. Now that Antonio has his own Gelateria, I look forward to my next visit…dessert after one of his spectacular pizzas!

Celebrating Josephine …

Posted on March 18, 2015 by johnageddes

I had a message from Uganda today that Josephine died last night.

Neighbour helps Josephine wash her hands before we have afternoon tea.

Josephine Apoo was a woman whom I met last time I was in Uganda in the remote community of Olimai. No one knew exactly how old she was but she was well over 100, perhaps as old as 110 – remarkable in a country where the average life expectancy is about 60. “She was here when people ran around wearing no clothes at all,” I was told. The stuff of which early African stories are made.

Her neighbours were always looking out for her. She would join them for tea or a bit of food, walking with a stick from her house. We shared tea and some mango one bright October afternoon in 2013.

The last time I saw her she was heading home into a brisk wind. A storm was threatening. She was pretty sturdy against the wind. The image of her heading into the wind, over 100 years old, still being strong and independent is one that I will never forget.

My friend in Uganda asked that I join them in celebrating her life. Worth celebrating, indeed. My condolences to her many loved ones in Olimai. I feel privileged to have met her.

Josephine – October 2013. Died March 18, 2014 at well over 100 years old. Olimai, Uganda.

A heartwarming letter and ongoing need …

Posted on March 15, 2015 by johnageddes

It is always gratifying to feel that the work that we do through the CanAssist African Relief Trust is helping kids (and adults too) acquire education, health care and improved water and sanitation facilities.

There are about 300 children at the Kyabazaala Elementary School in Uganda. CanAssist has had an ongoing association with that school, helping them in many ways. I have visited the school a few times and can vouch that they do need help. The classrooms are somewhat dilapidated and they have few resources. The teachers are paid a meagre salary by the government and often have to find places to live as their homes are not close by. When we first went to the school, they were getting water from a dirty pond shared with animals, to make the one cup of maize gruel served to the kids at noon, often their only meal of the day. Their toilets were abysmal.

CanAssist helped by repairing their one water tank that had been damaged and installing new toilets. Other Canadian well-wishers visiting the school (including Hugh Langley, Ann Marie Van Raay and Elizabeth Muwonge) provided funding for cementing floors of some classrooms and between us all, we got electrical supply to the school.
Last year, the Mayer Institute in Hamilton, through CanAssist, funded installation of two water tanks at the School. This will be a grand improvement to their access to water.

This week, I received an email with a scanned letter of appreciation for the various ways we have helped. It was, indeed, heartwarming, to get this acknowledgement of our support and I want to share it with those who have, through donations to CanAssist, contributed to all the work we have done at the school.

Our next project at the Kyabazaala Elementary School is to help them construct teachers’ quarters on the school property. This will help them to acquire and retain qualified teachers since the school will be able to offer some modest accommodation to the teachers whose salaries are woefully low. The community has already been accumulating locally-made bricks for this venture. The total cost for this six-room teachers’ quarters will be approximately $7000 CAN. CanAssist (and the school) will welcome any support dedicated to this project so we can start it soon.