Volunteer Stories

Three Ways to Have a Mango

Written By:
Sarah Kazira (Volunteer, 2016-2017)

Malawi

November 15, 2016

Written by CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer Ms. Sarah Kazira

Mango season has just begun all over Malawi and it couldn’t have come at a better time. My community was blessed with a lot of mango trees, all shapes and sizes; from those that are very small to those that can weigh a kilo or 2. This is the happiest season for children because they can eat this sweet fruit however much they want.

I have noticed three types of ways of eating the mango fruit that I have seen in my community and would like to share. The first one is boiling them. All you do is get the mangoes and boil as you would eggs and you can either eat them with the covers or not. When i first heard of this, it sounded strange to me. I was very skeptical at first so I did not want to try any boiled mangoes. But when I finally tried them, I quickly knew why they are such a big deal around here. Just two or three of them are enough to fill your stomach and with the ongoing hunger crisis, it’s easy to understand why they have become a substitute for meals. They are simply the best way to have a mango.

The second one which is the most common all over the world i assume is just eating them as they are. Especially with the farming season which has also just started, its not unusual to find a family sitting under a mango tree in the middle of their fields having some mangoes with their water hoes besides them. This is another reason why the mangoes come at a perfect time (farming time) because people can rest under the shade after the toilsome labor of farming and be soothed by the juicy mangoes. And people are very generous with their mangoes too; I can’t visit someone without being offered a basin of mangoes or finding them with friends sitting around a basin of mangoes and being asked to join.

Mango season also comes with some few other things as well, like some kids breaking their legs or hands because of falling from a mango tree and a few cases if diarrhea because one had too many mangoes or they were not properly washed. And of course the mangoes this season didn’t grow very well as they usually do, But so far, i think everybody is happy its that time of the year again and i intend to eat as many mangoes as i possibly can.

The third and last type of way to have a mango is the cubed mango. This is not so common in my community but a few people still do it. This is when you peel a mango (Preferably one which is still a bit hard and not very ripe) and cut it into cubes onto a plate. You can either have them with salt if they are not at all ripe.