Friday 11 July 2014

Ramadan in Botswana

Ramadan in Botswana

If this is the first time you've heard of Botswana, I don't blame you. While it's a fairly large country geographically, it is a small nation with a population of only 3 million people. Shaped like Texas, and just as hot in the summer.

 A landlocked country with the world's only inland delta, the Okavango Delta, Botswana is located in Southern Africa next to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia . The Okavango Delta is a popular tourist attraction with wildlife and game, and where you will find the only lions in the world who frolic in the water. Cats usually hate getting their paws wet.

This year, Ramadan falls in the winter months.
Freezing cold nights, but fairly mild sunny winter days, make for relatively easy fasting compared to the seventeen hour days of Northern Europe in the summertime. Not too hot, nor too cold, this year we feel truly blessed to be fasting in July.

Muslims are a significant minority from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds, with a dominant Indian-Malay cultural norms and traditions.

My own family has mixed cultural backgrounds and food being the flavour of a nation, iftaar at my folks' place is a cultural table spread.


Samoosas, dates and chiken tikka for an Indian-Malay flavour. Crab and butternut cooked in coconut milk, siopao (pronounced Shoo-pow) and chicken noodle soup Filipino style.

Samoosas sizzle on the stove

Crab, butternut cooked in coconut milk

Dates to break one's fast the Sunnah way.

Siopao, a chinese influence in Filipino food is a small round steamed bun with a filling  of choice.
These had a sweet red bean paste.


Chicken noodle soup

From left to right (clockwise): Chicken tikka, vegetable soup, samoosas and Siopao
My sister (right) and I, having iftaar at my parent's home.
Winter days are mild, sunny weather prevails. But the temperature drops quickly at night to single digits.

The Ramadan timetable showing sehri and iftaar times in different regions of the country.







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