Sampa

Sampa is a staple of the people's diet here. It consists of barley, butter and either hot tea or hot milk tea. Adding sugar and walnuts is an option. You mix it together in your bowl - as Kenan is doing - and then form little ball shapes of dough which you eat. It is a breakfast tradition and some of our students even ate multiple times a day as it is cheap and nutritious. Recently, we had a former student visit with us. Not having sampa on hand, I fixed her instant oatmeal - which we have plenty of thanks to Grandma Miller and the Knights. I added a little brown sugar and she was very pleased. After 2 days of this, I thought I'd give her a shot at grits. One of my personal favorites. When she was finished, she said, "Teacher Mike, I liked the oatmeal, but I really like this!" A true southerner at heart!

Right now, we have Gesang and his mom staying with us. She recently had surgery and is recovering from over 90 gallstones. Until she came, she had never been more than 30 minutes ouside of her Tibetan village. And the way the roads are, 30 minutes is not very far. Gesang, Homey G, has been tending to her, which means fixing her sampa. We have shown him our fine collection of instant oatmeal and grits. I'll let you know how much she enjoys these next week.