From Tanzania to Virginia: Leah’s culinary and community impact

Two decades ago, her husband went to the US. While she was working as a public relations officer at a telecommunications company, just as she was about to be promoted, she was granted a visa to follow her husband. Caught at the crossroads between her career advancement and reuniting her family, Leah boldly took her kids and boarded the flight to a foreign country that would change her life forever. “My family comes first, so I had to go to my husband,” she said. While in the US, she furthered her studies and earned a master’s degree in marketing.

Originally, Leah is a Swahili teacher, having studied at Korogwe Teachers’ College. That education would come in handy when she was working at the telecommunication company that brought in English user manuals that they were looking at translating for the Kiswahili-speaking customers.

Someone at the company suggested that she should take a crack at it and translate the booklet. Her translation was so impressive that the company thereon started using her. Upon moving to the US, she kept getting translation work from different organisations, including Canada’s Ministry of Health.

She remembers getting a job translating Joe Biden’s policies into Kiswahili when he was running for the presidency, and she was excited when he won. “I love to keep doing it because I think my strength is in writing rather than speaking,” she added. She remembers volunteering to translate Civid-19 information to educate the people in Tanzania as the pandemic was ravaging the world.

She was not paid a dime, but she was glad to have played her part to save lives and at the same time build her resume.

Leah’s entry into the culinary business is fascinating; she has always had a passion for cooking, and she has always been curious about how different dishes are cooked.

Even when she went to India for studies, she would always observe how they prepared their spicy dishes and be eager to learn. On a fateful day, a guest came to visit her, and customary to Tanzanian tradition, food was set on the table.

After the meal, the guest offered her money if Leah would be willing to cook for her, and Leah the chef was born. She said the word of her cooking started spreading, and people kept coming to her for her food.

She admits she didn’t think she had the cooking skills to turn it into a business and it was a pleasant surprise, but she took that opportunity to use her marketing skills to expand her clientele and officially entered the service industry. With the help of cooking books and YouTube, she started watching famous chefs like the British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

She took it further, and this year she entered the culinary competition dubbed “Favourite Chef” and made it to the quarter-final. Though Tanzanian food is yet to be as popular as other African dishes like Ethiopian and Nigerian ‘jollof’, Leah is at the forefront, proudly representing Tanzania, and those who have had a bite or two of her cooking have nothing but praise for her culinary skills and Tanzanian cuisine.

“Tanzanian food is a mix of many types of food, including Asian and Indian spicy food, and people love that,” she said. Her pilau and samosas are the most cherished by Americans. Whenever there was a gathering, people would ask if Leah would be there and if she was coming with her samosas; some would even say if she would not be in attendance, she would not show up too.

A true testament to how she has mastered whipping up a meal. She has ambitions to compete in the world-renowned cooking competition ‘Master Chef.’ She is determined to represent Tanzania in that international contest, and as of now she is honing her skills.

At that level of the tourney, it needs to get ready and master her craft because she will get to go head to head with the world’s best chefs, and since she will be representing our whole nation, she said she has to be completely ready and choose her meals that she will present to the judges.

Leah’s other hat is a ‘family support specialist;’ she equates it to a social welfare job; her work involves making house visits, especially to young mothers who are struggling to raise their children; they offer support to these families.

Before the outreach programs, Leah had never known the level of poverty some families in the US go through; it was an eye opener, but she also witnessed how the American government has incentives and programs that help alleviate their hardship.

Leah and her colleagues come in to teach them about the proper way to breastfeed and how to take care of their toddlers.

Some of these mothers would be going through mental health issues or drug abuse, and Leah would liaise with the medical institution to seek further help.

From volunteering to translate piles of booklets and documents without demanding a penny, cooking for her community, to doing social welfare work, Leah feels blessed to serve. Part of the reason is that America and her people have helped Lee at her lowest point in life, and she can’t forget the kindness of the people.

Unfortunately, when she first emigrated to the US, her youngest child was diagnosed with cancer. She was overwhelmed with the amount of support they received; the social welfare people helped her throughout her child’s chemotherapy. Unfortunately, Leah was also diagnosed with cancer six months later, and she had to put everything on hold and seek treatment. She is now a three-time cancer survivor.

“For me to be alive today, it’s because of many people who have helped me and my family amid the health struggle,” she said.

The excellent health care in the US contributes to her ability to fight cancer, and she is concerned for women in Tanzania who are diagnosed with cancer but do not have access to medical help, and she is contemplating what she can do to assist them.

“I was given proper care and instructions on how to beat cancer, but I see some women back home do not have the right information, and I wonder how I can help,” she observed.

She is also keen to help women who are victims of domestic violence in Tanzania.

Leah is one of many Tanzanians in the diaspora who are ready and willing to give back to their motherland in whatever capacity they can; currently, they are impeded with many immigration restrictions that include being treated like foreigners once a Tanzanian changes nationality.

She hopes to provide a ‘special status’ for Tanzanians in the diaspora so that they can have access to their home country.