The problem with the foreign service or expat lifestyle is that one has the opportunity to make amazing friends, confidants, those who are our mentor or like older / younger siblings to us ... and then after 2 - 4 years, they or we leave. On a positive note, we are at least blessed to have these people enter our lives, even if for only a season.
This afternoon a few ladies who have been touched by Ayana gathered in a small garden located at Taste By Rootz, a tea room and brew bar, for an afternoon high tea. The location was lush with trees, gorgeous flowers, and even a small pool. The table for our high tea was set in the middle of this small oasis in Lusaka.
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| Rootz has a new location in Roma off of Kwacha Road |
The high tea cost K175 per person (approximately $19). Prior to tasting the teas, the hostess passed around seven for us to enjoy through scent. Immediately, I fell in love with two: orange cactus fig and love me tender. Unfortunately, the tea room only had 5 tea pots at one time so we chose our favorites based on more than one person liking a particular tea. Thankfully, when we finished a pot of tea, the hostess either filled it up again with hot water or offered another tea off our list. In the end we LOVED: orange cactus fig, rooibos vanilla, rooibos shangri la, white diamonds and winter almond.
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| They all smelled wonderful! It was hard to choose the first 5! |
As they prepared the first five teas selected, our hostess brought out lunch which consisted of dainty finger sandwiches (egg salad, chicken salad, cucumber and salmon), delicate pastries (lemon tart, mixed fruit tart, peanut butter and chocolate scone, lemon cupcake and chocolate cake) and savory scones complete with homemade jams (apple and tomatillo) as well as fresh cream and butter.
As we enjoyed tea and lunch, we played "Spill the tea," a guessing game focused around Ayana (FYI: she apparently has a recipe and makes an AMAZING raw cheesecake!). Afterwards we shared our favorite stories about Ayana, which included how most of us met her. It was clear that Ayana has touched more women than those at the table as many of us met her through a friend who insisted we meet Ayana when we move to Zambia! (Thanks Shawntel for the connection!)
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| Niki sharing on why she is going to miss Ayana |
The afternoon was supposed to end at 2:30pm but it was such a gorgeous day, with beautiful women and delicious tea that we ended up staying until almost 4:30pm! There were a few tears but those were soaked up by the all of the laughter and hugs which were genuinely shared.
Proverbs 27:9 says, "Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his (her) earnest counsel," To many of the ladies, Ayana has been there as a listening ear, prayer partner, wise voice during Bible study, someone to laugh with, a person to share the love of fresh juices and hatred of refined sugar hahaha but mainly, as I told Ashlee, she is one person that you KNOW her word is true. She stands by her convictions. She is a true friend and she will be truly missed by many ladies here in Lusaka.
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Afternoon laughs with Ashlee
(http://www.willdrinkfortravel.com/) |
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| Gorgeous Kenya |
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| Kenya and I lovin on each other! |
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The Ladies at Afternoon Tea
Lusaka, Zambia |
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