Maxime in Africa: Passover in Zam

The office, magically transformed!

An epic, memorable Passover, truly something special, and the first that belonged to me (and Lena, too). I think part of what made it so remarkable was that, for the most part, we were sharing it with people who had little-to-no information about the holiday, or who had never been to a seder before, or who only knew portions and fragments of the general idea. That people were so curious to share and partake in our traditions meant a lot to me. There was excitement and joy, an eagerness devoid of resentment or "proper" kosher-ness or formality - it was makeshift, the result of love and dedication; of shlepping matzo gently enough to make it here in one piece, and matzo ball soup mix all the way from home; of seeking out horseradish paste somewhere, anywhere; of chopping 6 cups of charoseth by hand; of finding a dessert that didn't have flour, nor nuts (allergies), nor matzo meal (we only had two precious boxes of matzo and we needed it for straight-up consumption!), nor cornstarch or whatever funky things that are hard to come by here. It was the result of a group of people here who are curious and open to new experiences.

Our makeshift seder plate

It meant so much to me that not only were they willing to listen, but they wanted to participate, they were inquisitive of practices and traditions, they were eager to join. To hear Jamie pronounce it "matz-oh," to have Alla, Marissa and others be at their first seder, and to hear the chorus of voices speaking in phonetic Hebrew was uplifting. We transformed our office (with its unforgiving fluorescent light) into a more romantic setting thanks to Alice's chitenges used as a table runner and a lampshade, and yellow candles in multiple beer bottles strewn around the room.

Enraptured by the Haggadah.

Lena put together a wonderfully appropriate Haggadah - just Jewish enough, but not naively insular - linked to the bigger picture and the real world, too - and the meal went off without a hitch. Matzo, charoseth, maror, parsley and eggs and salt water, matzo ball soup, green beans, potato kugel, two salads, chicken baked with lemon juice, wine, herbs, tons of garlic and onions, mustard, mango chutney and hot sauce. Dessert consisted of flourless chocolate cake embellished with fresh mint from the garden (thankyouverymuch dad, now I have to have some sort of garden wherever I live) and coconut macaroons, and we were left with the ideal amount of leftovers to sustain us for a few extra days.

It was an incredible Passover, and regardless of celebrating it halfway around the world, I was still with my family; I was with my ZamFam :)