African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 300: Chapter 287 Teaching

The Abbot family eventually moved into this East African-style house, which was vastly different from the buildings in the Venice area and had more characteristics of German architecture.

The Abbot family’s luggage was not much, just one suitcase. Inside were some clothes, and nothing else of value, with even a few pieces of clothing looking quite patched and worn.

”This house looks decent enough, with complete bedrooms and a kitchen. Andrew, you’ll take the first bedroom on the left, Anolina the second on the left, and your mother and I will take the bedroom on the right.”

The space of the house was much larger than Abbot imagined. One of the smaller rooms, if I’m not mistaken, should be the future kitchen. It was rather cramped, but there was already a chimney port prepared. Besides that, it was quite empty, which was likely the reason the police mentioned that we could choose our own stoves in the future.

As for the toilet, they could only use the public toilets outside. In reality, some Venetians had not yet felt East Africa’s strictness in terms of sanitation.

The East African police only mentioned it briefly because he was too busy today, with many immigrants waiting for him to arrange their matters.

The sanitation situation of Venetians in the 18th century was not better than other regions, as all household and industrial wastewater was directly discharged into the river.

And their drinking water came from thousands of wells within Venice, which put them on the same starting line as East Africa.

Not to mention now, even before Ernst’s journey across time, there were few public toilets in Italy, and even paid toilets were hard to find and expensive, subject to taxation. Even in the 21st century, a significant number of Europeans would solve their needs against a wall. Of course, nearly all European homes had toilets, it just wasn’t convenient when out and about.

Due to economic issues, it’s certainly not feasible for every East African home to have a toilet; a complete underground sewage system is required for that. Only in First Town, where Constantine currently resides, has Ernst conducted large-scale modifications, supplying the whole city with running water and establishing a complete drainage system.

Therefore, East Africa has greatly developed public toilets, the same kind of row-type ”dry toilets” from Ernst’s elementary school era.

This is also convenient for collecting and processing excrement, which is then used as fertilizer for farmland. This aspect is usually completed by ”professionals” from the Far East.

Europe can fallow and use various methods like extensive planting to restore soil fertility, but the situation in the Far East is different, reaching the extreme in the utilization of manure.

Of course, this is not the main reason. In fact, most of the ancient Far East, before the Ming dynasty, was also sparsely populated, so manure could increase grain yield, which is the real reason the Far East is skilled in this ”technique.”

Evening.

The busy Nairobi government staff started guiding new immigrants to canteens for meals, and the Abbot families, led by the police during the day, arrived at the East African canteen.

”My name is Hayden, I’m from Austria and from now on, I’ll be the officer for this district, handling many affairs, which means you can come to me with most of the problems you encounter. If I can’t solve them, then you’ll have to seek help from professional government departments.” The administration of the Kingdom of East Africa is simple and direct, with a lack of relevant management personnel leading police officers to assume many roles.

Hayden continued, ”In a moment, I’ll take you to the canteen for a meal, but I must say one thing in advance: the East African canteen is wonderful in every aspect except one—the utensils provided are quite unfriendly to us Europeans. If you’ve brought your utensils from Europe, it’s best to have them ready.”

Abbot and the others didn’t quite understand what Hayden meant by this remark. Utensils? As long as there are some, it doesn’t matter if the quality is poor.

However, soon upon reaching the canteen, they understood Hayden’s words, seeing the chopsticks standing upright in a bamboo holder.

Hayden picked up a pair and began demonstrating how to use them, ”Like this, and then like this... It’s simple, isn’t it?”

Seeing the bewildered expressions on everyone’s faces, Hayden chuckled slyly, feeling much amused by watching them go through what he once experienced.

”Of course, if you can’t learn, I can teach you a trick. Hold them together, and when you hold your bowl, just scoop the food into your mouth. Now let’s line up to get our food.”

In the canteen, today’s dinner’s main staples were flatbread and rice. Staff had found that cooking rice was much easier than kneading flour dough, and it was easier to control the heat. Just rinse it once, put it in the pot, and wait for the steam to rise. Thus, seeking convenience, they’ve started replacing flour products on a large scale with rice. As for why there were still flatbreads, they were for their own work meal.

The main dish was beef and potato stew. On the first day, they made sure to give the immigrants a good meal to comfort their homesickness.

In addition, many fruits and melons were specially prepared, but in limited quantities, allowing each person only a small portion.

Hayden, holding a bowl of rice after staff served him a large portion, watched others follow his lead.

”Alright, let’s return to the table now. Time for some hands-on practice.”

”Look, by using chopsticks proficiently like me, you can pick up dishes, lift a mouthful of rice, or pick up a whole piece of fruit and bring it to your mouth. Isn’t it convenient? Of course, this might be challenging for you; you just need to lift the bowl to your mouth and use the chopsticks to scoop food in.” Hayden said in a Versailles-like manner.

So, everyone began their clumsy and laughable dining journey.

”Mr. Hayden! Who on earth invented this form of torture? These things are simply anti-human utensils.” Reep asked from across the long table.

”That’s because you’ve never seen how convenient it is for those who can use chopsticks. Though it’s a bit hard to learn at first, once mastered, they can completely replace forks and knives. For instance, I can easily pick up spaghetti, and these are easy to produce, simple to source materials for, and easy to clean.”

”Mr. Hayden, this white stuff is rice?”

”Yes, how does it taste?”

”A bit better than mashed potatoes, but if I had a choice, it would definitely be bread.”

”Bread is excellent, but East Africa is a major rice producer, especially in the Great Lakes Region west of Nairobi, where it’s all rice fields.”

”The beef and potato stew tastes really good!”

”You all truly come at a good time. East Africa’s animal husbandry has developed, which is why you can enjoy this beef meal. When we first arrived, we had to make do with all sorts of odd animal meats, like lion and crocodile, which the government later banned.”

”Why?”

”The government said that wild animals likely carry parasites and other unclean things, and the greatest fear in East Africa is contracting a disease. That’s why hygiene management is strict. You’ve probably heard about rampant diseases in Africa, and the vibrant development in East Africa is supported by a focus on hygiene issues,” explained Hayden.

”Speaking of hygiene, I nearly forgot to remind you: after you return, don’t drink water from sources other than the well, or you’ll have stomach problems. Your water pots haven’t arrived yet, but should be here in a few days. Even with well water, it must be boiled before drinking. Right now, you are new arrivals, so the conditions are lacking, but once noticed drinking raw water later on, there will be fines...”

At the dining table, Hayden carefully explained East Africa’s various regulations and laws, as well as life tips, to help these immigrants adapt to living in East Africa quickly.