Guest post from Lisa Curtis of Kuli Kuli.
I never thought I would start a food company. I’d always liked food, but then again who doesn’t? It wasn’t until I lived in a country where having a meal wasn’t a given that I began to really think about food.
The strangest thing about living in Niger was that people were constantly giving me food. It didn’t seem to make sense. Here I was in one of the poorest, most malnourished countries in the world receiving an opulent Peace Corps salary of $75 per month (double the country average). Shouldn’t I be giving them food?
And then one night I did in an event that I’ll never forget. I was sitting around the campfire with my tea group – a hilarious group of young Nigerien men who drank sugary sweet tea boiled over a small coal fire. This qualified as nightlife in a village with no electricity. I have to say that I enjoyed it far more than any bar in San Francisco.
My friend Ilya had just finished telling a story that had everyone doubled over in laught…