ABAS SAPI and Stan Munsamy (right) met up at Kilombero and discovered they had plenty to reminisce about NSU in Louisiana, USA, in the 1980s.

I was fortunate to attend NSU in 1981 to do a course in “Sugar Refining” and to do a tour of the Louisiana sugar industry. Thirtythree years later I met another NSU graduate at Kilombero Sugar Company - Abas Sapi, a senior member of the Kilombero agriculture team, who graduated from NSU with a degree in Plant Science (Magna cum Laude) in 1982.

For both Abas and myself, the USA adventure was the first time we stepped onto an aeroplane and you can imagine how nervous we both were to jump off the plane on the other side of the world. It was our first introduction to global brands like Nike, Budweiser, Converse, Levi, Miller Light and other now famous brands.

It came as a shock to realise that academic students were treated very differently from “sports” students. The football and basket playing students were treated to six eggs, steak and four big glasses of milk for breakfast everyday whereas we were served an ordinary breakfast which included corn grits and red beans, which we enjoyed. We also ate deep fried frog legs mistaking it for chicken legs – once was enough.

While drinking Kilimanjaro beers in Kilombero Country Club we reminisced about the Greyhound bus trips from NSU to New Orleans, drinking purple lanterns and pinacolda drinks and staying up all night listening to jazz music.