MAKING STRING HOPPERS

We went over to Brother Dharmapala's tonight to learn how to make string hoppers. Sister Manoja added slightly salted water to rice (string hopper) flour and then she mixed it with her hand until it was "a little bit sticky". Then she spooned it into a press and pressed out the strings in a circular movement over plastic circular trays with holes. I tried to do the pressing, but was not very good at it! On the other hand, Elder Lee was a pro! They stacked the trays randomly inside a large steamer pan and then into a boiler pan with a cover for steaming...for about 7 minutes. After steaming, they make stacks of 10 and then wrap the stacks together in paper to sell for less than a dollar per package! Brother Dharmapala roasts cashews during school hours. They work from 2:00 (when the kids get home from school) until 8:00, when the buyers stop coming. They wanted us to stay for dinner, so of course they made a special dahl curry and soup to pour over string hoppers, and then watched us eat on their Christmas China. We left at 9:30...they still had to eat and clean up before going to bed! Brother Dharmapala doesn't get to bed until midnight or later because he takes roasted cashews around to the hotels on his bike...they don't have a motorcycle or trishaw. The family gets up at 5:30 and father at 6:00...they drink rice milk for breakfast. In the morning, Brother Dharmapala takes his 6-year-old son to a special-ed school on his bike...6 kilometers away. He picks him up in the afternoon before the "family work" begins. They sell string hoppers and cashews six days a week and make $240 per month! A trishaw costs $7000  which sounds like a fortune. To go to the temple, they have to pay tithing for at least  six consecutive months in order to qualify for the Church to pay the airfare and patron housing...but then they still have to pay for their passports! We were in such awe as we witnessed how hard they have to work to merely survive!