Sundays in Luton: How a Bulawayo Family Built Home Away From Home

Every Sunday afternoon, the smell of grilling meat drifts down Hitchin Road in Luton, England. Inside number 47, Sipho and Nkosi Mhlanga host an open-house lunch that has, over fifteen years, become a ritual for more than forty Bulawayo-origin families across Bedfordshire.

The rules are loose. Bring something — sadza, beef, or just a bottle of Mazoe. Children play in the small garden. Adults debate Highlanders’ midfield in mixed isiNdebele and English. By six o’clock the kitchen is full of women washing dishes and grandmothers FaceTiming Bulawayo.

“We didn’t plan to be the house,” Sipho laughed. “It just happened. We had a garden. We had patience. And we missed home too much to sit in it alone.”

For many younger British-born children, the Mhlanga Sundays are the closest they have come to a Bulawayo extended family weekend. “My grandkids only know Bulawayo through this house,” said one regular guest. “And that is enough — for now.”