Village Life

Life in the village is slow, but good. I've been trying to keep myself busy, but then other days i just laze around and do nothing absolutely nothing, which feels amazing. My puppy, Sangala is good and healthy. The vet came and gave him a vaccine for rabbies and deworming. He'll be the healthiest dog here that’s for sure. Whenever I’m busy out doing work, my new friend Millie watches him for me. She even feeds him! He’s stopped crying so much at night too so that makes me happy. We are making progress in our little life here in Matayos.

Anyway, the other day I ran into a bunch of American missionaries that were about my age so I asked them if I could go out with them for the day. We walked way back into the villages and I heard some really sad stories from families that are struggling. One house we went to had a child with a horrible skin disease. She was only 10 months old and the mother could not even afford soap. I think the disease could be prevented with just basic hygiene, but when there is lack of water and money, families have to make priorities and food is number one. It’s hard to see suffering like that because it makes me just want to do something immediately, like take the child home with me and care for her. Anyway, at another house there was this old man who couldn't walk. He told us that sometimes when it rains he gets stuck outside and rained on because no one will be home to carry him inside. His wife has to predict when to go to the markets based on the rains so she can be there to help him, but predicting the weather is not the easiest thing, so he sometimes gets rained on or else they will starve. Anyway I told them I live here and to come to the clinic if they can and I will talk to a doctor with them. I oddly have a lot of authority here, sadly I think because I'm white. They think I'm like a doctor myself or something. I was telling the nurse the other day that the reason why I'm in health is because of experience I've had with San Francisco Aids Foundation and she couldn't believe I didn't even study medicine in university.

I've been volunteering a little at the VCT too (voluntary counseling and testing) and helping out with the HIV testing. It's intense because you can see the fear in someone’s eyes when they come to get tested and the whole time I'm just praying please don't test positive. I sat in on an HIV support group the other day too. It was really interesting, but also made me concerned because I’m not sure how I can really help. I mean these people already KNOW about HIV etc, so I can’t teach them anything new really. What it seems like they need most is funding for their group so they can expand their farm and make more money for their families. Well money is something I don’t have, and even if I did, I don’t want to just give it out because it’s not sustainable. So I said maybe I could show them some income generating activities or something. It feels like a heavy burden on my shoulders because they expect so much from me. I just hope I can help at least a little.

I've also began work with my primary organization, Pembe Tatu. We go way out into the villages and do talks about malaria and show people the amount of money they will lose getting malaria instead of just spending a little money on a net to sleep under. Then we demonstrate how to tie and hang the net. It's all in Kiswahili and I try, but I can't really help too much due to lack of language skills on my part. People are so shocked to see a white person. Unfortunately when they see me they automatically think I'm rich, have money and will give it to them. It's sad and racist. I wasn't even rich in America! But I mean when I go out to these villages it makes me think how lucky I really am. I complain about the cockroaches and whatnot, but in retrospect, these houses have far worse conditions and the people have little to nothing. They live that way their entire lives, whereas I only have to deal for 2 years. It gives me strength actually.

Anyway, I’m missing home and missing Americans in general now that I’ve been at site for awhile. While it’s nice to have down time, I think I might begin to go a little stir crazy soon haha! I made my neighbor come over and play cards with me today because I was so bored and had no electricity. I guess I’m just feeling like I don’t quite know what to do with myself. It will come though and soon enough I’m sure I’ll get busy once I find my place here. Tomorrow I’m buying a bicycle so hopefully I can start exploring even further!