January 2nd, 2009
Home care visits. Today I went around on a scooter delivering ARVs to the local HIV patients who can’t come into the office for care. I went to check on the triplets. Yes, the quadruplets I told you about are now triplets. The little girl Katherine died of malaria. Very very sad….it’s so hard to see these poor kids who are so sick and how many children die from malaria here. Kelvin, Kennedy and Camp David were home with their mom Salamai, two other children and the father of the two older children. It is customary to bring a gift when you come to someone’s home. I had run out of food and felt terrible about it. However, I did have some stickers (assorted color stars) so I gave the older kids the stickers as a gift-seems stickers is the last thing they need, but the kids were excited. Kelvin and Kennedy are infected with malaria now and Camp David is healthy. Yes, that is his name. J Poor Kelvin and Kennedy are extremely lethargic and sick. Salamai explained she had run out of food for the babies formula and that is how she mixes their meds. Charles, the director was with me and told Salamai he’d come back with food. As we took off on his motor bike I asked him when he was going to bring the food for the baby formula and he said the grant money didn’t cover any food and he didn’t know. It is frustrating b/c Charles wants to help, but makes false promises to some of these people….It’s a catch 22 with the funding b/c they get funding for ARVs, but not food and ARVs can’t be taken without food. The government and many givers of grant money won’t give out money for food because they want the local people to learn to produce for themselves. Understandable and makes sense for some healthier patients, but how are HIV+ bedridden people supposed to farm? or those with sick triplets?
Given the poor health of the triplets, I decided I was going to get them the food they needed for the next 6 months since Charles had told Salamai he'd be back with food. We got a bjage and loaded up on dried soy beans, sorgum, powered milk, cane sugar, maize, etc. Two hours later, we were back at the triplets house. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the whole family was wearing the stickers I had brought as earrings! Salamai, the father of her two older kids, the older kids (one boy), and all of the babies wear wearing gold and blue star stickers on their ears. A happy moment given all this poor family has gone through….
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Happy 2009!
January 1st, 2009
Happy New Year! Today I am headed to Fukayosi, a masai village not far from Bagamoyo. Luka, the Masai who guards UKUN has invited us to attend a Masai ceremony today. I know 2 phrases in Masai, so my ability to communicate will be lacking today.
Happy New Year! Today I am headed to Fukayosi, a masai village not far from Bagamoyo. Luka, the Masai who guards UKUN has invited us to attend a Masai ceremony today. I know 2 phrases in Masai, so my ability to communicate will be lacking today.
Old MacDonald had a Farm EIEIO…
December 31st, 2008
Old MacDonald had a Farm EIEIO…
Almost 2009! Tonight we had Amani club with the orphans and other HIV+ kids. Their teacher had asked me to arrive early to give an HIV lesson to the older kids. When I arrived, Assam, their teacher told me I was just in time for my turn to lead the class in song. First of all, I am not good at speaking in front of an audience and much less comfortable singing…All of the kids were saying, “Sing something teacher Marissa. Sing!” So, I felt obligated and all I could come up with is “Old MacDonald.” The first animal I could think of was pig which wasn’t the best choice in front of a muslim audience. The kids are so musically talented. They picked up the song right away and joined in and did some fancy clapping, so luckily I wasn’t singing by myself for too long. The kids flip flop their r’s and l’s. Some get my name right and call me Melissa, others call me Marissa and some call me Teacher Mona Lisa…Kind of funny.
After singing, I gave the HIV lesson-it went well.
Old MacDonald had a Farm EIEIO…
Almost 2009! Tonight we had Amani club with the orphans and other HIV+ kids. Their teacher had asked me to arrive early to give an HIV lesson to the older kids. When I arrived, Assam, their teacher told me I was just in time for my turn to lead the class in song. First of all, I am not good at speaking in front of an audience and much less comfortable singing…All of the kids were saying, “Sing something teacher Marissa. Sing!” So, I felt obligated and all I could come up with is “Old MacDonald.” The first animal I could think of was pig which wasn’t the best choice in front of a muslim audience. The kids are so musically talented. They picked up the song right away and joined in and did some fancy clapping, so luckily I wasn’t singing by myself for too long. The kids flip flop their r’s and l’s. Some get my name right and call me Melissa, others call me Marissa and some call me Teacher Mona Lisa…Kind of funny.
After singing, I gave the HIV lesson-it went well.
Traditional Healer Breakthrough
December 30th, 2008
Last week we had our meeting with the traditional healer’s council. Very interesting…..I definitely understood how some of the plants could help with various ailments, like ginger for upset stomachs, etc. However, when I asked the head healer how he thought HIV originated, he said that what happened was a white man married an African woman, but he didn’t really love her. He then slept with a dog. The dog had HIV. After that he slept with her again and infected her with HIV. She was so upset that he didn’t love her that she slept with many of the men in the village and they also contracted HIV/AIDs. The healer also said there were two types of HIV/AIDs. One type is the real type that he couldn’t always cure, but the other type was fake HIV that came about because of witches in the village casting spells on various people to make them think they had HIV/AIDs. Apparently, the healer can cure the witchcraft HIV/AIDs, fairly easily.... So, needless to say, after that meeting I didn’t have much hope, as far as, getting through to the traditional healers. BUT, today it seems we might have made a break through afterall. One of the healers brought his patient with HIV to the hospital next to UKUN. He explained that after speaking with us that he thought HIV was not a traditional disease and can’t always be cured in traditional ways, so he wanted us to try western medicine on his patient. I was so happy that I hugged him. He had told me he was very honored that I would come all the way from America to meet with him and the council. He really wanted me to get him a machine that he could use to make his plant medicine into pill form. Of course, I tried to explain that wouldn’t be possible, but he gave me his address……Maybe I can just mail some herbal remedies from home.... Great day overall and very hopeful!
Last week we had our meeting with the traditional healer’s council. Very interesting…..I definitely understood how some of the plants could help with various ailments, like ginger for upset stomachs, etc. However, when I asked the head healer how he thought HIV originated, he said that what happened was a white man married an African woman, but he didn’t really love her. He then slept with a dog. The dog had HIV. After that he slept with her again and infected her with HIV. She was so upset that he didn’t love her that she slept with many of the men in the village and they also contracted HIV/AIDs. The healer also said there were two types of HIV/AIDs. One type is the real type that he couldn’t always cure, but the other type was fake HIV that came about because of witches in the village casting spells on various people to make them think they had HIV/AIDs. Apparently, the healer can cure the witchcraft HIV/AIDs, fairly easily.... So, needless to say, after that meeting I didn’t have much hope, as far as, getting through to the traditional healers. BUT, today it seems we might have made a break through afterall. One of the healers brought his patient with HIV to the hospital next to UKUN. He explained that after speaking with us that he thought HIV was not a traditional disease and can’t always be cured in traditional ways, so he wanted us to try western medicine on his patient. I was so happy that I hugged him. He had told me he was very honored that I would come all the way from America to meet with him and the council. He really wanted me to get him a machine that he could use to make his plant medicine into pill form. Of course, I tried to explain that wouldn’t be possible, but he gave me his address……Maybe I can just mail some herbal remedies from home.... Great day overall and very hopeful!
Poa Kachisi Kamandizi “Very Crazy Cool like a Banana!”
Just got connected to internet-yahoo. Just getting a chance to post these....
December 26th, 2008
"Poa Kachisi Kamandizi." This is the latest phrase I have learned. The local rastifarians love this phrase and the local kids think it is hilarious if I say it to them. A couple of nights in the evening I have been taking Tinga Tinga paint lessons. I love it and my teacher is Rasti, a local art student from Bagamoyo. Freshi, freshi, poa and schwari are the main words in Rasti’s vocabulary. They all mean cool, very cool, ultra cool, but all mean cool in some form. So most of the lesson we just say freshi and poa to each other….Anyone who passes by on the street gets a, “mambo, freshi, freshi” greeting from Ratsi. Saying he is mellow, is an understatement. I have never met anyone who is so relaxed and not in a hurry to do anything……
December 26th, 2008
"Poa Kachisi Kamandizi." This is the latest phrase I have learned. The local rastifarians love this phrase and the local kids think it is hilarious if I say it to them. A couple of nights in the evening I have been taking Tinga Tinga paint lessons. I love it and my teacher is Rasti, a local art student from Bagamoyo. Freshi, freshi, poa and schwari are the main words in Rasti’s vocabulary. They all mean cool, very cool, ultra cool, but all mean cool in some form. So most of the lesson we just say freshi and poa to each other….Anyone who passes by on the street gets a, “mambo, freshi, freshi” greeting from Ratsi. Saying he is mellow, is an understatement. I have never met anyone who is so relaxed and not in a hurry to do anything……
Monday, December 29, 2008
Jerry Fish & Grilled Goat
December 25th, 2008
Christmas Njema (Merry Christmas in Swahili) Today we got up early to have a party on the beach with the orphans from Umuma (the local orphanage here). Everyone had lots of fun. I brought bubbles from home which the kids loved, including the older kids. The bubbles ended up having a dual purpose when I saw all the kids with heads full of bubbles, they were using the bubbles as shampoo in the ocean. Some of the kids kept coming up to me with shells and saying, “chakula” which is food in Swahili, then one little girl proceeded to eat the entire shell! I realized they were eating the sea slugs and hermit crabs and some of them would just eat the entire shell. Around here everyone flip flops there r’s and l’s, so jelly fish are called, “jerry fish” and one of the unlucky volunteers got a terrible sting and had to go to the hospital today.
After the beach, we took all of the kids back to our house for roasted goat, veggies, grilled bananas and coca-cola which is a huge treat. I noticed after lunch all of the kids were wrapping up any leftover food in napkins, so we got them aluminum foil and gave them tons of leftovers. Normally, these poor kids only get ugali (a local staple which is like porridge, but has very little nutrients.) After lunch was dance party time and those kids could get down and they were loving the music. It was really fun.
So, last night I woke up to tons of smoke and an awful smell pouring through my mosquito net. There was a steady stream of smoke coming in my window right into my face and smelled like burning hair. I thought the place next door was on fire and went running outside. Well, there was Tumes the night security guard grilling a chicken (feathers and all) right outside my window. He exclaimed with a huge smile, “I cook kuku!” It was 3 in morning and he kindly offered me some black chicken. Anyway, I had to wait out the cooking before going back to bed…..
Christmas Njema (Merry Christmas in Swahili) Today we got up early to have a party on the beach with the orphans from Umuma (the local orphanage here). Everyone had lots of fun. I brought bubbles from home which the kids loved, including the older kids. The bubbles ended up having a dual purpose when I saw all the kids with heads full of bubbles, they were using the bubbles as shampoo in the ocean. Some of the kids kept coming up to me with shells and saying, “chakula” which is food in Swahili, then one little girl proceeded to eat the entire shell! I realized they were eating the sea slugs and hermit crabs and some of them would just eat the entire shell. Around here everyone flip flops there r’s and l’s, so jelly fish are called, “jerry fish” and one of the unlucky volunteers got a terrible sting and had to go to the hospital today.
After the beach, we took all of the kids back to our house for roasted goat, veggies, grilled bananas and coca-cola which is a huge treat. I noticed after lunch all of the kids were wrapping up any leftover food in napkins, so we got them aluminum foil and gave them tons of leftovers. Normally, these poor kids only get ugali (a local staple which is like porridge, but has very little nutrients.) After lunch was dance party time and those kids could get down and they were loving the music. It was really fun.
So, last night I woke up to tons of smoke and an awful smell pouring through my mosquito net. There was a steady stream of smoke coming in my window right into my face and smelled like burning hair. I thought the place next door was on fire and went running outside. Well, there was Tumes the night security guard grilling a chicken (feathers and all) right outside my window. He exclaimed with a huge smile, “I cook kuku!” It was 3 in morning and he kindly offered me some black chicken. Anyway, I had to wait out the cooking before going back to bed…..
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Nataka pipi "I want candy"
December 23rd, 2008
All of the kids ask me for candy when they see me now since I gave them tootsie rolls and dumdums from home.
E-mail is working today for the second time since I have been here and some friends wrote and said it snowed a foot in Seattle! I can’t even imagine snow right now. It is boiling HOT here. I tried to explain the concept of snow to the local kids in our neighborhood and we made snowflakes. Not sure they knew what I was talking about, but they liked the snow flakes…
Some of the other volunteers work at the orphanage. I get to work with the orphans at Amani club which is a special club for the kids with HIV, orphans etc. We decided we’d make name tags to learn the kids names, so we gave them each a blank name tag and a crayon. We were writing our names on the board to show them what to do. When we turned around and asked them to start writing their names, all of the crayons seemed to be missing…..I couldn’t figure out if they’d stolen the crayons which is definitely a problem with some of the kids, so I kept asking where the crayons were…Well, one child started smiling and kept saying pipi (pronounced peepee). His smile was blue! Then I realized there were green, orange, yellow, red smiles all around. Yes, all of the kids had eaten the crayons because they thought they were candy. Pipi is the word for candy here. No more name tags!
One more funny story, I just remembered. I was chatting with the guard and some of his friends this morning practicing my Swahili. I wanted to say, “I want to learn more Swahili.” Instead, I apparently said, “I want to shower in Swahili more.” The guys were cracking up. Kind of embarrassing, but less embarrassing than something else I accidentally said last week which was much worse.
An important lesson I have learned here is that when people say sure, why not or of course they do not necessarily mean sure, why not or of course. They just use these phrases for everything. So, when I asked if the bjage (3 wheeled taxi) was coming to pick me up for a home visit, Musa said, “of course!” Then, 30 minutes later, I asked, “are you certain the bjage is on it’s way?” His response, “Sure. Of course.” Finally, I asked in swahili, “did you call Asan?” (Asan is the bjage driver). Musa said, “No, I didn’t.”
Another lesson, if someone tells you that it takes 10 minutes to walk somehwere, what they really mean is at least two hours! One little girl, melulu wanted to take me to her house to meet her family. She said she lived ten minutes away. After 10 minutes, I asked, "how much further?" She said, "just past those mango trees." Well, surprise, surprise, no house past the mango trees. Then she said it was just past the coconut grove. Again, her house is nowhere in sight and I am completely lost at this point. Finally, after walking for an hour, we had to turn around....
The staff at the house and at UKUN have started calling me, “poa dada Melissa,” which I am taking as a compliment because it means, “cool sista”. Friends call each other dada (sister) and kaka (brother). The culture here is very affectionate and boys hold each other’s hands and so do girls walking down the street. However, it is not acceptable to show public displays of affection for someone of the opposite sex and homosexuality is completely taboo and not accepted here. Polygamy is commonly practiced here and I have gotten a few marriage proposals from strangers on the street which I have politely turned down. The first wife is known as, “First Mama.” Everyone here is religious. A couple of the volunteers are atheist or agnostic and explaining that concept is impossible, so they just say they are Christian or Muslim. Most people here on the coast are muslim.
All of the kids ask me for candy when they see me now since I gave them tootsie rolls and dumdums from home.
E-mail is working today for the second time since I have been here and some friends wrote and said it snowed a foot in Seattle! I can’t even imagine snow right now. It is boiling HOT here. I tried to explain the concept of snow to the local kids in our neighborhood and we made snowflakes. Not sure they knew what I was talking about, but they liked the snow flakes…
Some of the other volunteers work at the orphanage. I get to work with the orphans at Amani club which is a special club for the kids with HIV, orphans etc. We decided we’d make name tags to learn the kids names, so we gave them each a blank name tag and a crayon. We were writing our names on the board to show them what to do. When we turned around and asked them to start writing their names, all of the crayons seemed to be missing…..I couldn’t figure out if they’d stolen the crayons which is definitely a problem with some of the kids, so I kept asking where the crayons were…Well, one child started smiling and kept saying pipi (pronounced peepee). His smile was blue! Then I realized there were green, orange, yellow, red smiles all around. Yes, all of the kids had eaten the crayons because they thought they were candy. Pipi is the word for candy here. No more name tags!
One more funny story, I just remembered. I was chatting with the guard and some of his friends this morning practicing my Swahili. I wanted to say, “I want to learn more Swahili.” Instead, I apparently said, “I want to shower in Swahili more.” The guys were cracking up. Kind of embarrassing, but less embarrassing than something else I accidentally said last week which was much worse.
An important lesson I have learned here is that when people say sure, why not or of course they do not necessarily mean sure, why not or of course. They just use these phrases for everything. So, when I asked if the bjage (3 wheeled taxi) was coming to pick me up for a home visit, Musa said, “of course!” Then, 30 minutes later, I asked, “are you certain the bjage is on it’s way?” His response, “Sure. Of course.” Finally, I asked in swahili, “did you call Asan?” (Asan is the bjage driver). Musa said, “No, I didn’t.”
Another lesson, if someone tells you that it takes 10 minutes to walk somehwere, what they really mean is at least two hours! One little girl, melulu wanted to take me to her house to meet her family. She said she lived ten minutes away. After 10 minutes, I asked, "how much further?" She said, "just past those mango trees." Well, surprise, surprise, no house past the mango trees. Then she said it was just past the coconut grove. Again, her house is nowhere in sight and I am completely lost at this point. Finally, after walking for an hour, we had to turn around....
The staff at the house and at UKUN have started calling me, “poa dada Melissa,” which I am taking as a compliment because it means, “cool sista”. Friends call each other dada (sister) and kaka (brother). The culture here is very affectionate and boys hold each other’s hands and so do girls walking down the street. However, it is not acceptable to show public displays of affection for someone of the opposite sex and homosexuality is completely taboo and not accepted here. Polygamy is commonly practiced here and I have gotten a few marriage proposals from strangers on the street which I have politely turned down. The first wife is known as, “First Mama.” Everyone here is religious. A couple of the volunteers are atheist or agnostic and explaining that concept is impossible, so they just say they are Christian or Muslim. Most people here on the coast are muslim.
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