Thursday, 17 January 2013

Life lessons already


This is the stage where I start to realise what I really should have brought and what was a waste of space in my luggage.
Out goes the pyjamas – nights are way too hot as I twist around mixing up my sheets with the mosquito net.
What I wish I had – some skirts. Popo, one of our translators wears gorgeous skirts and I keep coveting them. A sin, to be sure, but they are so colourful! 

We went to a clinic in a poor area, organised by a lady called Eva. Initially I judged her by her clothes (bit racy) but soon realised how foolish I had been. She works hard to help the people of the area – which includes offering a room in her house for a clinic. So, after a dusty drive across dirt roads full of holes and ridges, we bowled up to a gate with a scrap of cardboard tied to it, announcing the clinic that morning. We assembled and Michelle started to see patients.

Unfortunately I had problems with my laptop, so when we found that there were nearly 14 people to see and 3 home visits, I offered to do the home visits. The walk to make the visits was a lesson in itself; smaller, more rutted, roads with scrawny chickens and barefoot little kids running around very ramshackle houses. There was even a boy running along with a motorbike tyre, using a stick to bowl it along. I’d never seen this but it reminded me of pictures of Victorian children I’ve seen, bowling a wooden hoop along with a stick. Simple.

First off we were taken into a one-room breeze block building with a couple of beds in it. On one bed, a man sat up slowly and welcomed us. The poor surroundings, the genuine welcomes, I felt humbled.  At the foot of the bed an old woman stirred a pot over a gas burner, with ugali in it. This is cornflour and water porridge – a staple food – which quite frankly looked like wallpaper paste, and may well be its nutritional equivalent.

We finished the day with a visit to the supermarket – indulgence heaven – where I bought nuts, seeds, fish and eggs. What? no chocolate or cake? fortunately the heat has put me off chocolate pretty much, and gluten-free is not a commercial concept here yet, so I shall wait until I’m desperate before trying to bake something (over the 2 ring gas burner!)


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