7/16/09 from Tannen

Drew, Liam, Megan and I met some locals downtown at 8 am and headed out to Murundu for the morning. Drew and Jacabo (Shadi's son) painted while Liam and Rebecca (the Enfys teacher's sister) started sketching for the under 5 clinic at Grace's Place. Right next door is a shaded area where they have the afternoon feeding program for 200+ kids, and this is where the women meet. My cousin Renelle packed something for us that is somewhere between playdough and clay and can be used to make earrings, buttons, beads, and other things. We had fun putting the different colors together and then cutting it into round or square pieces and cooking it in a make-shift oven (a pot with coals over and under it). I am interested in finding out what supplies they can find locally to do something similar to this, but I am pleased to see the women excited about making some crafts and earning money for their families.

The woman who will be heading up the educational component of Enfys is planning to focus her efforts on the women and the younger kids. She said that "if you educate the women, you educate the whole household," which makes a lot of sense to me. Things like good hygiene, learning English and how to read and write may be a starting place, and they seem eager to learn.

Public transport doesn't always work at the same pace as we would like, especially from the village. Today was no exception, and Drew, Liam, Megan and I found ourselves waiting for a taxi in Murundu for over an hour. This gave us some extra time to play with the kids, since 30 or so of them had followed us to the area where the combi/bus comes. Drew and Liam are very comfortable hanging with the local crowd, and they get plenty of attention. Megan and I took to teaching a group of kids the electric slide, and it has to be more fun here than at any wedding back in the day. The kids love to hold our hands, poke at our funny white skin and hair, and do about anything that we can come up with on the fly. I'd like to just sit and hang with them all day, but the taxi did eventually come and that was the end of it for today.

This afternoon was our last at Butondo High School. The students have been working on HIV-related projects this week and they presented them today, so Drew and Liam joined us to listen in and help judge the competition. They put a fair bit of work into them -- one group visited a hospital, another group taught HIV education in a basic school, another group surveyed people in the community, and others presented skits, poems and songs. It was great to see what they came up with! There are a lot of bright students and they were overall a great group to work with this week.

Dr T and my dad are teasing me for writing a novel, so I think that's my cue. Hope all is going well back in the states! Thanks for reading our updates. :)

Tannen