Paradox,
I love it yet I hate it. The dad whose child we saved walked
10 km to the dispensary just to say “Asante Sana” – Thank you very much. It
was very moving for me. Just those two
words really touched my heart. I felt so honored that the dad took the time and
effort to way one way 10 km just to thank me. That is not typical here. General
people don’t do that. Brother Fulmance praised him and so did the midwife
Elizabeth.
The frustrating part is they don’t understand. We have the
same people that come in from the same villages spreading around syphilis. We
tell them not to have any sexual relations for the next 3 weeks and take this
medicine. They don’t listen. In reality they can’t. The woman here I don’t
think say NO to there husband. The highest people with AIDS here is married
woman. The woman is at home taking care of the children and the Man is out
doing what ever he likes. More than likely having an affair with other woman.
But that is not all men of course. Another frustrating story. We gave oranges
to a man her. We have about 30 orange trees here. We said instead of coming
here everyday and asking for oranges, take these seeds and plant your own tree.
The man started laughing. He said, “These seeds won’t give me oranges tomorrow.”
We said, “No they won’t but they will give you oranges in 7 years”. He started
laughing and said I probably won’t live that long. That is there reality. No
one thinks about the future or there future generations. They only live for
today. They don’t worry about tomorrow. That is why it is frustrating.
I heard a story of a woman came in with AIDS, she is a prostitute.
They said, “why do you choose to be a prostitute, you got AIDS because of it.
Her response was, “I can die of AIDS some day or my children and I can die of
hunger tomorrow.” They just don’t see any other way. I feel we need to educate
them and say, “hey there are other ways’ Yes life will be tougher and you won’t
make as much money but there are other ways. There thinking here is totally
different from anything I see. Maybe I need to learn from them. Dying is a part
of life and we all need to accept. No one here fears death. Everyone sees it as
everyday life. You are going to die of something anyways.
There was people in the village of Kornasini
Fr Justin told me that year after year he tries to teach the
people to save there crops. But they don’t. They eat really well in the months
of June to August and then when it comes to December they have no food. He
said, Every December the people come asking for food because they have eaten it
all. He said during the summer months the people have lots of food and big
feasts and celebrations and everyone is feeding everyone. He said with there
culture future does not exist. I will live as a king today if there is a lot of
food and live as a peasant tomorrow if I eat all the food.
As you can see it is very frustrating at times.
You need to have grace and a lot of patients to live here. I
do love however if anyone there family and I mean extended family asks for food
they give it. They never turn down family. Maybe that is why they run out of
crops because the people who have a lot of crops wont say no to any of there
family members.
The people here at the clinic cooked food and had a big
celebration for me in Namiungo. It was really nice of them. I felt very
humbled. These people don’t have much but they killed a chicken and cooked
chips Mayai which is my favorite just to show me there appreciation. Wow. Chips
Mayai is French fries cooked in eggs. So it is basically a French fry omlete.
They put tomatoes and onions on it as well. It was a really good feast. I can’t
thank them enough for all they have done for me. It was a very powerful
experience for me in Namiungo. But it really wore on my batteries so I am very
glad to be in Dar Es Salaam
Well time for Kasani – Church
Mikyieli
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