Holy Guacamole!

Ok so I realize that my last post might have sounded a bit whiney and/or bratty. I apologize. It was a long weekend, and I was exhausted and slightly cranky. But never fear… my good attitude is back!

I also realize that I haven’t talked about my actual work in a while, and so I need to catch everybody up to speed on that. Last week we continued to visit various different schools in different communities. The schools are all at various level sanitation wise, so each day we do something a little different. But for the most part, we go and meet with the school health club, and then the teachers ask the kids questions and we observe to see if they are answering correctly, which in turn shows if the teachers are teaching them correctly. On Monday we visited a school in the village of Kpando (the K is silent) and it was by far the worst one. The headmaster himself said that if things do not change soon, he is going to leave… he has been the headmaster for ten years! Anyway, there was a large well like structure for water, though I don’t know where it comes from… I do not think it is irrigated. I think it is either the water that is brought from Lake Volta or water that collects when it rains. Probably a combination of both. Either way, it has no covering on it and only one cup inside. The same cup that is used for drinking is also used to wash hands. So you dip the bowl in the water then use one hand it pour it on the other hand and vice versa. Then the cup goes back into the well to sit until the next person comes along and wants a drink. Not a good situation. Also, as I have mentioned before, toilets are few and far between around here. So at this school, which has kids from kindergarten to about 8th grade, there is no toilet. Instead, the kids either have to run home, or they just go to the bathroom right on campus in the bushes. As a result, the campus smelled like urine the whole time we were there. The part I can’t understand though is that I SAW a bathroom facility there. When I asked about it, I was told that it was only for members of the community to use, but not available for the school children. I am really not sure how that makes sense? Anyway, my point is that these people need help. It is hard to teach about the importance of sanitation when they don’t have the available supplies to put it into practice.

On Tuesday I created a 15-question questionnaire to administer to random people at the schools to see if the information is being disseminated. Yesterday Evelyn, the secretary at Pro-Link came with us tot the field (though the other guys were giving her a hard time for just up and leaving the office, but once again. this is Africa) She read the questionnaire out loud and then I recorded the answers. We interviewed a teacher and two students. The three of them did fairly well. Today though, we went out to some communities that are much farther away. The community was a very small village right by the lake. The school had bowl for drinking from, let alone for hand washing, and I greatly fear that they just walk to the lake to drink. I myself went down and looked at the water…. It doesn’t look like anything I would swim in, let alone drink. And I am a pretty adventurous person when it comes to water. At this school though, I got to administer the test, and although Godwin (one of the Pro-link guys) had to translate sometimes, it was nice to be the one “in charge” because I really felt like I was doing something. The results from this test were not good. One of the questions is, “It is ok to drink water from non-flowing sources” and the two children said yes. Another one was “If you go to the toilet near your food you can get sick.” And the children said no. This is actually a problem. Since there is a lack of toilets, people relieve themselves wherever they see fit, and sometimes it is unfortunately very close to where somebody is cooking food. This is one of the behaviors that facilitate the transmissions of these illnesses, so it is the goal of the program to eradicate these behaviors. I won’t be able to do that before I leave, but I do hope that the program as a whole can make an impact on that situation.

Remember how last week I had dinner at Delight’s house? Well she said that she wanted to try American food, so Alexis, Susan and I brought her some yesterday. It was extremely hard to think of what to make though, since our resources were greatly limited. We thought about quesadillas, but there are no tortillas or cheese here. So, when we were in Accra we picked up a few things from the grocery store…. Pringles and Snickers. Can’t get much more American than that! We also made her guacamole, which I cleverly named “HOLY guacamole” to blend in with the rest of the scenery here. I also had some trail mix that we decided to bring along. Ok so it was not exactly dinner…. But we deemed it “American junk food” and/or a sample Super Bowl Sunday spread. It was pretty funny when we first brought it, everybody was afraid to try it! They warmed up to the guacamole soon though and actually really liked it. The Pringles were another story. One lady took one bite and made the FUNNIEST face ever. It was like she just ate a rotten pickle or something. The others were more polite about it, and just held onto them but didn’t eat them. The only one who did eat them was Jessica, a beautiful 7-month-old baby. (I don’t even know if she had teeth??) In hindsight, sea salt and vinegar flavored probably was not the best of ideas, but it was pretty hilarious nevertheless. I also wrote out the recipe for the guacamole so they could make it again and I think Delight really liked that. She gave us another tour of their land, which looked really cool in the daylight. We saw their yam farm, and their turkeys running around, and Alexis was pleased to see that the goat was still alive this week. The best part though was when Delight taught us how to carry a baby on our back, which is what all African women do. The baby is held on by only a cloth! She must really trust us, because she let us practice with her three-year-old daughter! Hah! We also practiced holding things on our heads, so I have a great shot of me with a baby on my back and a bowl balancing on my head. I have the utmost respect for these women. They are strong!

Aside from that nothing too exciting has been going on this week. Just winding down and trying to get in as much as possible before I leave on Friday. I can’t believe it is so soon!