Monday, January 30, 2012

Hello Friends!

It has been awhile since I have had internet to send a group email! A lot has happened in that time!

The 4 day trip to Kailahun last week was hot, dusty, exhausting and very fruitful!!!

It is so very exciting to be in the villages that have already gotten wells that we've funded or are in the process of digging them! I wish so much that all who have donated so that these people could have healthy water could share this experience!

It is also frustrating to see the many villages I've visited and know that so very many rural people in SL go without safe water. There is no possibility of boiling the water before drinking because of the deforestation problem. Wood is needed to cook the rice which is their main source of food. They can not afford to also use wood for sterilizing water.

Our 1st stop in Kailahun was Dorwa, Kambulele, Sepadu, and ???? (The 4 villages that we have been calling 'the villages in the Kissi Kama Chiefdom') They are the villages that had previously had no road. The villagers bush-whacked the brush on both sides of their well worn foot paths that connect them to each other and to the nearest village that does have a road. They have kept the brush cleared- all with machetes -- for the sole reason of allowing the HI vehicle to come to them. No other vehicles use the road. ( That's a great illustration of 'remote!") These villagers had many eyes problems, some caused by the river blindness carried by the black flies in one of their water sources. I did not see any seeping, pus-filled, swollen eyes this year! Last year most of the children were barefoot (which is a health hazard with so many parasites and pathogins that can enter the feet from the dust here--- plus the huge chance of infection when the kids had not 1st aid or good way to clean their many cuts or puncture wounds!) This year almost all of the children had flip flops!!! (The cost of a pair of flip flops is about $1, which most of the families can afford if they make it a high priority.) The children's clothes were also noticably cleaner! When I mentioned this to Stephen, the HI staff there in Kailahun, he said it is because they had been stressing to families that these things needed to be higher priorities and would bring better health!!!

What a difference a little education brings to people who are so isolated!

These are also the villages who have 1 literate man among them. He volunteers to teach the children of the 4 small villages!!! Last year they had been meeting under the shade of a small (about 12' x 14') thatch roof crowded together on too few benches. This year, next to that roof structure is a 2nd, identical one that the villagers are building! The teacher will be able to separate the beginning and advanced students and go back and forth--- and the students will be able to sit in the 100% heat with a little space between them, rather than crowded! This is another improvement in their conditions!!! This is progress. It comes in small steps, but these 4 villages are taking many steps at once and they are visible and improving their lives! The 2 wells are in the process of being hand dug. Every shovel full of dirt that is removed has to first be loosen by pick ax because the soil is hard clay. The soil that is removed can be used to make the mud bricks with which they build their houses. The well that Dorwa and Kambulele will share had to be started 3 times because they hit a layer of granite rock that they could not get through by pick ax on the 1st 2 tries! The 3rd site is moving along well! ( I have many photos and much video of joyful people gathered around the work site!!) The Sepadu well was alredy down to the water table and being drained by bucket to continue the digging because they did not hit granite on the 1st site tried! By now the digging may be finished and cement being finished!

I took video of women in these villages ponding and winnowing both rice and coffee beans. When they see the video camera, the pounding, conversation and laughter all get more animated!!!

We walked the 2 or so miles from one of the villages to the river that is the Guinea border. The 2 border guards, who sit or nap all day with nothing much to do, were quite excited to see us, visit and also get photos taken! This part of the border is apparently not guarded at night. There is a man whose legs are handcapped, who supports himself (or supplements family income) by ferrying people across the river at this point for less than 25 cents a crossing! It didn't look like he had much business!

One village we visited, Pewahon, had a very memorable water hole next to their rice swamp. The woman are well practiced at dipping a small bowl of water at a time and pouring it into their buckets. A regular part of their fluid motion is pushing away the large floating gobs of slimy algae that float on the water. As we walked across the village, we pased a small, open structure. When I peeked in, I saw a group of 4-5 small children playing 'mommy' (or house, as we call it!) So cute! As I was sitting in the vehicle with the door open before we left, 3 children who were curious to get a last peek at this white woman, put their heads together to stare in at me. When I raised my camara, they all grinned: the perfect photo! (I'm sure we'll be seeing that one a lot!) There seem to be no end to cute kids here! I guess they are all animated near me because it is such a curiosity to see a White person in the small villages!

I learned a lot on the trip, from 3 non-profit workers who stayed at the same guest house and with whom we ate breakfast each morning. They arehere for a medical aid seminar.
---An organization (try farmradio.org) is airing basic health and farming info by radio! Sometimes there is a radio in a village, that people will gather around for entertainment! It's a great and simple development idea!
---Another group goes into larger towns, gets local people to act out a play written about an issue in their own dialogue. These are then filmed, taken with a generator and shown in small towns where there is nothing to do once it gets dark. The whole village shows up for the event! The issues range from basic preventative health, organic gardening, prevention of sexual and domestic abuse, and available treatments for malaria, TB, and AIDS.
--- UNICEF is trying to provide, distribute and document innoculations to all the common childhood diseases.... in every district in SL at once!

We visited many villages and saw many water sources--- mostly water holes next to rice swamps. All of them deserve to have safe water! I also saw many fun and human things... we are all alike in so many ways!
-----In one village, there was some real creativity in toys! One little boy had a 4' reed from the swamp. He held both ends of it so that it formed a large drip shape. He pushed it ahead of himself along the ground pretending that it made the noise of a car!
In the same village, there was a little girl with a doll made from an 8" section of 3" wide bamboo cut so that each end was sealed with the cross-section part of the bamboo. out of the top, came many braids made from someone's real hair and there were 2 holes burned into it for eyes!!! She was so cute with it!
-----It is common to see 2-4 girls walking down a road, arms over each others shoulders!
-----In 1 village there were newborn twin sheep huddled with their mother in the thin strip of shade beside a house!

I had a great, full weekend (and need an evening at home this evening, for sure)!
Saturday morning we went to Lumley Beach, the beach most accessible to the locals, for Caleb to play Ultimate Fisbee with the Lighthouse guys (formerly street kids). Ultimate is an American game taught to them by a former staff person who has returned home so Caleb and Francis, one of their current SL staff, now lead it. It takes men with considerable strength, athletic skill, self confidence and earned respect to lead this, as these guys have lived rough lives and get quite competitive! It's always a great game and they seem to love it! Afterwards, Caleb went home to finish his grad-school applications while I went to the food stand where the guys get their lunch paid for by Lighthouse. I sat with them while they ate, then went home with Francis to meet Patricia, his wife, and be with their 4 month old baby again! What a joy! The poeple here are so gracious! They thanked me over and over for coming to their house, and Patricia had cooked me a SL style feast! (Much more than they could afford to eat!) I spent much of the afternoon enjoying the visit with them in their very simple and love-filled home!

When I returned to Caleb's. I got showered, rested a bit, and then ready for an elegant dinner party in the home of Sharon, the AISF Director and Principal. Her hobby is gourmet cooking!!! There were 8 of us, including the US Ambassador and his wife! It was an interesting conversation with most people there having lived in many continents!

Yesterday was all day at River Number 2 Beach, then the evening at dinner with some international women who get together Sunday evenings for dinner and prayer.

Time to sign off! No time for the clumsy spell-check!
My greetings to each of you!
Jenny