Nshalagan’s Weblog

rajs-039.jpgrajs-039.jpgYes I am finally mastering another language….Moree

I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I have been able to update the blog…. like I said everything is slow in Africa and I have not been able to access internet for the past few weeks.  So I have managed to travel back to Ouagadougou for some research at the Head Country Office.  Much has changed since my last entry so I will try and add all of my new experiences.  THANK YOU so much everyone for all your support, it means the world to me to read all the little comments and makes all the tough times here worth while so thank you so much for thinking of me!!

OK where to start….

So lately I have been working in the villages surrounding Koupela (there are lot’s).  I take my bike at 6 in the morning when the heat is not yet suffocating, and head off on the dirt paths.  Most villages are anywhere from 5-10kms away so I get some good exercise in.  Latley the families I have met have are all serious cases of family members or children affected by AIDS.  The one I will never forget was a visit I made on Monday. 

 It was to the small house of a single mother of an 8 year old girl.  The girl is in a sponsorship program for school, but has not been present yet this year.  The mother told me that it is because she is frequently sick and has to travel to the capital for treatments.  She is a very young mother, and her husband passed away last spring.  At first she was very hesitant to even talk, and wouldn’t even look up from the ground.  I wasn’t sure exactly what to say so I started to talk about the rice program we have for families living with AIDS (they receive a sac of rice every month, but they have to openly admit their HIV status).  She finally broke down and told me her husband died of AIDS, soon after the whole family left her (all 8 members of the extended family previously lived together) and now she is alone with her daughter.  It took her a few months before she decided to get tested, before his death she didn’t even know he was positive.  So she was infected and unknowlingly passed it to her daughter.  So they both have to receive treatments and the only source of income she has is from the snacks she sells at a nearby school (peanuts and leaves). 

She has no one to help her and is afraid what will happen to her daughter if she dies, there will be no one to take care of her.  So I explained to her that I can put her in our outreach program that provides subsidies for medication, rice and school lamps for her daughter (to do homework at home).  The first thing she did was fall over and grab my feet and say Barka (thank you) over and over.  I felt a little guilty since all I really did was listen but it was amazing to come face to face with real suffering.  She tried to give me her chicken to thank me, thank goodness she didn’t insist.

That day really made every difficult day here worth it.  I have seen the worst of poverty, children that can’t even lift their heads their bodies are so weak and children that have to bury their whole family things I thought were only on television.  And still they move on and keep going, kids still play and their parents have hope that their children will surpass them…. really it is hard to explain how it makes you feel.

So I am doing my best to improve their health projects here…and I definately have some new opinions on development.  So that gives a little window into Africa…and I will soon add more about all the other interesting things I have encountered!