16 juin 2011

Things that did happen today:
-i had a mini conversation with someone in fulfulde
-i greeted everyone i saw in dii
-someone told me they were going to steal my dog
-ate two mangoes and two avocadoes

Things that did not happen today:
-make my own couscous
-run in the morning
-Ashia acted like a calm and non-biting pet

I would consider today my first actual day of work. Lately, I have been a bit upset because I don't feel like I do a whole lot at the hospital. I had mentioned to Essaya awhile ago that I could make posters to hang up around the center, but he didn't seem too enthusiastic about that for some reason, so I didn't do it. But I felt like doing something today and brought paper from my house to the center and make an educational vaccination poster. It will be hung up in the large room we use for weekly vaccinations and will be a tool for the staff when we give animations, but also a visual aid for parents to learn about the vaccinations. Essaya has quickly come to realize that I have bomb poster skills. When I go into town at the end of this month, I will be laminating the vaccination poster and buying tons more paper to make educational posters for every room of the center :) yaaaa I'm doing thingssss that are productive and helpful :)

A lil random anecdote:

The other day, I went to say hello to some friends who live next door. As I walked into the concession, a naked baby was crying on the floor. So I picked her up and started playing with her so she'd stop crying. And then I felt something sandy and hot on my arm. Poo. Lots of poo. I kindly handed her off to another child and washed off my arm. Then I greeted my friends and sat down to hold her newborn baby. I started playing with the baby and....hot liquid running down my shirt and panya. Baby pee. I kindly handed her off. My friend said, "when a baby pees or poops or vomits on you, that means you're going to have a baby". I had to kindly tell her that that will not be happening anytime soon. The throw-up is still yet to occur.

And another:

So children are terrified of Ashia. This is clear. My mother generously sent me books in French for children to read (slash look at, that whole reading thing is still to be determined) when they randomly come to visit. However, children no longer visit. Because of Ashia. Every afternoon, however, they do come over and call Ashia to play. Which involves all the children in our neighborhood standing in a group, and I run towards them, and Ashia runs with me, and all the children scream and run away. They love it. The majority of the time, Ashia just stops running when I stop, so the game doesn't exactly work. But every now and again, she will pick one child and run after that innocent boy or girl. She never hurts them, obviously, but it is hysterical to see their reactions when they see that she is indeed right on their heels.

And another:

So panya is a piece of fabric wrapped around a woman's waist. The only thing that holds it on is the Mu symbol (anyone physics, anyone? the M symbol coincides with the amount of friction given to a certain object, every object has a different M coefficient, and when panya is wrapped around the waist and tucked in, this power of friction, and possibly a bit of inertia? science people help me out... is what prevents the panya from falling and leaving the woman bottomless). So I am walking down the dirt road with Ashia and we turn a corner. Two innocent, unexpecting children see Ashia and start freaking out. The boy runs into the nearest concession and the little girl starts running and screaming. And Ashia runs after her. So she starts running in circles around me to place some sort of barrier between herself and the crazy puppy. So she is running in circles and screaming and making a scene around me....can anyone see where this story is going?... and one tug on me....and the panya is gone. Thank goodness I wasn't holding anything, so I quickly grabbed the fabric from her hands/the ground and rewrapped it. I will be wearing another non-wrap-skirt underneath panya from now on.

Climate here right now: absolutely gorgeous. It is sooooo green and I have a feeling it will only continue. People have made comments when visitng me about the level of weeds in my yard. Well actually the comment goes something like "oh so you like snakes?"....so I've started pulling all weeds in my front yard, back yard and garden. A bit every day isn't so bad, and it's a killer workout.

Workouts for today:
Pulled weeds in garden 6-6:30 am
Swept house and washed floor 6:30-7:00 am
Washed dishes 7:30 am
Walked to health center (not actually sure the distance, but it takes about 15 min) 8:30 am
+ walked back from health center 2:00 pm
Swept and mopped house again 3:30 pm
Did laundry 3:30 - 4:00 pm
Pulled some water from well 4:00 pm
Helped knead dough to make bennets with the fam 8:00 pm
.......I think if I stopped eating couscous, my body would be rocking. But, ya, that's not gonna happen. Couscous = life here.
　

14 juin / june 2011

Some happy happenings:

-vaccination day again today at the ol' centre du sante. A bunch of ladies from my fave village of Saltaka showed up for their "rendevous" date of Polio and Penta 2 vaccinations. Kids, of course, are ridiculously healthy and happy. Interesting also how the women can respect the vaccination date and arrive at the hospital even though they live an hour plus away on a bad road and the women in the town here never bring their kids for vaccinations.

-been hanging out with my fam who lives next door more. The daughter, Koulsy (formerly Aissatou in past blog posts), is gone this week to Chad to take an exam for school, so mama Fadi and I have been spending some quality time together. She speaks French very well, so we have been learning Dii and Fulfulde a bit every night as she makes couscous and sauce. The other night we had an intense talk about her life and family and people here in the village. It was one of the first times since I've been here that someone has told me some of their secrets. It feels good that someone trusts me and wants to share their stories with me.

Some sad happenings:

-so Essaya's dog has been missing for a few weeks now and I thought he had just left and not come back. So I asked Essaya about him and where he thinks he went. He started laughing. "Hadidja, he was the biggest dog in this village."..... (so?) "And we were neglectful, we just let him walk around". Ya, so someone stole him and ate him, Essaya told me. Ps he told me this right before church. "You're joking right, Essaya?" No, there are people in my village who eat dogs. Ok, so here I am faced with most-likely the biggest cultural difference I am going to come across. And I honestly cannot get past it. Like what? Needless to say, I am a bit scared for Ashia. "Don't worry", Essaya said, "it won't be for a while. They'll wait until she's big to eat her". If they eat Ashia.....bad things will happen.

-There is this little girl Yani who lives with Essaya and Rose, and she's somehow someone's daughter of some sister. Anywho, I feel bad for her because the family doesn't treat her very well and I think she's suffering from Failure to Thrive Syndrome because she's not held and loved enough. Any chance I get, I always hug and kiss her. The other day, one of the boys said that Yani had a headache. Another boy said she wasn't feeling well because of a stomachache. Rose's diagnosis: no, she's feeling fine, she just wanted you to touch her head and stomach....I had to suppress myself from crying right there.

Ashia Updates

Ashia is currently in the biting phase. Which is annoying when I just want to walk in peace, or want to keep my panya intact, or want to visit people without her chewing on their mat. This phase will pass though, right?

I don't know if I'll ever be able to raise a child. Raising, or conditioning, a dog is so much work. Conditioning a creature, meaning teaching it that certain behaviors are preferred or not preferred, is quite tricky. Here are some examples:

-when Ashia is in my house, she chews on the mat. It is better than chewing on my clothes, or mosquito net, or books, and it isn't harming anything. However, when we go to other people's houses, she chews on the mat. And they get mad and hit her. But it's not her fault becuase I didn't teach her that that behavior is bad.

-Ashia and I run in the morning and I've conditioned her to run alongside me. But then when children are running, she runs after them, and they start screaming, and throwing rocks at her...it really is quite a scene. But to her, that behavior is okay, so she continues to do it.

The thing about conditioning is that it needs to be uniform across the board, with all people and in all locations. If Ashia is allowed in my house, but not other people's, then she gets confused and barks to come in. However, it is just very complex to condition her because behaviors that are acceptable in my home will never be the same as people's homes adjacent to mine.

9 june 2011

Had a few great days here in the "Big A" Adamawa region of Cameroun. Essaya and I participated in a two-day malaria rapid-test training. The training was held for health care providers who live in smaller villages than ours, but will soon conduct rapid-testings for malaria simple and provide medication. The providers will also refer people who have malaria grave or other illnesses to our centre du sante. The training was headed by Essaya and another health center supervisor. It was very well done and, although I didn't understand all the words of the two days of French, I learned a lot about malaria here and what medications the state provides for treatment. I walked away from the training feeling motivated and full of ideas for education at our center.

Fun stats of Ali & Ashia:
Running tick count: (count has hit a flat line after I medicated Ashia with American-strength tick killer, thanks mom for sending it) 13
Number of mangoes picked off tree with Timothie (Essay's son) today: 12
Number of mangoes eaten today: 4
Song stuck in head: Outloud by Dispatch
Number of things planted in garden: 9 (tomato, celery, parsley, basil, 2 types of "legumes", ginger, onion, carrot)
Current weight: 63 kg, same weight I was before leaving, and in Niger, nothing short of a miracle with all of this couscous I'm inhaling
Number of times I've run so far this week: 2