The news came to me while I was gone this weekend and it felt like I was getting a telegram from the 1930’s or something! There was a confirmed case of polio in a 3 year old girl at the Rongo District Hospital. It seems so strange that there is a CURE for this disease, yet the newsletter accurately stated that Polio will continue to be a threat to the world if even one child has it. Time to beef up on the vaccinations!
On a lighter note, I would like to describe my weekend get-away to Mfungano Island. Me, brother Richard and four of the sisters hopped in their car at 6am Saturday morning. I got to witness a beautiful sunrise around 6:30 and we had an impromptu breakfast at the side of the road where I shared the left-over fried chicken I made the night before. (I chopped the head off with a dull knife… it took nearly twice as long as it should have because the knife was so dull. Pictures say a thousand words, so check out the chronicles on facebook). We then had to take an hour and a half boat ride from the town of Mbita across Lake Victoria before finally reaching the Island. It was so nice to be near the water. I find myself truly missing the sound, feel and look of being around water. I almost felt as though I was riding through the San Juan Islands at home, except the boat was really more of a ramshackle canoe so that brought me back to Africa real quick.
We got a tour of the Catholic Church compound, health clinic, and youth center and ate our second breakfast. Next we walked down to the lake shore and I taught the sisters how to skip rocks. It was nice to bask in the sunlight a little, even though I was covered from head to toe with my long skirt and blouse. Then we were called back for lunch, and since fish is such a prized possession around the lake, I ate and actually enjoyed a nice fillet of Tilapia. Those of you who know me best probably won’t believe me when I say this, but I ate fish for lunch and dinner two days straight this weekend. The father then took us again to the lake shore to help the locals fish. This consists of spending, sometimes, over an hour dragging in a single net that has been deposited on the opposite side of the lake. It makes you appreciate where the fish comes from after getting blisters on your hands and feeling tired after only a single hour. These people do this from sunrise to sunset day after day. It was incredible to watch, and help! At one point during a stroll down the beach there were two young boys (maybe 3 years old) who came running as fast as they could to meet us yelling “muzungu, muzungu, amosi, amosi!” That means hey white girl, I greet you. Sister Gaudie thought it was so funny that they wrapped their arms around my legs like they knew me and then persisted to follow me around for the next few hours. I almost had a small child wrapped around every one of my fingers during our stroll.
We went back to the compound for porridge while we waited for dinner to be ready. I honestly felt like I was at grandma and grandpas house because all these Kenyans wanted to do was feed me every scrap of home cookin’ they could! The food and hospitality was amazing. At church the next morning I was asked to introduce myself to the congregation, then the father announced to everyone that “Christina will be bringing her parents here next year!” FYI mom and dad… I ate more, and ate more, until it was finally time to leave. I’m sure I will fall into a deep sleep tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment