This morning lacked the excitement of yesterday’s. The only thing my morning consisted of was
pouring rain that allowed my flip-flops to kick mud onto the back of my
pants. When I got to school, my
Tanzanian classmates kept asking me, “Rachel, what happened to your trousers?” I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone refer to
linen pants as trousers before, so I found that a little bit amusing.
In class today, we were split up into 4 big groups with at least 1
member from every case study group. Each
group took turns looking at everyone’s problem trees and one group member from
each case study had to explain their problem tree. It was cool to listen to everyone’s ideas and
see what other topics people were doing.
The 6 topics that people are researching on are: the increase in
motorcycle accidents in Moshi (my group), the long waiting time for outpatient
service at KCMC, an increasing prevalence of type II diabetes in Moshi,
inadequate food supply in public primary schools in Tanzania, the high
influence men have on failure to use contraception in marriages, and malnutrition
in orphanages in Tanzania. While we were
presenting our problem trees, our classmates were supposed to critique us and
give us recommendations to improve our trees.
After we visited everyone’s problem tree poster, we regrouped and worked
with our specific case study members to refine our trees. Once we submitted our revisions to our
teacher, we had the rest of the class time to do research. My group worked until 4:30, and then we
divvied up the remainder of our work and left the school.
Adrienne and I stopped by our house to grab our workout clothes and then
we went to Mama Mary’s again to do insanity with Ume, Grace, and Lodoe. This time, we did the whole workout video and
when we were done we treated ourselves with animal crackers dipped in
Nutella. I think we’re forming a routine
and I like it! We hangout for a little
bit, then we workout, then we hangout a little bit more. It’s fun and I’ve gotten to know that group
of girls pretty well, which is awesome because I don’t think I would have ever
met them if it weren’t for this program, and they’re all really great! We walked home before it got dark and
Adrienne and I played with the kids while we waited for dinner (surprise!) I’m
finally starting to remember everyone’s names and I’m even learning more
Kiswahili!
For dinner we had French fries, a mystery meat, cucumbers, watermelon,
bananas, and donuts. Interesting combo,
huh? Mama’s French fries are sooooo
good, so I hope she doesn’t make them too often. I literally can’t stop eating them as long as
they’re in front of me. I think the
mystery meat was some kind of beef, but it was pretty unclear. Cucumbers I am a fan of. Watermelon I am a fan of. Bananas I am a fan of. Donuts I am a fan of. And then… Mama asked if we wanted some
milk. Before I could respond with “no,”
mama had disappeared inside to pour two glasses. Moments later she returned with glasses of
milk for Adrienne and me. I had planned
on rejecting the milk offer because what I was anticipating is what we got. The milk had the appearance and consistency
of a chunky vanilla milkshake, and it gave off the sour stench of expired milk. Adrienne and I both turned to each
other and said “You first.” Neither of
us wanted to take a chance, so we resolved to sneak inside and pour it down the
sink. I went into the bathroom first
(the two of us can’t fit at the same time), and poured half the glass into the
sink. Chunks of milk sat on top of the
drain, so I turned on the faucet in hopes that running water would help the
chunks go down. Well… that was a fail
because there was no more water left in the tap. Next, I took some water from one of the
bucket showers and poured that into the sink.
In addition to the chunks sitting on top of the drain, now there was
water and chunks not draining!
Uh-oh… I took the handle of a
toothbrush and tried to shove the chunks down the drain, and thankfully that
did the trick! Lets just hope I didn’t
clog anything. When I was done pouring
out my glass and forcing the chunks down the drain, Adrienne poured out
hers. There is no way we could have
taken down that milk without getting sick.
No way.
 |
| How cute is she!?!? |
At school, Adrienne and I made Delke a get-well card. We had Anzibert (one of the KCMC students)
translate our words into Swahili. When
we got home from school, we found that Delke was already recovered and feeling
fine, but we gave him the card anyway.
Mama asked Delke to read the card aloud, but he could only sound out a
couple words. Mama and Delke went to bed
soon after reading the card, and the rest of the night consisted of research
and other work for me.
Highlight of today: When it was time to go inside for dinner, all the kids ran up to me and were hugging me and holding me down so I couldn't leave them. It was so cute and made me feel as though they actually really like me!
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