New meaning to "public health nurse"

If only you all could have seen the scene at about 6:20pm or so this evening as I rode up to my house on my bike in the rain, soaking wet, wearing a dress with capris underneath (with a t shirt on top) and a rain jacket, sunburned face and arms, mud splattered all over my face, and the back of my black dress and my great timbuk2 bag and my rain jacket well splattered with mud kickback from my bike tires, my glasses covered in rain and mud...this is what public health nursing REALLY looks like in Africa!

I had gone with Stephanie (a long distance runner and Nutritionist) out to one of the extension nutrition sites in a village called Busunga; up and down some hills (pretty much you walk your bike up AND down the hills here...or at least I do), through a river where there used to be a bridge but there is no longer - I just need to give kudos to my chako's that performed beautifully through this whole adventure - when there used to be a bridge and is no longer, you just walk through the river with your bike to the other side to continue on the road on the other side (river wasn't deep enough this time to have to carry the bike across but we'll see about next time...).  We did weights, I sent a kid to the clinic for evaluation by Jennifer, so we'll see her tomorrow (a few months over 3 years old and only 7.5 kg!  and some developmental delay on top of it I think...was 8.5 kg over a year ago which means the kid has lost a kilo in a year instead of gaining a kilo!), and gave out food after the project volunteers and health center staff did teaching.  

Then, Stephanie asked if we could visit one of the moms that lives near the health center to ask her to show us how she prepares the food she gives her child (kind of a quality control measure and the opportunity for education), so Babika the nurse, gave us a woman who lived "near" and we were on our way with our bikes and Eusta for translation help.  We walked and walked and walked some more, Stephanie and I both said to each other "near is evidently a very relative term!", turned off the road and onto a footpath, past a couple of compounds and finally arrived at this woman's home.  It's right about now that my not having had enough water to drink that day caught up with me and I got a splitting headache (shhh, don't tell my mom!)...So we sat and watched her gather wood, build the fire, peel the matoke, add the soybeans and g-nut paste in, etc, then we needed to get going...so we were off on our bikes and then it started to rain - and now we're another mile or so past the health center, we have to get back to the health center and then continue on home....up and down the hills, through the river, etc...needless to say I was a mess when I got home...too bad no one was home to take a picture...sad state of affairs indeed, but I was proud of myself.  I held my own on my bike keeping up with Steph (how is it that I always find myself friends with extreme athletes?!  it's almost uncanny, and a lot intimidating!), and all in all it was a great trip!

Sitting around this woman's fire, with all of her sisters around and all of their kids and they just sit and stare at you, I looked down to see what time it was and one kid noticed I was looking at my watch, and then started staring at my watch like she was wondering what in the world it did...and some of the little 6-7 year old boys were kicking around a ball and they all had HUGE holes in the back of their shorts/pants so their hinies were hanging out, but they could care less, they were having a great time....funny thing is that from the front you could never tell their shorts were shabby in the least, not until they turned around and you saw their butt cheeks!  To see what these folks do with so little is simply incredible...it sounds so cliche, doesn't it?  I know, but it really is true.

Riding our bikes, kids just yell "muzungu!!!!!" (white person) as you ride by.  Their other line is "how ah YOU?"(each word emphatically enunciated)...Scott Will said the kids come out of the womb knowing how to say "how ah you?"