Sunday, February 24, 2013
Bell 2/24/13
Classes are about 45 minutes long. About every 45 minutes, the bell rings to tell students to go to the next class. We don't have a computer or an electronic bell since there isn't electricity most of the time. The secretary keeps a timer, and she rings the bell herself. Actually...we don't really have a bell. We have a tire rim and a rock to hit against it. It works!
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Gifts 2/16/13
This is a picture of many of the gifts you have given me. Some I've had for years, many you gave me before my trip, and some I have received after I arrived. Thank you very much! When you only get to check in 50 lbs of luggage for a flight, what you have becomes essential. I feel like I've been much more prepared for this trip than I was for Thailand.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Hair 2/14/13
Hair sounds like the word "teach" in Kirundi. Many women in Burundi either keep their hair short, covered up, or in braids. Some have longer hair, and go to salons to get it done. Gloria braids her hair. After about two months, she takes it out. In the braids she puts black yarn. The ends of the braids are burned. Here's a picture of Hanna burning Gloria's hair.
It's hard to find conditioner here because only the mazungu's (white people) need it. Sometimes the kids at the Children's home and at school will touch my hair because it's so different from their hair. I try to get oil out of my hair. The people here add oil to their hair. There are some salons to treat hair, and straighten it.
It's hard to find conditioner here because only the mazungu's (white people) need it. Sometimes the kids at the Children's home and at school will touch my hair because it's so different from their hair. I try to get oil out of my hair. The people here add oil to their hair. There are some salons to treat hair, and straighten it.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
School Food
My high school cafeteria food was pretty good. They had excellent breakfast burritos. I don't remember much about school lunches, but I do remember the sign, "You have two choices: take it or leave it."
Often, I will eat lunch at school. Once a week, the staff is asked to eat with the kids. Normally, I join them on Friday. One lunch, I asked one of the boys what their favorite food was. They pointed at the potatoes. The kids like the food. Some kids say their favorite foods are pizza and hamburgers, but I don't think many of them have had the opportunities to have them.
Like Thailand, cheese is pretty rare. I've found two places in town that have cheese. JR has a fridge, but when electrical outages are common, you take your chances on the fridge keeping food cold. There isn't a fridge at school.
For lunch at schools, there is always rice and beans, and one or two other dishes. There is either boiled potatoes, yellow potatoes where some are mashed, or a red sauce with onions and either egg plant or cooked green bananas. As staff, we often get French fries or dry cooked green bananas. The green bananas taste kind of like potatoes.
The kids eat a lot. I should never underestimate teenage boys' appetites.
Often, I will eat lunch at school. Once a week, the staff is asked to eat with the kids. Normally, I join them on Friday. One lunch, I asked one of the boys what their favorite food was. They pointed at the potatoes. The kids like the food. Some kids say their favorite foods are pizza and hamburgers, but I don't think many of them have had the opportunities to have them.
Like Thailand, cheese is pretty rare. I've found two places in town that have cheese. JR has a fridge, but when electrical outages are common, you take your chances on the fridge keeping food cold. There isn't a fridge at school.
For lunch at schools, there is always rice and beans, and one or two other dishes. There is either boiled potatoes, yellow potatoes where some are mashed, or a red sauce with onions and either egg plant or cooked green bananas. As staff, we often get French fries or dry cooked green bananas. The green bananas taste kind of like potatoes.
The kids eat a lot. I should never underestimate teenage boys' appetites.
Monday, February 4, 2013
On the Other Side 2/3/13
For years, my family and I have helped with Project Cure. Project Cure gets donated medical supplies, sorts them, and then ships them all over the world. A couple weeks ago, a group from South Carolina came out to run the clinic that was near the Children's home. Instead of sending medical supplies, I found myself on the other side of the world using the donated medical supplies.
In three days, they saw 470 people. The first morning, it was difficult to get through on the road. The first day, the clinic only saw about 120 people. I helped out the afternoon of the second day. I was determined to see if I could improve efficiency to see if we could get more people through, but I couldn't. The people from South Carolina knew what they were doing. I think there were about three nurses, two doctors, at least four interpreters, and a number of other people helping out.
To everyone that came in, we gave deworming medicine that allows people to be free of worms for at least six months. We also gave them vitamin A because there's a deficiency of vitamin A here. Part of the afternoon, I put deworming medicine and vitamins in little plastic bags. The deworming medicine smelled awful.
I tried to fix a couple scales, but wasn't successful. To find the weight of a baby, we would take the weight of both the mother and baby, then subtracting the weight of the baby.
First, people waited in the waiting room. We had the Jesus Film showing. Second, people met with a nurse and an interpreter to determine their symptoms. Many people, especially women, had back pain and neck pain. About all we could do for them was give them Tylenol, so they went to the pharmacy section. We gave a lot of Tylenol away. For more serious symptoms, the people saw the doctors. After the doctors, they went to the pharmacy. After the pharmacy, they went to check out. Some people we gave sunglasses, a piece of candy, a toothbrush and toothpaste. There were some people that prayed with people, and evangelized to them as well before they left the clinic.
The first day there wasn't much ring worm, but the second day we saw a lot of ring worm. Scabies and other skin diseases were common. There was even one case of Leprosy. There was one boy with seizures, and a couple of girls that were orphans. There is hope that the girls will go to the Children's Home. One thirteen year old was found to be pregnant.
One boy, had a worm in his eye, below his eye, and his lower eye lid. One of the nurses, took it out with forceps. It was an inch long. My Mom worked for the health department. The entomologist would come across different bugs and illnesses, and preserve the bugs in jars. Growing up, it was fun for me to come in the office and see the latest finds. So, I asked the nurse, "What kind of worm was it? What kind of worm can be in people's eyes?" She looked at me and said, "IT WAS A WORM!" :)
In the afternoon, I was going around and checking rooms. Part of me wanted to see what rooms the clinic had, part of me wanted to make sure all the lights were off. I opened a closet, or what will be a single bathroom. There was a girl inside, about the age of 13. She was in the dark, and I had no idea what she was doing there. I left her there, and quickly grabbed an interpreter to come talk to her. She told the interpreter that she asked a man for sunglasses, and the man was mean and told her to go to the closet for punishment. Honestly, I thought she was hiding and waiting for the clinic to close. Nope...I cornered the interpreter, and he had told her to wait, and then he forgot about her. He was really sorry and felt bad about it. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways though. The good part of the story is the girl was diagnosed again, and we were able to give her some medicine for her skin problem. She did get some sunglasses.
Looking out the pharmacy window:
In three days, they saw 470 people. The first morning, it was difficult to get through on the road. The first day, the clinic only saw about 120 people. I helped out the afternoon of the second day. I was determined to see if I could improve efficiency to see if we could get more people through, but I couldn't. The people from South Carolina knew what they were doing. I think there were about three nurses, two doctors, at least four interpreters, and a number of other people helping out.
To everyone that came in, we gave deworming medicine that allows people to be free of worms for at least six months. We also gave them vitamin A because there's a deficiency of vitamin A here. Part of the afternoon, I put deworming medicine and vitamins in little plastic bags. The deworming medicine smelled awful.
I tried to fix a couple scales, but wasn't successful. To find the weight of a baby, we would take the weight of both the mother and baby, then subtracting the weight of the baby.
First, people waited in the waiting room. We had the Jesus Film showing. Second, people met with a nurse and an interpreter to determine their symptoms. Many people, especially women, had back pain and neck pain. About all we could do for them was give them Tylenol, so they went to the pharmacy section. We gave a lot of Tylenol away. For more serious symptoms, the people saw the doctors. After the doctors, they went to the pharmacy. After the pharmacy, they went to check out. Some people we gave sunglasses, a piece of candy, a toothbrush and toothpaste. There were some people that prayed with people, and evangelized to them as well before they left the clinic.
The first day there wasn't much ring worm, but the second day we saw a lot of ring worm. Scabies and other skin diseases were common. There was even one case of Leprosy. There was one boy with seizures, and a couple of girls that were orphans. There is hope that the girls will go to the Children's Home. One thirteen year old was found to be pregnant.
One boy, had a worm in his eye, below his eye, and his lower eye lid. One of the nurses, took it out with forceps. It was an inch long. My Mom worked for the health department. The entomologist would come across different bugs and illnesses, and preserve the bugs in jars. Growing up, it was fun for me to come in the office and see the latest finds. So, I asked the nurse, "What kind of worm was it? What kind of worm can be in people's eyes?" She looked at me and said, "IT WAS A WORM!" :)
In the afternoon, I was going around and checking rooms. Part of me wanted to see what rooms the clinic had, part of me wanted to make sure all the lights were off. I opened a closet, or what will be a single bathroom. There was a girl inside, about the age of 13. She was in the dark, and I had no idea what she was doing there. I left her there, and quickly grabbed an interpreter to come talk to her. She told the interpreter that she asked a man for sunglasses, and the man was mean and told her to go to the closet for punishment. Honestly, I thought she was hiding and waiting for the clinic to close. Nope...I cornered the interpreter, and he had told her to wait, and then he forgot about her. He was really sorry and felt bad about it. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways though. The good part of the story is the girl was diagnosed again, and we were able to give her some medicine for her skin problem. She did get some sunglasses.
Looking out the pharmacy window:
On the other side of the window. Giving out medicines, water, vitamins and deworming pills:
Some of the South Carolina people and an interpreter:
A couple interpreters and a nurse:
Home Sweet Home 2/4/13
There are a number of houses within the compound where I live. The 36 kids (mostly orphans) live in four houses with four mothers, and the father lives with his family in a house. There are three guest houses. Jen and I moved out of them house with Gloria and Hanna, and moved into a different house just down the hill. There are really step steps out front that remind me of some ancient temple steps. Jen and I now have our own rooms. She has been a wonderful roommate. The house's living room and kitchen are teal, one of my favorite colors, and my bedroom is almost the exact shade of yellow as my bedroom back in America. Then, on top of that, I lost my washcloth in Europe. I had an extra one in an emergency kit Mom put in my luggage. The washcloth had Tweety bird on it, with multicolored hearts. There aren't many stickers here, but there are stickers of Tweety bird and multicolored hearts on the front door to the house. I wanted to take a picture of the wash cloth, but when it was out to dry, it was either stolen or blew away. Perhaps these were signs from God telling me I'm where I'm supposed to be.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Scientific Method 2/3/13
I'm a little late teaching this lesson, but this week I taught the kids how to write labs. For their homework, they had to make up a lab. I told them if they made me laugh, they might get extra credit. Normally, when there is homework, I collect the papers the day they are due, and I don't take any homework that is finished before it is due. For this assignment, two brothers gave me the following two labs early.
Purpose: my purpose is to see if miss Kim like kiss
Material: lips
Procedure: come in front of her
kiss her
Results like sometimes kiss
Conclusion do not give her everyday kiss
purpose: To see if J.R. like basketball
Material: a basketball ball
Procedure: invite time of Gitega and Vs [our school] like E. I. G
Results: so many joint for [our school] because you know He loves [our school]
Conclusion: J.R. take the ball and shout and Cool. and he say I like very much Basketball.
After the first boy stated the purpose of his lab in class (I think completely joking) I told them, "Miss Kim doesn't like kisses, or a boyfriend, or a husband, or a girlfriend. Miss Kim is closer to a Catholic Nun." Walking around, Hanna tried to teach me the saying in Kirundi that means, "I don't want a husband."
Purpose: my purpose is to see if miss Kim like kiss
Material: lips
Procedure: come in front of her
kiss her
Results like sometimes kiss
Conclusion do not give her everyday kiss
purpose: To see if J.R. like basketball
Material: a basketball ball
Procedure: invite time of Gitega and Vs [our school] like E. I. G
Results: so many joint for [our school] because you know He loves [our school]
Conclusion: J.R. take the ball and shout and Cool. and he say I like very much Basketball.
After the first boy stated the purpose of his lab in class (I think completely joking) I told them, "Miss Kim doesn't like kisses, or a boyfriend, or a husband, or a girlfriend. Miss Kim is closer to a Catholic Nun." Walking around, Hanna tried to teach me the saying in Kirundi that means, "I don't want a husband."
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