Karibu Isinya
...or welcome to isinya.
Isinya is the village where we are staying. Paul lived here during his stint int the peace core and thus knows many people. The family he spent his time with has been very welcomming and generous. The "mama" Penninah, is a nurse who we will be working with and also runs a women's group that helps children. Yesterday we helped hand out school uniforms, food, worming medicine, vitamins, and soap to local orphans brought in by the group. The children are very curious and like to laugh at us and call us mzungu ("white person"). Its funny since this is the first place i've ever traveled that i have absolutely no chance of blending in.
The mama's sons are very kind as well and make sure that we are comfortable and know how to get what we need. Last night they brought us a goat and we all ate this large white bread like substance (ungala) and goat with tomatoes. Goat seems to be one of the main staples in the diet of those slightly more wel off here. Its cooked until almost a jerky like toughness, which makes chewing a bit of a challenge and toothpicks a popular aftermeal treat.
Our house has running water, an indoor toilet that flushes (usually), and a camp stove so we can boil water for drinking abd bathing and cook our own food. Milk is delivered every morning and boiled. Paul drinks a liter of boiled whole milk every day. yack. Quite honestly it hasnt been the culture shock i was expecting however i think that it is beacuse isinya is one of the better off villages, and though we are surrounded by poverty by our standards, by standards here people are very fortunate. once we get out into the deep brush tribal areas my thoughts on the matter might change though. one think that does strike me is that very few people who live in this area actually have jobs. many had one kind of recently, but often they were not paid because the governemeny made a mistake or the company ran out of funding, so they stopped working there to try something else.
more in a few days once we finish getting adjusted and my brain starts working again.
Isinya is the village where we are staying. Paul lived here during his stint int the peace core and thus knows many people. The family he spent his time with has been very welcomming and generous. The "mama" Penninah, is a nurse who we will be working with and also runs a women's group that helps children. Yesterday we helped hand out school uniforms, food, worming medicine, vitamins, and soap to local orphans brought in by the group. The children are very curious and like to laugh at us and call us mzungu ("white person"). Its funny since this is the first place i've ever traveled that i have absolutely no chance of blending in.
The mama's sons are very kind as well and make sure that we are comfortable and know how to get what we need. Last night they brought us a goat and we all ate this large white bread like substance (ungala) and goat with tomatoes. Goat seems to be one of the main staples in the diet of those slightly more wel off here. Its cooked until almost a jerky like toughness, which makes chewing a bit of a challenge and toothpicks a popular aftermeal treat.
Our house has running water, an indoor toilet that flushes (usually), and a camp stove so we can boil water for drinking abd bathing and cook our own food. Milk is delivered every morning and boiled. Paul drinks a liter of boiled whole milk every day. yack. Quite honestly it hasnt been the culture shock i was expecting however i think that it is beacuse isinya is one of the better off villages, and though we are surrounded by poverty by our standards, by standards here people are very fortunate. once we get out into the deep brush tribal areas my thoughts on the matter might change though. one think that does strike me is that very few people who live in this area actually have jobs. many had one kind of recently, but often they were not paid because the governemeny made a mistake or the company ran out of funding, so they stopped working there to try something else.
more in a few days once we finish getting adjusted and my brain starts working again.
posted by -cn at 3:15 AM
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