BUT I did make it out to see some of the schools I’ll be working with. We traveled to the eastern part of the country, down a long, bumpy dirt road for about an hour. To say that they are different from American schools would be an understatement. The buildings are long and plain, with no doors and dirt floors. The kids run around in dirty matching uniforms, some with shoes, some not. A lunch of rice and beans is served around 10:45am, mainly because this is the only meal of the day for most of the kids. And there was no running water or electricity. Things like computers and calculators aren’t even an afterthought.
This is the lowveld, the driest part of the country, and there has been a significant drought. Many of the rivers have dried up, and there are bush fires almost every day. The government delivers water to these schools every two weeks in huge blue plastic barrels. This is the only source of water for cooking and drinking.
It’s hard visiting this part of the world and not feel a) terrible about the lack of basic health and facilities, and b) like I want to get back to the comfort of my nice B&B iiiimmediately! The feeling that yes, this is one way of life and I’m here to help, but I live in another, and am happy to get back there, thank you very much. I battle with this, but then realize there is no way to completely take who I am out of it. And I don’t think I’d want to, because then maybe I wouldn’t notice those situations that are just plain wrong.
Case in point: there isn’t enough water in these schools for things like washing up after using the toilet (outhouse). I mentioned this to my two ((college-educated) colleagues who hadn’t noticed. They said it’s not a common cultural practice out there, but that it would be a good idea to include it into an evaluation we are doing. So me being the somewhat germophobe that I am might actually be a good thing!
2 comments:
I so relate to your feelings of wanting to be there and wanting to get back to comforts.. Experienced it many times myself and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one in this field that realizes I like where I'm from! Keep up the interesting blogging, Erin. You are making me want to blog too! We miss you back here, see you in the snow!
Hey man, ain't nuthin wrong with wanting a little comfort (she says from her fancy pants nairobi hotel).
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