Khwamba Village Visit

This village is the same place we went on my first mobile clinic. On the 1 ½ hour drive out, I was able to read a lot of Jane Eyre (currently the book I am reading which is AMAZING!!) and enjoy the general surroundings. We got to the village and it was all children of all ages. Our group met with the Feeding Center director to talk about how the day was going to proceed and we finished with prayer. The first thing that we did was we had lunch with the kids. Seeing that it was a special occasion that we were out there, we had goat. (ya you read that right GOAT!) We had the usual nsima (pronounced without the “n”), which is their staple food, with greens and a small portion of goat. I was a bit cautious, but it is rude to not accept or not finish food. You know it wasn’t that bad, and now I can say I have had Goat!

After lunch, the kids were separated into groups based on their age, the youngest, middle aged, and teenagers. We had three stations: a game, a craft, and my station- the health talk. I was supposed to talk on good hygiene, good nutrition, and the importance of physical activity. I wasn’t really nervous. I had Daniel by my side to translate and I think when you know they can’t understand you and see your blunders- it puts you at ease. My first group was the youngest. I talked briefly on nutrition keeping it simple and asking them questions. To give them a break, I did Simon says during my talk on physical activity, and finished with a talk on good hygiene. The next group I did basically the same thing, yet I finished too early so I had to kill time. I taught them the Macarena. I know WHY DID I TEACH THEM THAT???? OH well though, they had fun and Daniel and Danielle had fun and a good laugh! The last group I tried to change things up because I had a feeling they wouldn’t want to play Simon says, so I asked them to show me their favorite dance. This took some time, they couldn’t decide on one and then no one wanted to show it. At the close of the last session, all the kids combined in the feeding center area for a person’s testimony and Bible lesson. During this time, I went with Daniel to the van to obtain the bars of soap we had bought for the children. I sat down to listen to the talk and as I sat there I started feeling weak.

I got up and felt bad. I asked Mike if he could go get my water bottle, which was met with “why cant you get it?” I replied “because I cant walk that far”. While he was gone, I started to feel as though I was going to black out and I was very nauseous. Jayme helped me to the ground and Mike came back with my water. I assumed I was just dehydrated. I was standing in a field with the sun hitting me all day talking to kids about nutrition and staying well hydrated. LOL go figure right. Anyway, I went to the van because I didn’t feel well and we soon headed home. I still felt pretty bad even though the water was helping a bit. I put my iPod in and listened to “Somewhere over the rainbow/what a wonderful world” by Israel K (great song btw..can’t for the life of me pronounce his last name though…he’s Hawaiian). This song helped. It brought me back to Palau and going around in the boat! It brought me peace.

About 10 minutes from the house, I reached the point of no return. I knew I was going to throw up! I told them but not in enough time! Needless to say, they need to hose out the van. To spare you detail, the rest of the night was horrid! I HATE…HATE HATE HATE!!! throwing up. I never want to see or eat nsima again in a very long time (I think the Goat didn’t settle very well either). Unfortunately it’s what people hear eat everyday! Also to put the icing on the cake, I was supposed to cook nsima that night with Fred for the entire house. I DID not do that! I spent my time with the porcelain Jon! It was horrible! My salvation came from Annie. She gave me this prescription drug that helps you to stop vomiting. I had nothing to vomit yet it just kept going. She gave me that and I was able to sleep soundly. Happily I can say that the next day I felt about 95% better (5% was my uncertainty of what I could eat).

Definitely an interesting day! I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed being able to teach and interact with the children.