maji maji wa uke!!

and thus ends my lovely stay in rural Babati, TZ. times have been great, and i have had some epic moments that i will not forget. we had three community days thsi last week, where we tested about 300 people a day (hiv tests)-one man i coaxed into getting tested by getting tested with him ended up being positive.

the other day Rachel's homestay dada had an infected cut on her foot--a tiny cut, but she couldnt even walk because of it. they ended up cleaning it with an antibiotic wipe and neosporin, and the next day she was able to walk again. it is crazy how such simple treatment is so necessary yet unavaible to most people here. last week i visited dada lulu (our hiv positive friend from town) in the hospital with Haji. she had malaria and was in the public hospital for 12 days. its just a long room with beds lined up on both sides. no privacy, no space, and no type of machinery you usually find.

a realization i had that came a little too late: the low literacy rate of our town. we printed out about 70 fliers for our testing day behind my house, when really the most effective thing we could have done was just to walk around and megaphone---

things i will miss about Babati:
--the selflessness and generosity. people have nothing yet will bend over backwards to give you everything and treat you like a queen.
--drinking chi with my baba after a long day of walking my ass off teaching and such
--being outside from morning till dusk
--having to avoid random wandering cows and goats while walking around--hhaa

things i wont miss:
--bucket showering! yes, it is environmentally friendly when taking into account the little amount of water used, but its also nice to be able to get all the dust and dirt off your body every day.
--cow stomach in my potato and beef stew. its fuzzy and weird looking and i was just not a fan.
--filthy feet. currently mine are cracked, blistered, cut, and dirty--you only wish you could see these babies.


onward to zanzibar!!

hey daddy-- my phone got stolen on saturday actually , wamp wamp, but i will call you with rachel's phone later today. i love you.

we have been teaching like crazy these past few days it has been great. tomorrow is our testing day--SIC will set up two tents in the soccer field behind my house and then free hiv testing will going on all day. yesterday ivvette, tuma, mary and i walked around our part of town wthi a couple megaphones announcing for tomorrow. doing this works wonderfully--noone gets annoyed with the flyers and annoucing because they're nto used to it! we had mamas following us down the road, adn groups of people shouting they would be coming. it should be a busy day i am stoked.

i am going to miss the sense of communal living when i leave--people sitting on a curb outside eating roasted mihindi enjoying the last hours of sunlight..simple living has a lot of perks; im a fan.

only a week left aaaaah!

I spent the afternoon having impromptu info sessions around town with Tuma. What started out as an hiv informational discussion with this baba in a soccer field soon turned into a group of 60 men and women. people are always interested and curious, and everyone is ridiculously nice.

things i love in the morning:
perfect smiling faces shouting "good morrrnnnnnning emma!!!!!!"
milk tea

today there were two dead chickens sitting on my porch. I almost stepped on them. meh

the more people have, the more they seem to complain.
Little Samuel--my homestay baby-- crys and screams non stop. this child is very spoiled; every object taken from his hands results in a scream. Meanwhile, little Ramadan from Frank's homestay is playing in the dirt outside. Ramadan never seems to be upset, and Ramadan has nothing but the ground to play with.

common misconceptions about h.i.v in rural Babati, TZ:
--its unsafe to buy things from an infected person-- some random surveys we did around town reported that people would not buy from an hiv + fruit vendor.
--hiv is put in condoms when theyre manufactured--thats what you see when you put one outside in the sun. no, its lubricant.
---hiv is a punishment from God.

love love