March 24th
Today was Polio day 2. I did wake up early to go see everyone off, but agreed with Major that today was not the day for the nasara to be out in the sunshine. I went home and dozed in my chair for an hour, then got up and started getting water for laundry. Did the laundry, left my computer to charge, helped with the paperwork as groups came back. We got 58% of the estimated target population yesterday, by today we were up to 92%, with 2 days left to go! Granted, the number of kids we're supposed to be finding is an estimate, a percentage of the estimated population in each village, but we usually manage to find enough kids to cover the estimate and then some.
A happy village note for today. I was getting water and three young girls came up to greet me. Since the CSPS is right next to the school, this happens fairly often. The first girl crossed her arms and bobbed, the way they do in school, but the next girl stuck out her hand. My first thought is always Germs! But hands are meant to be washed, so I happily shook her hand. She stared at our hands, her little hand so stark against my seemingly giant, blindingly white paw. She kind of squeezed my fingers between her fingers and thumb, as though surprised they felt normal. I laughed, and so did she. The third girl came up and did the same. We giggled. I saw them again, walking the other way a few minutes later. I said hello in Moore, and said something about nasara fingers being strange, and we all laughed and continued on our way. Sometimes it really hurts when people here point and comment about my skin color. But other times when they approach in a friendly and curious way, it just makes us both laugh to see all the places where we're still the same. Sentimental Peace Corps Moment!
No comments:
Post a Comment