5 naked african babies

Monday, May 22, 2011

I completely forgot to mention that we have three pharmacy kids with us, Brain aka Queso Grace, Justin aka Breezy, and Cameron (native to MS!). Cameron dated one of my friends from OleMiss, ironically.  The PHIZ (Pharmacy Harding in Zambia) kids are doing their externship at a HIV clinic in town.  Oh, and BWeave nick-named everyone the other night. Mine: Lil’ Kanders. If there is a lil’ kanders reference in other blogs, now you know.

So today was our first day of therapy.  Most of us took the short cut to The Haven, which is all countryside.  It’s pretty and all but ever since Ian (Dr. Tullos’ son) mentioned green and black mombas… I’m terrified they will strike when I am in tall grass (which covers the entire short cut).  The shortcut is probably three-fourths of a mile, while the regular walk on the dirt roads is about a mile.  We have one van, Kakhi Jackie, and it can hold about 10 of us (including Tessa laying across our laps), but we like to walk.  Plus, it’s gorgeous here… blue skies for miles and miles. We unpacked all the supplies and clothes when we got to The Haven and covered two huge tables. 

We went to Haven 1 (the babies) in the morning and Haven 3 (the sick babies/toddlers) in the afternoon.  All of us picked at least two kids to informally evaluate.  For the babies we looked for their developmental milestones such as tracking, sucking on a bottle, trunk control, crawling, standing, and walking.  Memory (the first little GIRL who stole my heart) was able to do all except walk on her own.  She is getting there, though! Yes, the little “boy” I fell in love with is a girl.  I found this out when I changed her diaper.  By the way, the aunties use towels and safety pins and/or this device that pulls the cloth together for diapers.  Yep, safety pins. Then we went over to observe the sick babies.  Douw and Andrew were two of the cutest toddlers I have ever seen. Andrew just wanted some extra lovin’.  He laid on my chest for over an hour.  Both Andrew and Douw were walking on their own and occasionally getting a phoneme or two out.  Then, I heard Tapagwa… a six-month old baby who looked about six weeks.  Her arms and legs were the skinniest I have ever seen.  Her mother died of HIV and most children that live in the villages need both parents to survive so her father brought her to The Haven.  Tapagwa could not hold her head up and barely grasped my finger.  That sweet baby will be getting a lot of attention in these next few weeks. 

To be considered an orphan the child must have at least one parent deceased.  The main goal for The Haven is to eventually get the children back to their villages, which sometimes happens and sometimes it doesn’t.  If they become too old to live in the toddler house (Haven 2) they move in with The Merritts’.  Dr. Tullos informed me at dinner tonight that The Merritt’s have adopted over 45 children.  All of which live with them in Namwianga until they are old enough to go to college and live in the dorms.

Showers are warm from about lunchtime to 4:30 so therapy ends around 4:00.  We walked back to The Man House (where the girls are staying this year), rinsed off, and then played some more “football” with our neighbors.  These four girls always come over to either color or play “football”.  I think their mothers work for The Haven.  The big sister, Misou, babysits her younger sister.  I mentioned chitangees earlier… African women use these chitangees for everything.  In Ms. Lowry’s words, they are functional! They wear them as skirts, they clean with them, they use them as a sling to put their baby in, they make them into dresses, wallets, etc.  Anyway, I have the cutest picture of Missou with her little sister strapped to her back in a chitangee. Goal: I will get a picture by the end of these next few weeks with an African baby strapped to MY back in a chitangee.

Tuesday, May 22, 2011

Today was another day to informally evaluate the little ones at Haven 2 and 3.  Today I found out my sweet Andrew who has HIV also has syphilis.  He is the sweetest boy at The Haven (in my eyes).  All he wants to do is lay on me and he takes my arms and wraps them around him tight. In the middle of our evaluation, five naked African babies came running into the living area.  It was possibly the funniest and cutest thing I have ever witnessed. 

Dad, every night Leonard has fresh tomatoes for us.  Every night. You would be in heaven.  He made mack and cheese for dinner tonight. We learned that Americans are one of very few cultures that eat their large meal at night.  Lunch here is the mega meal, which is why everyone takes a nap before the afternoon sessions or work.  After dinner we played a big loooong game of Phase 10.  First time to play that game, takin it home with me. Then I got in bed and read some James Patterson. I have been going to bed so early, like 9 or 10.

Wednesday, May 23, 2011

First day of group therapy! I am in Cara’s group with Cari, Anna, and Ben. In the mornings we do language enrichment with Haven 2 kiddos and then we moved over to Haven 1.  Cara said we were wingin’ it today, so we sang a bunch of songs, read a bunch of books, and then made crazy sounds for Haven 1 babies.  Miller made a “t” sound today, first time I have heard anything come out of his mouth. Dow told me thank you and bye and Andrew waved bye to me.  Second years- Hamilton is chunky, smiling like crazy and starting to make some sounds! Hamilton was skin and bones last year and had failure to thrive.  Good feedback this morning!