In Which I Am Still Sick And More People Get To Enjoy Being Sick

August 15^th-16^th: Saturday and Sunday

Saturday we went to Namurapus to do vaccinations and preventative medicine again. Mark, Maria, and Johan came as well as JB, Mark, and Moses the new lab tech. Although we didn’t see as many people as before we saw quite a few. 80 total; 60 kids and 20 women. There was a group of elders there from villages farther up in the mountains who wanted Jim to come to their villages again on Monday. They said I think, “come shoot our villages”. Jim had to say he couldn’t but they could come down here next time and bring their people.

Maria also came and she and I were in charge of weighing the babies and performed the MUAC test. We almost dropped a little kid out of the weighing harness. It’s just like a little bag with leg holes and you have to be sure to put one of their arms behind one of the straps so their balanced. We forgot and this poor kid almost fell out. Luckily Maria and his Dad caught him hanging upside down, naked. All the kids have to be naked so we get an accurate reading. They tend to pee on people. Whether this is out of fear or spite I don’t know.

After we finished we hiked down to Namalu and ate lunch there. About a half hour from Namalu it started to rain a little bit. Then a little bit more. This pattern continued until it was indiscernible and I was soaked through and miserable. For lunch we ate beans, rice, goat meat, and pocho. Pocho is strange but imagine a lump of cuscus and that is pocho. It all was very good helped by the long hike. We caught a ride home with Pastor Dave and Caleb who were in town doing business and stuff. Caleb kept everybody entertained on the way back.

After we got back I showered quickly and then helped Maria make Nan for community dinner that night. James was just bouncing off the walls. Completely loony. I had to go to bed at 8:00 I was so tired. Still don’t have my full appetite back yet. Felt a little nasty as I went to bed and just completely wiped.

Sunday morning Pastor Al and Kris were very sick. Pastor Al more so. He has a really high fever. All afternoon I hung out with the Tricarico and the Wright kids. At prayers that afternoon Caleb sat with me which was fun. He’s a hilarious kid. I’ll really miss him and his family. When I get back from Tanzania they will be on furlough.

That evening I made shortbread cookies with frosting. The frosted was teal colored according to the instructions on the back of the Betty Crocker’s food coloring. That evening all the kids and Johan and I watched the Wright’s home videos and then I Robot. The Wright’s videos are absolutely hilarious and very funny. They were all really funny kids. Bobby is my favorite. He had the best lines. During one part he had a folding chair wrapped around him and he was talking to his mom telling her it was his armor and then later you can see him running against the wall in the background.