back at summer camp

So I know my blog is all over the place but I will only get a few hours to write every few weeks so they will be long when I do. Sorry. First, I forgot to tell you that as soon as I came to Boumbry they renamed me Mona so that is now my name. I don't know why Mona, I don't think it has any significance in the culture and they don't know what the Mona Lisa is. I am a sight to see in town because I am one of three white people so whenever we go anywhere we literally have a following. they see white person and automatically think 1. rich and 2. doctor. Therefore I have people coming up to me all the time saying "tabiiba, tabiiba" (doctor, doctor) I have a headache or my finger hurts here, what should I do. I have to explain that I don't know what to do and that I am only a volunteer. But I think most of the whiteys that come here are doctors and the like so that is how they relate. I even had a girl come up to me and say "last time a Peace Corps was here they showed us how to put a condom on a sick to prevent pregnancy so my boyfriend and I put a condom on a stick and had sex and I still got pregnant and I don't know what I did wrong." So education, it has become clear, is of utmost importance. My "sister" was also very confused as to how I got all the way here from America. I think she thought I literally flew here, until an airplane flew overhead and my "cousin" pointed to the sky and then it all clicked and she was amazed. 

But now I am back at summer camp; which is what we decided Rosso is because we have our own area and good food, lots of friends, funny skits, euchre, and childish games like assassin. I forget how easy we had it just 4 days ago and today I was spoiled. I took a real life shower and slept with a cool breeze, I sat in a chair when I had my update with my advisor, I had good food that did not consist of animal organs, and we even had ketchup with dinner! I'm not sure why because it was pasta but we did dip the hot dog buns (no hot dogs, just buns) in the ketchup and it was the best thing I ever ate!

At Boumbry there are a ton of flies that suicide bomb into eyes, nose, ears, mouth, any annoying place that they could invade they do. And there is something in the water that definately does not agree with my stomach, even after adding bleach. There are alot of weird bugs and I don't know yet if they are friend or foe. The goats eat my scarfs when I hang them to dry. They speak a crazy language that I am not sure I will ever really understand. Mulafaas are very constricting and are about 6 yards of fabric too long. I am also in a very conservative site where we are not allowed to show any ankle or hair. If the wind blows my mulafaa off my head there are 3 girls running up to fix it. Yet when we danced to the local drum band the girls were booty dancing with the best of MTV! I don't understand what is so offensive about my ankle and not about that. There is garbage everywhere. We decided to completely integrate into society we had to stop hiding all our garbage in the corner and eventually just throw it on the ground like everyone. She threw her zone bar wrapper on the ground and immediately turned around and hit her head on the beam of the khyema (tent). Karma. Religion is also everywhere. In Islam, if you look at the lines of your hands, the v shaped one is the number 8 and the straight one is 1 so you have 9 on both hands which together is 99 which is also the number of names for Allah. So many of the women sit around all day with their prayer beads and recite the 99 names of Allah over and over again, which ensures their entry to Heaven.

Just when I am so frustrated for all the uncomfortable things we are put through, I see the babies what are so malnurished their arms look like pencils, and the mothers with 10 children that don't have the means to feed them and I am reminded that I am in Africa and I have a purpose here and it makes it all worthwhile. And the community is so excited to have us. We went for tea at the chief of medicine's khyema yesterday and he was so excited to get to work and it crushed him when we told him we were only there for 2 months. He is the wealthiest man in the community and lives in a tent out of 2 suitcases which he packs up during the day to let guests come in for tea. 

Here, 80 % of Africans see a traditional medicine doctor rather than take advantage of the free health clinics set up by NGOs like UNICEF or WHO. We will be working with the medicine men in our towns because we don't want to completely run them out of business either. So, today we had one of the more respected medicine men come in and show us some of his craft. He is 80 years old and has been practicing for 60 years, ever since he recieved his teachings from the gins (spirits). He is alluring, mysterious, and a little scary, as I think all medicine men must be. He even has one opaque eye which is totally stereotypical in my mind. He had some sort of animal claw with him that he kept receiving phone calls from spirits on and he would talk to them in a secret language and then continue with his presentation. If he were on the streets of New York he would be crazy, but here he is praised! It reminded me of the but eels! haha. He kept pulling things out of his little Mary Poppins bag. All sorts of powders and tree bark and plants for every ailment, protection against firearms or snakes, potions to get married,etc. Some of my favorites were if you take 3 stones from every place you visit and bury it in your yard you will always be moving forward in life. I thought that was a good one for you Daphne with your collection ! I also liked the head of a boa constrictor he had in his bag that he said to soak in water and then rub the water on your wrists to cure arthritis. hmmm. 

Anyways, I have a long day tomorrow. We are going to learn how to make a garden in dry conditions, visiting the local hospital and vaccination centers, and then at night its back to Boumbry where we have been invited to a wedding! Weddings are crazy, the women put on "fair and lovely" which is a skin whitening cream they are obsessed with which is very bad for you. Then they put on crazy scary makeup and the wedding goes from 7pm tomorrow (thursday) night to 8 pm friday night! My kind of party! haha. Weddings usually start on Thursday because the president changed the weekend to Friday Saturday instead of Saturday-Sunday. There is a lot of dancing and they think it is hilarious to see tou baabs dance (whiteys) so I am sure I will be center of attention (second to the bride). But really I am excited because I here there is fruit!!! Well, good night!