2nd week...and surviving!

Two weeks in the country!! It feels exactly like that. I start to feel more relaxed and comfortable but still I need to learn a lot.

Last week I started going around with the study team in search for schools where the study will be conducted. We need 15, but to select them we have to visit at least 30. It would be easy to do it in a place where there are detailed maps of the area or where the officers of the town really understand the boundaries of it; but unlucky us, we have to work hard to find some of the lost in the middle of nowhere schools. The landscape is very rough, there was volcanic activity in the area hundreds of years ago, but there are still reminiscences of it, some roads are not accessible even with our 4WD but our driver, Rutto, just goes through everything, even deep paddles where I close my eyes because I think we’d wet stuck!. So it is really an adventure, but all is worth it when you finally arrive and the kids run up to you and look at you with those smiling, innocent faces. I love their looks, they might wear worn out clothes, but their faces shine. Even in poverty they look magnificent in my eyes, I have a lot of respect for them. They have been born in a place and time where they have not many choices; still they seem happy and help one another. We need to learn a lot from them: “For of him unto whom much as been given much is required”. The teachers in the schools also receive us with cheerful hearts, they seem very happy to see different people. Ah! The other day in one of the schools I saw some water containers donated by LDS charity, incredible how they can reach those far places!!!

Besides the work, personal things are also going smother. I am learning a bit more about the culture and the country. Ah! I forgot to tell that the rains came….good thing uh!, but with the rains the bugs came…and that is not that nice. I did not know I have an insect-phobia until this week. I saw all types and sizes of crawling things in my room and I get very scared, I just cannot stand them so I the two last nights I screamed and the guys next door came to help me and put the bugs out. I am glad they are around, otherwise I’d be really in trouble, I really panic if I get close to them. But I think it might also have something to do with the medication that I’m taking for the malaria prophylaxis, Sometimes there are undesirable side effects such us anxiety, restlessness, nausea, hallucinations, depression, etc., and I´ve been experiencing some of those since I started taking it, so I think I am going to risk it and go without it. I just hope I will not get malaria. So hopefully when I stop the prophylaxis I will not be as scared of the insects around me and everything will return to normality.

Next week hopefully we will do a safari, so I am excited about that. So far I have only seen zebras, lots of monkeys (even in the market trying to steal sth to eat), goats (everywhere) and cows. AH! Today during my morning walk I found turtle in the road, I picked it up to put it in the lake (I thought it´d like it but then I found out that that type of turtle doesn´t live in the water, my mistake!! I should not have interfered with nature!), sooo I was on my way to the lake and a lady advised me to not put it there because there are crocodiles and they can eat it. WHAT? I was worried about myself going there not about the turtle! I just went there and left it close to the water, I also asked some people around and they said that the crocodiles are small so they are not really scared of them ¿?. I still need to find out whether it is true, because I like the place to go there and read J



What else can I tell…Ah!!! Today there is a party in the guest house where we are staying. The owners of the house had a baby last month and they are having a party for the kid today. They are Muslims, so the ceremony started with a beautiful prayer; the men were all seated in a circle in the garden on the house and recited suras/verses from the Coran. Really beautiful!


I like it very much here, but I also miss my loved ones. I am realising more and more how important the people around you are, and I just want to let you know my friends and family that I love you, and that I appreciated all your emails, text messages, calls, prayers and love. I can feel your support across the distance.