Zugu

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
UFS Volunteer House

Today’s town was called Zugu. A little bit farther than Gumo but not as far Nantonkurugu, it was probably the most easy-going town yet. This time, we had two interpreters (but lost Ali since he had to visit his father in the hospital), but most of the townspeople were away at the farms by the time we got there in the afternoon around 10 AM. We started out with only maybe 8 elderly people, and others trickled in literally one by one. Compared to the chaotic first day in Nantonkurugu where there were literally people everywhere, it certainly was a change all of us volunteers were very much willing to accept. I did learn a bit more about certain eye diseases. For example, Allergic Conjunctivitus is a condition where the area around the cornea is red, an indication that the individual has itchy eyes and has been rubbing them extensively, which could also lead to corneal scratching and other mechanical eye problems. As us volunteers got more and more impatient as the day progressed slowly, some of us decided to have some fun with the kids. Some things that the kids enjoy are looking at pictures that we’ve taken of them from our cameras, running around and chasing us, imitating what we say, and just even seeing us smile seems to make them jump up and down in joy. One particularly hilarious situation was when John gave a little bit of hand sanitizer to three of the kids behind the transport vehicle. Within 10 seconds time, he suddenly got a mass of kids with their hands cupped ready for some of this cooling sensational liquid that they have never seen before. Another was Christian, who being quite the tall “white man” was at the center of attention for most of the time. He would allow them to chase him around the volunteer area and do imitations. One time, he got so tired that he just stood there with his arms crossed and his sunglasses on, towering over the surrounding kids in monarchy fashion.

On a heavier note however, the state of some of these kids were certainly very sad.
Four year olds were taking care of one year olds… some had absolutely not clothing save for a small piece of cloth to cover their lower private part. One two-year old children, absolutely stark naked, was sitting on the ground with his head down, trying to sleep while other children ran past him, as to establish that his behavior was quite normal. The fact that they were there in the first place was also a little questioning as some of the kids there were definitely of age to go to school. Some even had school workbooks in their hands, but it was curious as to why they weren’t doing their assigned homework or simply at school. These children deserve more… more than that droplet of water that they desperately try to drink when us volunteers are done with a water packet, more than sitting around while flies constantly inspected them, more than standing around with seemingly nothing to do to let them learn the ways of life. But what can a measily group of 7 volunteers do for them? Not much I suppose… except bring a smile to their face, which unfortunately is just temporary.

The rest of the day after the village outreach was pretty normal. After getting back around 5ish, we had chicken fried rice for dinner made by Tina (the hired cook for the house). We then had some chatting and typing in ID cards from the village outreaches, and playing some poker for the first time with some of the guys that visit every night (Osman/Salim).

With last night seemingly getting zero sleep, I took a risk and abandoned the mosquito tent. It felt so wrong doing that… but then the fan was quite amazing… I’m not sure what to make of it. @__@