62 days on the field.

Is nothing. Is something.

There are these thoughts constantly going back and forth “I still have time and I'm beginning to understand things now and keep on doing my work” and at the same time “I still haven’t done anything useful and I should understand more and there actually is no time”. This is when you remind yourself again that this is how it was going to be - you cannot do everything and understand everything and you must focus on the things you can do.

So, I’ll share what I’ve been doing. My main focus is working closely with our organisation WEFOCO community groups that are located in Mumias East, around Shianda. They gather at one specific place where they are used to meet (for example the chairlady's place or a local church) and then we have different topics for trainings that we are going to cover with them. I say we, because there are 3 other volunteers working with the same groups. My topic is nutrition and this month I did the basic introduction to nutrition. I talked about hygiene and nutrition values in different foods and importance of nutrients. Also very briefly mentioned the burning of the plastic and the effect it can have on our health and environment, because plastic is burnt with all the trash and the ashes of the plastic get to the soil in which they plant their vegetables and crops. There is no system for managing waste in Shianda or the areas around here yet.

I’m happy to see that a lot of the knowledge is there but the implementation is something to work on. In rural areas, most of them have land and are trying to grow vegetables and something to sell at the market or have at home. Im saying “trying”, because right now it's supposed to be the rainy season. Although, we are still waiting for the rains to start and just as we were discussing in the office the other day, people are getting more and more stressed about it and facing a lot of problems, which will have an impact on the life around here.

The implementation with groups will be cooking together and repeating the importance of having variety in food and letting the groups know that the healthiest food comes from their own land and not the market or supermarket. I have heard many stories how different countries spoil the market here with their imported foods that don’t have healthy nutrition value and are cheaper for the locals to buy.

 

I went to a school, where I talked about nutrition with students and I could see that they had been taught about it but the truth is that they still get to eat mainly one kind of food every day.

What I see is that there are a lot of health problems in this area which are curable with having the right diet and availability for better hygiene. Of course, better health starts with taking care of the hygiene but having no access to clean water is making it difficult. Wells are drying and there are lines of people with buckets to take water from the river, which will also dry out if it continues for much longer, but life doesn’t stop.

It is true that when you travel around Africa, you see and feel the “hakuna matata” vibe which I really appreciate but when you stay at one place for a longer time you start to notice how a person is struggling and working long hours just to make ends meet. There is a difference in time management and postponing happens a lot, even though I think there is always a reason and its hardly ever “just because”.  With my time I feel like I want to empower all the hard-working, struggling grown ups and children that I meet, which will be the topic for my next trainings to come.

And as our dear landlord likes to say: “ Otherwise, good night!” :)

Btw, while I was doing this post it started raining! So I guess the dance for it worked ;)