Hello all,
I am backtracking to Saturday....when we went to Wipollo village to visit the family of Sr Mary Rose. This area is about 45 minutes from Kalongo and is probably 16 km. The roads are so bad it is slow slow going! Terry and I visited a few years back when everyone was still in the Paimol IDP camp. It is refreshing to see people are moving back to their own land and trying their best to start over and begin again with re-newed hope for their future and faith in God. The needs are great, yet they presevere! A couple years ago AIDSpirit bought the oxen, cow and plow to begin farming and this has helped with some income generation for sure...and the family shares with the Wipolo village of about 100 families. Last year we trained Paula in village healthcare worker training and in gardening. Vinturnio, Sr. Mary Rose brother learned some farming and bio sand construction as well as atteded the village lectures on hygiene, sanitation etc. One of the older daughters has since been admitted to the St. Bakhita vocational school for tailoring, another older son is in carpentry training. Vinturino has great ideas for income generation with rowing ongions this year and wants t start a small barber and phone charging business. Their youngest daughter, baby Rose..Mary Rose Atuu named after Sister,has sickle cell...so I am very involved with her and educating the family. We arrived for an unannounced visit which was nice as it is easier to assess when less of the villagers are around. Of curse, culture and tradition is ingrained in them and they made a meal we shared with fellowship and prayers and sharing about our families, etc. It was very nice! Through the discussion, Sr. vincentina relayed the epideic of the Yellow Fever outbreak in Kalongo district. 14 people died in the hospital and many people became sick. Since there has been a mass immunization effort. The village next to Wipolo had one of the highest incidences of the outbreak and should have spread to Wipolo. Hoever, with the training and knowledge they have recieved last year....Paula and Vinturino went to all of the homes in the village and instructed them on how to make latrines and on good handwashing. All but 4 households made latrines and started using them! As a result there were no incidences of yellow fever!! Thank God! Sr. Dr. Vincentina was amazed! This is music to my ears and makes every hardship and struggle to impart knowledge in these remote rural areas well worth it and encourages me to keep on! We also found some mistakes they were making with the treatmen of malaria for baby rose and the need for her health in prevention of her sickle cell crisis' she has been having so it was a great visit! They have even started building me a hut! Ha! Me who is so nervous of eating the village food! We plan another visit with the AIDSpirit team when they come as well. More to come...including my adventures trying to be the "electronics person" for the xray! Ha! I miss you guys!
Thanks for the prayers! Love Nadine
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You people probably think you are doing God's work, well you are NOT. Think about it, for over 10 years you have been making this same useless trips, and these people are still dirt poor. are you coming for tourism or for a "feel good" endeavor?. We Africans know our problems and can aptly solve them. Tell your governments to stay out, but they will not, where will your daughters get those precious diamonds you want on their fingers on the cheap?. The way you can help Africa is to tell your senators, reps and political leaders to stop those selfish policies that have Africans eating the poorly nutritioned American food "drops" instead of eating nutritious native food. Your governments through organizations like USAID force them to abandon good stuff so that your economies are afloat. then you turn around and come here for comic relief.
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