Last Day of Literacy Class and Clinic
Day
By Maggie Weber
Our Saturday here was a busy day, but
an extremely successful day indeed. We began the morning with a hardy
breakfast of the infamous African pinapple and g-nut paste. G-nut
paste is essentially homemade peanut butter but better because the
nuts are fresh... and we aren't at home.
It was clinic day here on the farm.
This meant it was all hands on deck at the clinic helping with
checking vitals, pharmacy duties, and organizing the masses. Our
group also had the final literacy class planned.
Ranae, Canon, and I headed to teach the
literacy class. We must have been running late, even on African time.
I know this because the regular teacher came up to me and said, "Yes
morning!" I responded, "Good morning!" He then said,
"The learners are here." I let him know we were on our way.
The three of us walked to the classroom. We found it locked with no
'learners' waiting for us. It turns out the 'learners' were all in
line waiting for the clinic. They soon came to class. It was amazing,
no one I know would get out of line for a free clinic day and go to
class. They were early to be in line for the clinic and each student
got out of line and came to our class. I couldn't believe it. We had
a great class. I was able to talk to some of the level 2 learners.
They didn't think they were doing very well with English. When in
fact, they were amazing. The greatest two things that happened in
class were this: bubbles and dancing. Ranae handed out little bottles
of bubbles to the class. The class is made up predominantly of ladies
over 60, none of which had experienced the joy of bubbles. When Ranae
blew the first bubbles the class went wild. Every lady was chatting
quickly and excitedly in swahili explaining their surprise.
Following this, the entire class played
a game. Each person had to choose something they were good at and
then repeat everyone else's actions. Most of our ladies chose
dancing. They shook their hips and moved their feet like nobody's
business. If each of these ladies came to America and taught dance it
would be a work out revolution! I will never forget those ladies
dancing. They sure know how to grasp their youth at all times here.
Following class the three of us headed
to the clinic to help. We spent the rest of the day seeing the
village. We began keeping count of how many people we saw. I think
that lasted about maybe an hour. I worked in the pharmacy and had a
great time filling perscriptions and shaking pills to distract the
babies. The doctors and nurses got tired but it was organized and the
stress was maintained. Susan helped weed out those who had simple
fixes. And we also had our villiage health care workers in among us
helping wash and dress wounds as need.
I would say it was a very successful
day here at Canaan farm. It was exhausting but I would do it again in
a heart beat, even if it was just to hear the ladies' reaction to
bubbles. It reminds me of the things we take for granted because we
have become calloused.
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