Thursday, March 3, 2011

Inika mu mazi & isabune (soak it in water & soap)


I know I said in my previous post that I was going to be spending some time at the hospital this week.  Well, this is Africa and you have to be able to go with the flow when the flow isn’t going where you thought it was.  Instead of being at the hospital I have been spending some time at the Star School doing public health talks with the secondary school girls. 

Yesterday I met with about 50 girls ages 14-24.  We covered topics such as germs, proper hygiene, and safe drinking water.  These girls are bright.  They are getting one heck of an education.  I started off my talk asking if anyone knew what a germ was.  “A small living organism that can cause harm to your body.”  Said in English.  Just like that.  I couldn’t have answered it better myself – in fact, I wouldn’t have. I then moved to how to bathe, the importance of soap, how to wash clothes (again emphasizing soap), the consequences of not being clean (body odor, infections, disease), and why they should wait for the cooks to boil any water for them to drink rather than the immediate satisfaction of the cold water from the taps outside. 

I’ve learned that you can’t say “don’t drink that water, it will make you sick” unless you have a reasonable alternative ready.  All the girls seemed to fully understand the water bit.  They’ve either heard that advice before or have each personally experienced the consequences of the water – or both.  They all laughed and nodded as I rolled around on the floor in the fetal position holding my stomach.  (I had to get pretty silly to get them to come to life.  Rwandans are very reserved – Good thing I’m a goofball.)

Once I had made a big enough fool of myself to get them to open up – they really opened up!  There were tons of great questions.  Tons that made me laugh.  And tons that broke my heart…

Great questions: “What are some of the symptoms of a urinary tract infection?” and “What would happen if you didn’t get it treated?”  “Why is it okay to shower and wash my clothes with the bad water but not okay to drink it?”

Funny questions: “How come when she (points to the girl sitting next to her) takes a shower she still smells bad even right afterwards?”   Talk about a candid group of people!  Could you point to your colleague in a business meeting and announce to everyone that they had terrible body odor?   There were a lot of fingers pointed and names mentioned but no one was hurt by it.  They are a close-knit group and they were looking for answers for each other’s problems.  Still…I couldn’t help but crack up at their frankness.

Many of their questions were so basic that I really had to think about my answers.  I can quickly spout off the major infecting organisms that are found in their tap water, their unique symptoms, and 1st, 2nd, 3rd line treatments for each one…. But that’s not what they want/need to know. 
They wanted to know 1. What temperature the water is supposed to be for their shower. 2. Is it okay to use soap on all body parts when showering.
3. What the yellow stains under the arms of their white shirts are, 4. Why certain parts of your body smell differently than others, and 5. Is it okay to use dish soap to shower with.
1. It doesn’t matter.  2. Yes of course.  3. Sweat stains.  4. They just do.  & 5. No, use Irish Spring, Dial, or Dove. – are the American answers to those questions.  We take for granted a ton of information that we don’t even know that we know.  (And no, they don’t have any of those fancy soaps I just mentioned.  They have one type of body soap.  It’s an odorless brown block of wax and lard.)

In a couple of hours I’m going back to the Star School (rain permitting) and I’m going to have a much more sensitive conversation with these young women.  That’s right.  Yours truly is doing the sex ed, this-is-whats-going-on-with-your-body lecture. 
So hang tight- an even more interesting blog is headed your way soon… 

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