The Color Orange

This was taken about two weeks ago looking east along the market quarter road near the DRAS (or regional medical administratin). I had just been to a sensibilization given by my sitemate, Dave, at the Centre de Sante where mothers bring their babies for vaccinations and growth checks. He talked to them about the best foods for children and mothers to ensure proper health and growth. It's hard for anyone here to achieve a balanced diet. The cuisine is carb heavy (rice, pasta, couscous, bread) with vegetable oil, sometimes low grade meat, beans and root veggies if you're lucky. What's really interesting to us is that most of the mothers (and most people here) don't posess basic knowledge about nutrition and health. I know nothing compared to an American doctor, but here my medical knowledge seems prodigious.

After seeing Dave's talk, I went to the Women's Ministry where I work with the Jardin des Enfants (kindergarden/preschool) every morning. It's exhausting but I hope this new program will give the kids a leg up. Maybe they'll stay in school longer if they're better prepared for primary school.

On Saturdays I team teach English and French with Heather. It's an academic club composed of middle and high school students. The girls and guys do things separately but they share the same space. It's actually really nice-the culture promotes separation of the sexes but forces girls and boys to learrn together in public school. This means the girls gradually allow the boys to dominate, particularly in the upper levels. I'm biased (for it!) about single-sex education, but here it just seems to make sense! Why don't they do it? I envision a plethora of kick ass women and maybe that's the problem. They'd turn the country on its ear! But I hope our two hours a week can help these girls just a little. It's a start.

We're entering the dry (or winter) season here. I'm acclimatised just enough that the drop in temp (it's what, 90 now?) feels really cold! Especially my bucket shower in the morning! Whoo-hoo!