Unexpected

Western medicine-0, Traditional medicine-1

After Caedmon’s first three days of school he stayed home for the next three days with pink eye.  It all started with a neighbor boy.  By the end of the weekend all of the kids on our street had contracted it, along with most of the parents too.  Even John and I got the pleasure of experiencing pink eye.  I quickly bought antibiotic eye salve, though most cases are viral.  The boys healed up pretty quick; where as I took more than a week to heal.  All of our neighbors healed up before I did, even those that contracted it after me.  Those of our neighbors currently breastfeeding used breast milk to treat their families.  Apparently this is a world wide traditional technique as our optometrist in the States has many Hispanic patients that use the same method and have had success with it.  I was definitely humbled as I hold our western medical ways in high esteem.  Some other advice we received, and I am still skeptical about, was to pull on your ear lobes or use shallots.  I am still not sure where the shallots were to go as they can have a strong enough effect just being chopped on a cutting board. 

A Visit from the States

After our pink eye fiasco a friend from the States came for a short visit.  Though this was expected, it snuck up on us.  We had a great time catching up and being encouraged as he too has worked overseas. 

A Trip to the Big City

After our visitor left, a close local friend had minor surgery in the big city.  It was an infection that needed to be surgically cleaned out.  Thankfully all went well, but now she has a nasty wound that needs dressing changes twice daily.  As she too lives in Barat, I have had the pleasure of putting my nursing experience to work!  I have been changing her dressings twice daily for her since she has come home.  For some it may seem like a nuisance, but for me this is a great pleasure as I can help her AND be involved in an area I thoroughly enjoy!

A Visitor from the Big City

When we returned home from the big city a local friend also came with us for a visit to Barat.  It was fun showing him around and introducing him to our friends here.  We took one afternoon to cook a local dish from his home area, an island off the southern shore we visited a year ago.  We ate grilled fish with rice cooked in coconut milk. 

 

Our friend attempting to start the fire to grill fish.  Coconut husks are used as the fuel. 

Finally our neighbor behind our house helped us get our little grill set up.  She knew what she was doing!

Our neighbor's daughter with Caedmon.

Our friend watching the fish.

Our neighbor's kids with Caedmon.

Now we hope to get back into, or develop, a routine with the boys’ schooling, our own studying, and life in general!

A Big Week

We started the week by going to school.  Caedmon had his first day at a local kindergarten on Monday.  We decided to try sending Caedmon to a local school again, 2 years after the first try.  This time he liked the idea, is sufficiently fluent in the local language to communicate his needs, and has many neighborhood friends starting school as well.  Though he has already completed kindergarten at home, we felt repeating kindergarten at a local school would decrease at least one potential stressor: any academic challenges.  This also sets him up to be the oldest in his class and hopefully more of a leader than follower.  Thus far Caedmon has been enjoying each day at school and is excited to return every morning.  I am especially impressed with this particular kindergarten as there is a very nice play area (meaning various play structures in decent condition), many play items and posters in the class rooms, and teeth brushing and hand washing are included in the curriculum (neither of which are not strengths in this culture).  We hope to enrolled Whitman in the preschool portion as soon as enrollment actually opens.  This apparently occurs after the kindergarteners finish their first week which seems to be mostly just orientation. 

Whitman and Caedmon ready for school on the first day.

On the way to school. 
We walk to the main road (100 yards to Caedmon's right), then catch a small public transportation vehicle to the city center, then walk two blocks to the school.

Play area

Caedmon

Whitman with our host family's daughter. 
She just made the 4 year old cut off for the 1st year of kindergarten.  If kids are able they usually attend two years of kindergarten. 

Classrooms. 
Upon arriving kids set their backpacks outside their classrooms then go play.

After playing for about an hour, the kids all line up by class.  This week has consisted of songs, snacks, and orientation in this area.

Whitman has been playing during outside play time, then leaves with me until pick up time.  Hopefully this will help him warm up to the idea of staying in his own class.  School goes from 7:30 to 10am.

 

On Wednesday Caedmon turned 6 years old.  We celebrated at home just the four of us and in the afternoon with a party and many friends.  After school we picked up Caedmon’s present of a bicycle.  It proved very interesting getting the bicycle home.  The way home is a very busy main street, so riding the bike was out of the question.  Thankfully it fit, just barely, into a small public transportation vehicle.  There were at least four adults on each side of this small bus like vehicle with the bicycle between all of our knees.  Half of the passengers had to unload just so the bike and us could get out as we were the first off. 

Cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Caedmon in his Wednesday uniform.

Opening presents!

Caedmon cutting his cake.  It is tradition here for the birthday boy to cut the cake.

We made a spider man head piñata and celebrated with neighbors, and many others who joined in. 

 

The Biggest holiday of the year

The month of fasting ended on Sunday, making Monday the biggest holiday of the year.  Celebrations look much like those of our major holidays in the States.  People travel home, usually to where ever their oldest relation lives, and the day is filled with a great deal of eating.  On our block everyone, except us and a neighbor directly across from us, traveled outside the city.  On Sunday night we joined our neighbors from across the street for parade.  Cars and trucks are decorated with lights and signs, then drive through the city.  Other cars and motorcycles join in by following the parade.  We too joined in the motorcade, driving the route of the parade in a car and seeing one 'float' and hundreds of motorcycles. 
Monday we joined our neighbors again, for a meal at the great-grandma's house.  We ate traditional wrapped rice, hard boiled eggs, chicken, and fish.  Then there were sweet drinks, usually some sort of soda, and lots of cookies to snack on. 

With our neighbor's family.  Neighbor girls in white and pink - center.  Two of their aunts on left, grand parents back-center, and cousin on right. 

Erin with our neighbor, same age as Whitman. 

Our neighbor, far left, with her eldest daughter in pink, same age as Caedmon.

Erin and the grandmother.

The grandpa with two granddaughters.

More family.

After eating we just laid around, watching TV or chatting. 

Traditional cookies and peanuts.  After eating with family, people spend the next couple of day or up to one week visiting friends and family.  At every house you visit during this week you will be offered at least cookies nicely displayed in jars and a sweet drink. 

 Another aspect of this holiday is new clothes and money.  Kids and many adults too, look forward to getting at least one new outfit for the holiday.  Kids also receive money, usually small new crisp bills, from friends and relatives.  It is also the custom for kids to walk around the neighborhood for money as well.  It reminded me of Halloween as kids I've never met before stopped by and said a phrase to get something in return, just trade the candy for money.


We took the opportunity to get pictures and names of all the kids in hopes of actually remembering their names. 

As one final activity this holiday, John and I learned how to make containers for one of the many varieties of wrapped rice.  Young leaves from a coconut tree are woven into little square containers.  They are then filled about half way full with rice and steamed for hours until the rice is cooked. 

It just takes longer...

After living here for more than 2 years, I, Erin, am still surprised at how long things sometimes take.  We come from such a time oriented culture, “Time is money” for example, that I frequently get frustrated with the time it takes to get things done. 
I often think, “I’ll just whip up a batch of…,” then it turns out taking much longer than anticipated.  Here in Barat the only canned food I’ve seen is sardines.  Even the equivalent of brown sugar, which is actually palm sugar, has to be either melted or chopped-up to use.  There are no prepared lunch meats (oh how I miss that), peeled baby carrots, or frozen vegies waiting to be steamed.  My quick and easy, last minute, go to meal of Spaghetti now requires tomatoes to be chopped (pealed and seeded if you really want a nice consistency) to make the sauce from scratch.  Thankfully last time we were in the big city we stocked up on canned tomato paste...instant spaghetti sauce here we come!

Palm sugar wrapped in banana leaves. 

Tomatoes waiting to become sauce.  These are the biggest I've seen. 

Milk to be made from powder!

The epitome of things taking time has most recently been experienced in my attempt to learn more about the occurrence of malaria here.  Two blocks away there is a local clinic, similar to the public health department in the States.  It offers minor medical services and attends to community health needs.  There is a specific offices dedicated to malaria so I thought this would be the best place to start.  The first day I asked to speak to someone in regards to malaria.  The office worker wasn’t in as her hours are 8am to 12pm and I had come in at 2 in the afternoon.  I returned the second day only to find she was out sick.  On the following day, a Friday, she was still out sick.  On Monday I finally was able to meet with her.  She said she was really busy but could prepare some documents for me if I would bring a thumb drive in on Thursday.  Thankfully we were able to briefly discuss some of my questions.  Thursday I returned to find, that once again, she was not in the office, though it was 9:30 in the morning.  Unfortunately no one knew when she would be in and her cell happened to be inactive.  On the sixth day, Friday again, I returned again to no avail.  This time I left my number to be informed when she returned.  I have yet to get the documents she mentioned, but was able to get a small picture of malaria occurrence here in Barat from our brief conversation. 


The "Public Health Center"

 

Kids and Questions

There are many questions here that are ok to ask that are taboo in the States.  Any time you leave the house people ask, "Where are you going?"  Then when you return people ask, "Where are you coming from?"  These are pretty simple questions to get use to, though it is hard to get into the habit of asking them of others.  Other frequently asked questions, that are a little more uncomfortable are, "How much did you pay for that?", "What's your religion?",  and "What type of birth control do you use?"  These are all appropriate to be asked by someone you just met!
Yesterday a couple very inquisitive kids were at our house.  They began with simple questions about Caedmon and Whitman.  Could the boys speak the national language?  When are their birthdays?  Have they ever eaten rice?  Then they proceeded to ask about what I was doing on the computer.  They followed with, "Where did you get your computer?"  "How much did it cost?"  "Where did you get your clothes rack?" "How much did it cost?" "Are Caedmon's cousins in school?" 'Where are they in school?"
I was quite surprised with all their questions, but began to see a little into their world.  Such as when they asked, "Who gave Caedmon's school uniforms to him?"  To me it was obvious the school did, for a small price.  But they probably got their uniforms handed down to them by older siblings or cousins, so it was only logical to ask who they came from. 

Are you fasting?

We are half way through the month of fasting.  Here in Barat it feels quite different than in the big city.  Many of the people, particularly the kids, will ask us if we are fasting.  It seems to be a pretty common question among themselves as well.  All restaurants are closed until the evening and people seem to do a lot more staying inside than usual.  All in all the town is pretty quite, opposed to the big city which remains pretty busy even during this month.  Each afternoon local women set up tables on the main road near our house to sell home made goods usually eaten to break the fast.  I, Erin, had the opportunity to learn the process of two of these treats with a friend.  We made a local sweet treat called 'green bananas' (literally translated) and a fried snack that looks a lot like a turnover but is filled with potatoes, carrots, and small noodles.

The kitchen in my friend's house.  She does have a two burner gas stove off to the right.  She used the wood burning one against the wall to steam the dough for the 'green bananas.'  The dough consisted of flour, water flavored with palm leaves chopped in a blender, salt, and a little margarine.  It was thinner than pancake batter, but turned into play dough consistency after steamed for 15 minutes. 

Various ingredients. 

The steamed green dough is flattened and filled with a slice of banana. 

 

The dough is wrapped around the banana and shaped.  Later it is eaten with thickened coconut milk flavored with more palm leaves.

I had a great time learning about the process and spending time with a friend!  A few days afterward we had a group of elementary teachers over to break the fast and we served her treats! 

Recent Happenings

It is hard to believe June is almost over.  Living in a place that feels like perpetual summer, I still find it difficult to notice the passing of time. 

Over the past few weeks we have been busy with life and some extra events!

Compost bin

I've wanted to try composting for awhile as the dirt here seems to have a very clay like consistency.  We finally got a suitable container and are finishing our second week!  I'm sure I, Erin, as women, looked pretty funny to our neighbors drilling holes in this big container.  One neighbor asked if we had an animal inside because of the holes and rock on the lid. 

 

Our small garden.  From the left: lemon grass, basil starters, then chili at the far end.

 The real reason I wanted to start composting was out of a desire to grow a small garden, particularly vegetables or herbs that are difficult to get here, or that I rarely use.  Lemon grass and small chili peppers are very abundant here, but whenever I buy them at the market most of it goes bad before I can use them up.  I’ve also wanted to grow basil for the longest time as dried basil does not exist here in Barat.  Fresh basil can be found at the market but I’ve only ever seen lemon basil.  A nice neighbor cut off some springs from her plants after I asked where I could buy the plants.  It is lemon basil which will do until I find regular basil.  Green peppers are next on my list, again not available here.  We have some seeds Caedmon is anxious to plant, but I’m wanting to wait for some good compost first!

 

The filling in of our backyard has been finished, making a decent playing area.

Our picnic lunch on our bench in front of our house.

                                                     Caedmon finished kindergarten! 

Now it's summer vacation, though I'm not sure what that means as they've been playing outside all year and school was only ever two hours a day.  Never the less it was an achievement we celebrated first with a picnic of hot dogs.  We found some good sausage and I made buns.  Later we invited the neighbor kids over for cookies, ice cream, and a movie.  We used a big screen and projector in our front room.  It was great fun and something special for everyone, though the neighbor kids got a little bored as we didn't have any movies in their language. 

 

Our picnic lunch was joined by neighborhood friends!  They liked the hot dogs too, though not all of them liked the ketchup.

 

Caedmon riding the length of our street on his second day of being able to ride a bicycle.

 

The neighbor girls have bicycles that both boys have been interested in.  Caedmon spent a couple weeks riding the small bike with training wheels, then set his sights higher.  After about a week and a half of pushing with his feet and occasionally trying to pedal, he has learned how to ride a bike!  And now another item has been added to his birthday wish list. 

 

  We have also had the pleasure of attending multiple events: a baby naming party, a circumcision party, and a graduation parade. 

Folding banana leaves for a desert to be steamed inside. 

Preparations the day before for the baby naming party. 

It is a custom here to name your child at a special party at least 7 days after birth.  Many people wait longer than 7 days until they are financially able or have the time.  Our neighbors had the party about a month and a half after their baby's birth, at which point the name was made public and began to be used.  The day before the party family, friends, and nighbors all gathered to help with preparations.  I joined them, pealing shallots and garlic in the morning, then folding banana leaves in the afternoon. 

The actual event started the next morning with cutting of the baby's hair and placing it in a coconut.  They then read various prayers and served a meal.

 

A nurse, on the far right, preparing to circumcise the 12 year old on the bed. 

It is the custom here that boys are circumcised between 10 and 12 years.  Here in Barat you just have it done in your home, by a nurse.  Our host family's son had this pleasure last Saturday.  John and the boys went early to watch the procedure, which is not a very private event.  We then took part in the celebratory meal afterwards. 





Graduation Parade

John was invited to a small town about 20km away.  The town was celebrating children who had graduated from kindergarten and also those that finished learning to read Arabic with a parade.   All the children dressed up in either tradition dress or other costumes.  Those that finished learning to read Arabic rode horses.  There were over 80 horses. 


Girls decked out in tradition dress. 

Just graduated kindergarteners, also decked out in traditional dress.

 

Teaching our house help to read. 

On a more daily basis, I, Erin, have been teaching our house help to read.  She is from village south of us, but has lived here since her marriage.  She is in her twenties and never graduated elementary school.  It has been my pleasure to spend about 15mintues most days teaching her to read the national language.  The national language unfortunately is her second language, but the letters and sound system are the same.  It has proved a little humorous at times when there is a word she reads that neither of us know!  It has been exciting to see her light up when she understand the words on the page and see her begin to refer to herself as 'just a little smart.'