alright so this will have to be fast and quick as i have to get going this morning.
there is so much to tell, i am not even sure where to start. the ride from Kigali to Gisenyi was the most beautiful of my life!!! i could take that ride a thousand times over and have my breath taken away every time!
spent yesterday in Goma yesterday. headed back there this morning. things are fine; no worries. i am a bit overwhelmed with questions, but that's to be expected. yesterday i spent the day with women suffering from fistula due to giving birth and being raped. DOCS (the org i am working with) had a new group of women come in, so i got to go through their "orientation" with them. these women come from the surrounding areas to hopefully seek medical assistance. they come in with their kids and their pots on their heads--- that way they can cook, of course--- wearing only the clothes on their backs. i attempted to greet them in swahili (but it's the swahili spoken here in DR Congo, not the same to Tanzania and Kenyan swahili) and they all laughed--- so of course i did as well. then a little boy toddled on over to me and handed me the piece of plastic he was playing with. he was nervous to touch my hand at first, but none like his counterparts, he reached out and touched it anyway. then he barried his little head in arm, his mom (who couldn't be older than 22) laughed and called me his mother and i picked him up and attempted speaking with him for a bit. at a total loss of course because he barely speaks swahili and i barely speak french. i got a smile out of him though.
alright... i have to go. i am safe and fine. more soon.
1 comment:
Mags, what an experience! In some parts of Africa, women with fistula are sent to live in isolation - even away from their children...is that true where you are? I saw a special on a doctor from Australia that has a clinic for women with fistula...she performs surgeries, gives them new clothes, and then attempts to reintegrate them into their villages.
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