many thoughts

honestly i'm not sure where to start. we just returned from a 3 day trip up country. this is apparently the real africa, the heart of africa. there are many beautiful things. some of the foliage is the greenest you've ever seen. there are thousands of banana trees. the women where bright clothing; a neon orange that you can see from very far away. if you are child of the '80's think neon orange and turn it up a few notches.

on thursday afternoon we drove for a while on difficult roads. we were going to see trees that had been planted and to visit the Batwa. these people are the pygmy people of africa and according to brandon they are the most vulnerable of all Burundians who are very vulnerable on the whole. the Batwa village is comprised of 12 families. 11 men and 12 women. after we had been there for a while the man who was translating said, "they are used to brandon but they have never seen a muzungu lady before." that means that i am the first white woman these people have seen. i never thought i would ever say those words! when we first arrived one of the women had a baby and a toddler with her. i could see the toddler struggling to see me out of his right eye. as i looked closer i noticed his left eye was completely closed and his right eye was beginning to fail. it looked as though he had developed an eye infection a long time ago which had not been treated. this poor boy will now go blind. what do i do with that? i am still processing.

as we drive along roads, many, many children come out waving, yelling "muzungu, muzungu!!" i honestly feel as though i've waved at more people than the queen! but how can children not make you melt!

we also visited a malnutrition center. again sadness, but they are doing amazing work saving children who would not survive otherwise. one of the nurses there showed us around and explained the different stages the children go through before they are sent home again. their mothers are at the center with them. the hope is they will not have to return.

through various sources i have discovered it costs $90 per year to educate a nurse in this country. multiply that by four years and a fully qualified nurse is produced. $360 to educate someone to nurse their own people. that is crazy!! i'm sure i spend more than that on coffee alone in a year.

i know this is a lot of random information but there is so much more i could write. i'll save it for later or when i get home. this is an unbelievable experience....oh yeah i'll talk about the chicken another time!