Stories

Everyone has a story to tell. As I collected these stories, I found that these stories, of life in the village are somewhat consistent. What happened in this family is likely to have happened in the family next door. Deaths and sicknesses are as much part of daily life, intertwined with laughter and tears. That’s just life!

Renja

Renja is one of the children who come to my house everyday to sing. She is a sweet 5 year-old girl with a beautiful round face and clear round eyes. She has a pretty smile. I have gotten to know her everyday when she comes to play outside my house. Her house is about a 3 minutes walk from mine. Sometimes we’d sit together and talk. She would tell me that she has no mother and she needs clean water. Sometimes she would draw children in the sand and show me her clay statuettes that she has made with the muddy soil. You could see that despite her young age, she is a leader. The children, small and older ones listened to her leading. They would devise plans to get us out of our house when we had told them that we are currently working on lesson plans so we could not play. They would never give up to call our names, “Jeni! Jeni!” and “Sacha! Sacha!”. Then, they would sing really loudly. They know I could not resist children singing outside my house without joining them.

One day, Sacha and I visited Renja’s grandmother. Her grandmother was a beautiful old woman, but signs of age are evident on her face. I found that it was not only age that made her old, but it was her experiences in life. Her son is Renja’s father, a young man not over his thirties. His first wife, Renja’s mom had died when Renja was still a baby. Later, he remarried and Renja had a second mother. The wife, later developed anemia, but gave birth to a premature baby. Two weeks after giving birth, the young mother passed away last November (refer to blog: A Story for Life and Death). Renja and her little sibling were left motherless. When her father was away from home, working on the rice fields, Renja is entrusted to her grandmother’s care. As men are not accustomed to raise their own children without a wife, Renja spends most of her time with her grandmother. The tiny baby was also left to grandma’s keeping. However, she does not have the ability to raise both children. She described to me of her trip to the nearby orphanage by foot to give away the child. There was no hint of sadness as she spoke. Maybe she has parted with the child and left the emotions behind or maybe she felt no attachment to the baby in the first place. Either way, she has left a burden behind. As for Renja, grandma would ask if we wanted to take her to Canada and raise her. Villagers consider us, white people as being really rich (and we do have more in comparison). We have been asked by many villagers to adopt their children. They believe they will have a better life.

Mama Uzuni

Uzuni is one of Renja’s relative. She is studying in grade 1 at the primary school and she also is one of the regulars that come to play at our house. Her name, Uzuni, means “grief” but contrary to her name, Uzuni is a playful girl and very good at crafts. She would make earrings and little drums out of the tall grasses that are now growing. The children know that I have been growing a garden. So, one day as Mama Uzuni (Uzuni’s mother) was collecting rainwater from our house, she asked me if she could have seeds to grow for her garden. I visited her house the following week and gave her peanut, carrot, spinach and tomato seeds. She was very happy and the next day, we planted them together. She had a small garden fenced with thistles and was already growing a type of pumpkin. After planting, we would sit together and chat. When I asked her why she wanted to plant a garden, her reply was simple, “because I have no money to buy food.” Her husband works in the “shamba” (farm or rice paddies in our village) during the rainy season. When he sells the rice, he can get money to help the family buy food and fuel. This husband is her second because Uzuni’s father had died in 2003. When I asked Mama Uzuni how her husband is, she said, “Hivyo ilivyo” (that’s how it is). She says that he could help out with the family. Mama Uzuni does not have any money or means to make money, so the garden could be very important to her. She and her family ate ugali made from maize flour and sometimes had vegetables to accompany the meal. However, she does not have money to purchase foods with higher nutrient contents such as beans, peanuts and milk. Uzuni has maybe 2 meals a day and one of the meals consists of uji (watered-down ugali). Mama Uzuni has been coughing for one month and since the last time she visited the clinic, a month ago, has not been taking any medicine. It is common in the village to contract respiratory disorders mainly due to the closed-in cooking quarters. The women would sit in a mud-made room with very little windows to cook under charcoal and wood. The smoke does not escape the kitchen very well.

Next week, I promised to come back with beans. We will plant beans together. At least if Mama Uzuni can manage her garden year-round, learn to store seeds and dry the vegetables and leaves for storage, she would have a better diet and readily available foods. I hope that more families will want to plant home gardens.

Bahatisha

From the first clinic session in the village, I have noticed Bahatisha. She has remained in the red zone (underweight zone – translates to undernutrition) on her growth chart since birth. Now, at 11 months old, she is still 3.9kg. Her skinny body makes her head large and eyes enormous. Her mother, Mama Bahatisha never misses a clinic session and yearns to help her child get healthier. A few weeks ago, the mother and daughter came to the clinic because Bahatisha had a fever. From then, I have started to visit Mama Bahatisha and Bahatisha regularly to understand their situations.

Bahatisha is only fed uji and suckles on her mother’s breast often. We talked about nutrition, about small frequent meals, about feeding positions and about complementary feeding. It was on my second visit that I knew the mother had long stopped producing milk. Therefore, without breastmilk, Bahatisha is only surviving on diluted carbohydrates. Bahatisha is her fifth child and she was successful raising her other four children, the oldest being 25 years old. When I asked her how she thinks she can help Bahatisha, she replied, “No, I don’t know.” However, after raising four children, she must have some idea. After giving her a list of advices we could do together to help Bahatisha gain weight and improve her health, she was quite determined to start. The mother was willing to do all she can to help her child. Next week, I will be visiting Bahatisha’s father and teaching them to make nutritious porridge (a mix of maize, peanut and millet flour). I pray that the mother will be motivated to follow the advices. If Bahatisha continues to have fever and diarrhea, she will soon lose the 3.9kg that she already has. Already, her body is weak and not defending well against illnesses.