It seems funny to say that after the night I had last night though. Our team drove to a neighboring village to go to church today but our family stayed home because everyone was still sick. I was thinking I'd take the girls but after Nia threw up twice last night and had diarrhea, I figured we could all use some downtime at home. We have had such a struggle with sickness. Poor Nia has been sick for the majority of the month and in the few days she has felt ok, Thai has been sick. I'm not kidding, they literally alternate if not overlap. We have not had a day or night where both of them have been doing great. If one is sleeping, the other is up sick. Finally, after Nia battling fevers, Thai having diarrhea and both girls having ear infections (diagnosed by me, DR. Mom with my handy-dandy-otoscope. I could totally see which ears were infected and it lined up with the ears they said were bothering them. So I was thankful for that resource and knowledge.) Anyway, we were at a loss and decided to put them both on amoxicillin in hopes to wipe anything and everything out. (We figured it really couldn't get a whole lot worse!) Yep, that's right. Here in Africa you just go to the duka la dawa (dispensary) and ask for some amoxicillin. No dr., no prescription, just hand them the 2,000 shillings (less than $1.50US) and walk out with antibiotics. It is so crazy!
Now Thai seems to be doing much better but still has some pains after eating and Nia now seems to have what Thai is getting over. The last week or so she has been nursing more and eating real food less and less. The last few days she hasn't eaten more than a few bites of solid foods. So I am thankful that she is still nursing at least. (it was very odd however to change a diaper that looked like it came from a newborn!)
WE'VE GOT WATER!
So, sicknesses aside, (Mat also is battling a nasty head cold and stomach issues) like I said, we had a good day today. Mat and I were both able to be productive. It felt good to catch up on some of the house work and our bookshelf came so Mat organized our office and it looks great! He also went out and found someone to fill our water tank. We have a 10,000 liter water tank that runs to a spicket inside our kitchen where we get all our water. The rest of our team had there's filled when it was around half full. Well, lets just say we cut it probably as close as you can without officially running out! The way that you fill it is by asking around (in Kilangi) who will fill it and then you hire that person to fill it whatever way they are capable. The person we asked strapped water jugs to their bike and hauled it back and forth from the water spout about 1/2mi away. I can't imagine if we had to fill it! Peter said if you fill your own water tank you have really made it! Even he hires someone.
BEING A ZOO
We have had a lot of challenges with the kids around here. They just mob us. Calling to us through our windows, trying to watch us and see in, they jump our courtyard wall, surround our gate and our door anytime it is remotely open, they call out "Thailie, Nia" all day long, we have both had to chase them out with a stick or bricks because they DO NOT listen or care when we tell them to leave. One day Mat took the girls out for the day so I could get caught up around the house and I literally hid in my own house hoping the kids would think we were all gone and would leave me alone the rest of the day.
We had Rachel, a team member, talk to the kids in Swahili one day. We wanted them to know that when our gate is open, they are welcome and we want them to come play but they have been out of control and we don't want them yelling in our windows. They're really not bad kids, just poorly trained. That was helpful and recently there was a circumcision/initiation ceremony in an abandoned brick shack thing across from us ( yeah, that is a whole other story!) so now the boys stay there for awhile to heal so there are adults there through out the day who yell at the kids, throw bricks to scare them and there has even been an occasional caning to keep the kids in line and away from our house. Never in my life did I think I would thank my neighbor for throwing bricks at kids! Oh man, that sounds crazy but it is so normal! So, yeah. Things have been a lot quieter around here and we have been enjoying having our doors open without feeling like a reality show.
MAKING FRIENDS
Then, later on one of our neighbor ladies stopped by and sat with us for awhile. It's funny because we can't communicate so we just sit there awkwardly and smile. It's their culture though. They just want to be with you. We really like her and her husband Jordan. (we don't actually know her name) They have had us over for dinner three times now and even served us duck which was really good!
She brought her granddaughter Fatuma with her who is probably just three. The girls like her and know her so when our neighbor left Fatuma stayed and played. This was an answer to prayer because Thai was wanting friends to play at our house who could come in but we just couldn't because it was always a mob of kids and once anyone saw any toys it was like Best Buy on Black Friday! So the girls played for a little while and then two other little neighbor girls came by and joined them. It was great! They played with babies, which wasn't the same because they don't have dolls so it is more fascination than actual role playing. Later Thai wanted to color and brought out coloring sheets for each girl and passed out markers. I'm pretty sure they have never colored before. They didn't really know what to do with them and the way they handled the markers definitely made it seem like they were very foreign to them. But they caught on and really enjoyed it. There was another neighbor girl probably 15-16 years old who came by and even she gestured to me like "What are they doing? What is this for?" She took one and drew a flower design on her hand (they are used to henna) she really enjoyed it and even asked if she could have the marker.
WHAT'S THAT SMELL?
The last thing that was fabulous about today is we made bread! It is not the most beautiful bread but it sure tastes good! We baked it in an oatmeal can inside our pressure cooker. It's pretty amazing to bake without an oven! So I look forward to continuing experiments as we try other breads, treats and even cake!
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