Down, Up and Down again!

Down:  Yesterday, Dan and I went on a tour of a hospital project for HIV+ people who live as scavengers at the city garbage dump.  It was a very difficult thing to do, the conditions that these people are living in is appalling and we saw lots of things that were very hard to see.  We did four home visits, the last one being a HIV+ woman with two daughters.  She is called the "abandoned woman" because her husband left, but she said he was physically abusive, so she does not want him to come back.  She is on the short list to receive a Habitat for Humanity house.  Right now she has a $120 loan on the shack where she lives and she is paying $20 per month in interest only, so she really needs a change.  She has a wheelbarrow that she takes out to the dump to collect scrap metal, plastic, etc. to sell to the Vietnamese recycler, earning $2 per day. Our tour guide said that the recycler is a very rich man.  At another "home," at the dump, which was the storage room at an open air school we saw some poor American or European Peace Corp type kid who was trying to teach English to 35 squirming, talking garbage dump children.  He just kept saying "He rides his bicycle" over and over again between giant yawns.  I don't think anyone was paying attention.  On the positive side of the experience, Dan and I were able to buy food for three families, including treats for Chinese New Year.  They were happy to receive it and of course we had to take pictures together, which was very uncomfortable, but seemed to be required.  We also took our pictures to the Habitat for Humanity office and is sounded like the "abandoned woman" was the subject of the conversation there.

Up:  This morning I went back to the Lakeside School, but because of Chinese New Year, only five students showed up.  We held class anyway, working on singing "Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and learning to answer the question, "What are you wearing today."  Then I passed out pencils and took pictures.  Very cute kids and teacher also.  They even said they were sorry I wouldn't be back on Monday.  Then it was off to the hospital to teach 4 English classes to adult staff, and since Friday is reading day, I was in my element and had a great time.  We read and talked about African Fattening Rooms (where girls go to get ready for marriage), the expectation that Cambodian girls learn to be extremely quiet when they walk, etc., and in another class, Albert Einstein, Nazi Germany, the atomic bomb, etc.  All of this was news to them, at least in English.  I would really love to come back and teach these students again, they couldn't have been more appreciative and sweet.

Down:  Dan is sick.  He was able to give a talk this morning to the medical staff, but by 10:30 he was hiring a tuk tuk to go back to the hotel.  He has some stomach ailment that is making him miserable.  We had to cancel dinner plans for tonight and an outing planned for tomorrow.  We just need to have him well enough to get on an airplane on Sunday.....   I am feeling great, but am covered in spots all over my calves.  Probably fleas from the Lakeside School.  When I got there this morning, someone was still sleeping on a hammock stretched over the desks.  I guess he is guarding the school, but he probably has nowhere else to sleep.  So, maybe he also has fleas.  Yikes.

We hope all is well back home with you all.

J & D

Abandoned woman in her shack,  Dan videotaping garbage dump school kids,  Lakeside students