As we drove back to the village, we stopped at a large rocky pit to take pictures. Several women were up on the hill digging at roots of trees for firewood. They came running towards us with their wood on their heads - at a distance from us, they stopped and would come no closer.
At the edge of the village, we got out of the van and decided to walk through the back roads and see more of what it is like there.
The women collect cow dung in large metal bowls, bring it to open areas near their homes and flatten them into dung pies. These are dried on the ground then put into dung houses. These houses have very intricate designs on the outside. The dung is used for both heat and cooking.
We saw several homes from the outside and many families agree to let us take pictures. Along the way, we met a very old, very feeble man walking with a cane. It took him a very long time to walk the distance of a truck.
At another home we noticed cots under the overhang. Elias explained that the people lay on the costs and when they die, the cots are hung from the wall in memory of the person who used it. No one else ever uses the cot.
We saw a vendor with his family selling eggs. On a portable gas stove he made a bread omelette that smelled delicious and looked very good.
As we walked through the village, urine was everywhere. There are small channels made of concrete along both sides of the alleys. People urinate and deficate in these troughs.
At one home we passed, we noticed a young girl and boy playing marbles in their very small yard - amongst feces - they were oblivious to the contamination.
At one house, a lady stopped us & was talking in Hindi - the young man who accompanied us on our walk told us what she said. Her son is accepted to go to the new computer centre. She thanked us over and over for what we are doing for their village.
Near then end of our journey through the village, we noticed a lot of young people playing in what appeared to be some form of quarry. They played cricket, toss ball, a game with sticks and running games.
We returned to the worksite and worked on the walls until it was time to return to the farm for supper (around 5:30 pm).
We had a presention on Polio from the Regional Health Director and comments from RI Director, Kjell-ake.
We got back to our hotel quite late - after a day of hard work, I wanted a shower before hitting the bed. The shower head was not on tight and water went everywhere - a real mess but it sure helped me sleep.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment