The holiday season is upon us and, in the Sandbox, we have to really make an effort to get into the holiday spirit. Since there are no decorations, no Christmas music playing in the stores and no cold weather it's a little bit more difficult than you'd imagine.
About three weeks ago some of my friends got together and discussed what we were going to have for Thanksgiving dinner. They settled on the idea that we would have pig. Apparently there are some people here (who will forever remain nameless) who have access to pigs. You have to buy the entire thing and I'm sure that some of their methods of import are 'questionable' at best, but do we really care? (for those of you who might not know, pork is banned from the sandbox)
After 2 weeks of planning dinner around the pig it has come to our attention that it will cost roughly $500 ($40 per person) to buy this thing. Needless to say we very quickly reassessed our gameplan and are now having chicken(s). Maybe we'll put some bacon with the chicken and pretend.
I haven't heard anything about our football plan. Since we technically have Thanksgiving 9 hours before you do we miss out on the Cowboys game. I realize that not everyone is a cowboys fan but most of us around here are southerners and, let's face it, have you ever heard of anyone who plans thanksgiving dinner around the lion's game??? The idea was that maybe we could somehow tape a game from the last few weeks and then we'll watch it on Thursday...or at least have it playing in the background. We'll see how that worked out.
Despite the crushed pig expectations I still have plenty to be thankful for...and it always puts things into perspective when your friends are refugees, live on less than $2 a day and are still thankful for what little they have. So Happy Thanksgiving!!
16 November 2007
12 November 2007
Cutie
Check out this little guy. Ran into him at an HIV/AIDS awareness training. Not real sure that he understood anything that was being discussed or that he should have been around for it but I guess his mom thought that no one is too young to learn about AIDS. Plus he was dressed to the nines!
Coke Bottles
Out here we have glass bottle cokes. We have plastic bottles that we call 'mobiles' (with a long I) but they cost 50 cents. The glass bottles are 25 cents and definitely the more common choice among the locals.
Since there's a little store just outside my door I have converted to drinking the glass bottles. Even though you have to return the bottles, they're still cheaper and the place is just right there so it's really not a hassle. And we buy 5 at a time because it's just easier that way
But today, well today there was a foreign body in my glass bottle coke. Good thing I poured it into a separate glass or else I wouldn't have found it until the end. At first I thought maybe it was a piece of ice, then I thought maybe it was a piece of glass. Then I realized that it was a piece of plastic wrapper, probably just trash that the last person shoved into the bottle before they returned it.
No big deal, right? It was definitely a relief to realize that I didn't have to drink it. I could just pour it out and take my chances on the next bottle and that's exactly what I did.
But then I got to thinking...I wonder what kind of 'cleansing' process they use on these reused glass bottles. I mean up to this point I was perfectly content to ignorantly believe that whatever high pressure process they use to seal the metal lid on top was sufficient enough to wipe out the germs of the person before me. Now I've moved on to thinking about backwash and leftover trash shoved down in there...I'm just not sure I want to go there.
So all that to say kudos to the countries who have moved past the glass bottles and on to plastic only. It might be a little more expensive but I bet it saves on passing along communicable diseases.
Since there's a little store just outside my door I have converted to drinking the glass bottles. Even though you have to return the bottles, they're still cheaper and the place is just right there so it's really not a hassle. And we buy 5 at a time because it's just easier that way
But today, well today there was a foreign body in my glass bottle coke. Good thing I poured it into a separate glass or else I wouldn't have found it until the end. At first I thought maybe it was a piece of ice, then I thought maybe it was a piece of glass. Then I realized that it was a piece of plastic wrapper, probably just trash that the last person shoved into the bottle before they returned it.
No big deal, right? It was definitely a relief to realize that I didn't have to drink it. I could just pour it out and take my chances on the next bottle and that's exactly what I did.
But then I got to thinking...I wonder what kind of 'cleansing' process they use on these reused glass bottles. I mean up to this point I was perfectly content to ignorantly believe that whatever high pressure process they use to seal the metal lid on top was sufficient enough to wipe out the germs of the person before me. Now I've moved on to thinking about backwash and leftover trash shoved down in there...I'm just not sure I want to go there.
So all that to say kudos to the countries who have moved past the glass bottles and on to plastic only. It might be a little more expensive but I bet it saves on passing along communicable diseases.
11 November 2007
Coffee
One of my friends was making me coffee the other day and her little 2 year old girl was climbing all over her back. It made it impossible for her to use the mortar stick thing to grind the coffee beans, but in typical Arab way she wouldn't let me grind the beans for her and she wouldn't ask the Fatina to stop climbing, even though the little girl is blind and there was fire right next to her so it was actually kind of dangerous.
She also makes these oven things. It's always fun trying to figure out what things are in Arabic. I was sitting there and out of the blue she brings this thing over and sets it in front of me with a huge grin so I know it's something she's proud of, I just don't know what it is. So I start asking questions like 'Did you make that yourself?', 'What is it?', 'What do you use it for?' etc...I always feel stupid, like when a little kid brings you a picture they drew and they expect you to know exactly what it is when you have no clue. So I know the word for oven in Arabic, but since this isn't the kind of regular oven you'd find in a kitchen it has a different word and I don't know that word, so it took a while for the idea to come across that this was what she uses to cook food on. Then she explained that she makes it by hand out of mud and donkey doodoo, then sells it in the market for $1. Yep, when we're talking poor people we're talking people who spend hours crafting an oven out of mud and then are really excited to sell it for $1.
Rickshaw
I generally use public transportation to make my way around town. If I'm not going too far from home I hop on one of these, a rickshaw. They have them in Asia and, random fact, the Sandbox is the only country in Africa to use rickshaws.
Anyways they're pretty much a deathtrap and if there's ever an accident involving speeds over 5 mph someone is going to get hurt. Couple that with the fact that it's mainly young guys (like ages 12-18) who drive these and they just drive like maniacs and often go the wrong way on busy roads and you have yourself a majorly unsafe and surprisingly popular mode of transportation.
What is fun is that they all come decorated in a different way. For instance this guy has very unique taste. I especially like the teletubbies and the big hummer sticker but my favorite part is the furry leapord attached to the top. I can only imagine that inside he has a big fuzzy teddy bear that is so big it barely leaves any room for the passenger. He probably has tacky gold curtain tassles hanging from the ceiling and, if we're lucky, some flashing lights. More than likely when he honks his horn it plays some annoying tune like 'It's a Small World After All' and there is a sound system like no other blaring out TuPac or some other grossly inappropriate rap song...come to think of it they're all pretty much decorated alike.
Random Places
Here are a few pics of the random restaurants and places that we have. The Wall Mart pic is accidentally at the bottom of the last post. Then here's the 'Dairy Queen'
Here's our 'lucky meal' with the wannabe McDonalds arches.
Our 'KFC'
Here's our 'lucky meal' with the wannabe McDonalds arches. Our 'KFC' Keep in mind that the places pictured above are just knock offs of the real places and come no where close to sufficiently substituting in their absence.
Rift Valley Fever
Who knew that in moving to the Sahara desert there would be so many diseases coming and going. Recently there's an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever. I've never heard of that before, but after a little research I decided that I don't really want to experience it either.
In a recent update from WHO they said:
There are no vaccines for humans who contract Rift Valley Fever. Health experts generally advise the public to only eat inspected meat (like we have that!!), avoid human-animal contact (even if I wasn't working on a goat project, that's almost impossible), bury or burn dead animals (notice they didn't mention eating them) and observe basic hygiene.
Alright, I can handle the basic hygiene. Other than that I'll just have to believe that I'll be divinely protected.
Here's another little worm that I probably don't have but I know people who do and I would rather not get. Guinea Worm. Apparently Jimmy Carter has a whole little organization dedicated to eradicating guinea worm. Here's a few facts on that.
Adult guinea worms emerge from the skin of infected persons annually. Persons with worms protruding through the skin may enter sources of drinking water. Persons become infected by drinking water containing the larvae. Once inside the body, the worm passes into the body cavity. During the next 10-14 months, the female Guinea worm grows to 2-3 feet long and as wide as a cooked spaghetti noodle, and migrates to the site where she will emerge, usually the lower limbs.
A blister develops on the skin at the site where the worm will emerge. This blister causes a very painful burning sensation and it will eventually (within 24-72 hours) rupture. For relief, persons will immerse the affected limb into water, or may just walk in to fetch water. When someone with a Guinea worm ulcer enters the water, the adult female releases a milky white liquid containing millions of immature larvae into the water, thus contaminating the water supply.
In a recent update from WHO they said:
There are no vaccines for humans who contract Rift Valley Fever. Health experts generally advise the public to only eat inspected meat (like we have that!!), avoid human-animal contact (even if I wasn't working on a goat project, that's almost impossible), bury or burn dead animals (notice they didn't mention eating them) and observe basic hygiene.
Alright, I can handle the basic hygiene. Other than that I'll just have to believe that I'll be divinely protected.
Here's another little worm that I probably don't have but I know people who do and I would rather not get. Guinea Worm. Apparently Jimmy Carter has a whole little organization dedicated to eradicating guinea worm. Here's a few facts on that.
Adult guinea worms emerge from the skin of infected persons annually. Persons with worms protruding through the skin may enter sources of drinking water. Persons become infected by drinking water containing the larvae. Once inside the body, the worm passes into the body cavity. During the next 10-14 months, the female Guinea worm grows to 2-3 feet long and as wide as a cooked spaghetti noodle, and migrates to the site where she will emerge, usually the lower limbs.
A blister develops on the skin at the site where the worm will emerge. This blister causes a very painful burning sensation and it will eventually (within 24-72 hours) rupture. For relief, persons will immerse the affected limb into water, or may just walk in to fetch water. When someone with a Guinea worm ulcer enters the water, the adult female releases a milky white liquid containing millions of immature larvae into the water, thus contaminating the water supply.
Once the worm emerges from the wound, it can only be pulled out a few centimeters each day and wrapped around a small stick. Sometimes the worm can be pulled out completely within a few days, but this process usually takes weeks or months. No medication is available to end or prevent infection.
I know, it's gross, but sometimes you just have to face the fact that life in Africa can be pretty gross. Now can you just imagine if I end up having this one (rest assured, I probably don't have it, but then again I won't know for a year). I would like to see the look on an American doctor's face when I showed up at their office with a worm hanging out of my leg wrapped around a small stick?!?!?
In other news...
10 November 2007
Being on TV
So I'm not sure how many times I've been on TV since I arrived in the Sandbox...I know I've turned down at least a couple of opportunities, but last week I went to a volleyball game with my friend and there was no avoiding it.
What's fun is that I went with a new white girl friend who has been here for a month. She had a totally different experience than me and it's so funny to remember back to when things were new.
When we walked in we were ushered to the fancy chairs in the front row with some other people who looked important and like they actually belonged in the front row. I guess I just got used to the VIP seats b/c it didn't even phase me when we were seated in the front.
Then people started taking 'discreet' pictures of us except they weren't discreet. Guys breaking out their camera phones and doing a horrible job of pretending they were taking pictures of other things while they were actually taking pictures of us...again, it's just gotten to be normal and I try not to notice it, otherwise it would probably really bother me that I can't go anywhere without people taking my picture.
Then they gave us a little plate of candy and cookies and some water. At this point we had moved to sit in like the 3rd row but they still passed it up to us. They only gave it to the important people and us, no one else...I'm not really sure how they got the idea that we were somehow important but I'm not gonna complain. But here again, I've just gotten used to someone bringing me a bottle of water while I'm there and I always get snacks when there are important people around and they're serving snacks. I mean, someone doesn't just go out and buy it for me, but if it's being passed out I am always included in the distribution.
Then there were the TV cameras. I've been at games being taped before and here's how it works. You know how on NBA games if there is a celebrity there the camera shots seem to include them more often than seems necessary? That would be my life. So there were 3 different cameras around the gym and I'm pretty sure that there was always at least one on us.
The game came on TV yesterday but it was on a channel that we don't get...all my friends have satellite but the channel is just on the regular TV so I didn't get to watch it. Plus why would I need to watch? I mean, I know what I looked like (pretty bad, it had been a long, hot day) and I know who won the game so why waste my time?
What's fun is that I went with a new white girl friend who has been here for a month. She had a totally different experience than me and it's so funny to remember back to when things were new.
When we walked in we were ushered to the fancy chairs in the front row with some other people who looked important and like they actually belonged in the front row. I guess I just got used to the VIP seats b/c it didn't even phase me when we were seated in the front.
Then people started taking 'discreet' pictures of us except they weren't discreet. Guys breaking out their camera phones and doing a horrible job of pretending they were taking pictures of other things while they were actually taking pictures of us...again, it's just gotten to be normal and I try not to notice it, otherwise it would probably really bother me that I can't go anywhere without people taking my picture.
Then they gave us a little plate of candy and cookies and some water. At this point we had moved to sit in like the 3rd row but they still passed it up to us. They only gave it to the important people and us, no one else...I'm not really sure how they got the idea that we were somehow important but I'm not gonna complain. But here again, I've just gotten used to someone bringing me a bottle of water while I'm there and I always get snacks when there are important people around and they're serving snacks. I mean, someone doesn't just go out and buy it for me, but if it's being passed out I am always included in the distribution.
Then there were the TV cameras. I've been at games being taped before and here's how it works. You know how on NBA games if there is a celebrity there the camera shots seem to include them more often than seems necessary? That would be my life. So there were 3 different cameras around the gym and I'm pretty sure that there was always at least one on us.
The game came on TV yesterday but it was on a channel that we don't get...all my friends have satellite but the channel is just on the regular TV so I didn't get to watch it. Plus why would I need to watch? I mean, I know what I looked like (pretty bad, it had been a long, hot day) and I know who won the game so why waste my time?
07 November 2007
Cones
Yesterday I saw orange cones...there is a ditch down the side of the road that stretches for about 5 miles and for 50 yards of that there were some cones. It was so strange. They weren't even in a practical place or serving a practical purpose, but there were cones. Then, when I had just come to terms with the cones in front of the ditch we came up on even more in the middle of the road. Not only were there cones but there was a sign. One of those with one lane straight and one lane zig zagged like they needed to go around something. The sign was upside down but it was a sign and it was in front of a hole...a really small hole compared to the one that we had just almost gotten stuck in about 100 yards before, but there was a cone and some signage. What is this crazy world coming to?!?!?!
04 November 2007
Clothes Market
I just got back from Nairobi and I've decided that my favorite market in the world is in Nairobi. (my favorite city for shopping in general is Cairo, but for the market category I've got to go with Nairboi) It's this used clothes market and I love it. You can find anything you want for cheap!
I guess I've been talking up this market a little much b/c my friends here in the Sandbox are trying to figure out how they can manage to stretch a 2 hour layover to get to the market and back when the market is about an hour from the airport if there's no traffic. What I guess I didn't tell them is that it's pretty much a huge garage sale. Lots of tables and people in the this big field, no order to anything, just a big giant mess where you dig through searching for good finds.
However this garage sale is a little different than the American ones. This one consists of all the brand new clothes that companies like GAP, Old Navy and H&M, donate to all the 'poor people in Africa' for a tax writeoff...Well, either the all poor people decided that they didn't need new clothes or somehow this process has been grossly mismanaged because it all ends up for sale at the Toy Market...sort of like the mosquito nets and food supplies that the UN gives out in war zones...hmm.
Sidenote, I love going up to sellers in the market in the sandbox and joking that they give me, for free, the food supplies that WFP donates to the refugees here for free. I tell them that my country gave the money to buy that food in the first place, I point out where it says 'not for resale' and really make 'em feel bad. Then when they are actually going to give it to me, I tell them I don't want it and they should give it to someone poor, then walk away...I do all of this jokingly but they believe it. I mean, I gotta practice my Arabic somehow!!!
But I was pleasantly surprised by the market last week. They have really stepped it up a little. Each of the little tables has somehow constructed a tarp above it to keep the clothes dry when it rains AND they have managed to put rocks in between the tables so you don't have to trek through the mud, now you just have to twist your ankles a million times b/c the rocks are incredibly uneven.
I actually bought pretty much an entire new wardrobe there last week. Brand new Gap pants for $4, some Old Navy jeans for $7, a lot of cute shirts for no more than $3 each, it was great. I love shopping when things are so cheap that I can just buy everything that I see that I want and not have to worry about how much it will be, etc.
Then it's Africa, so every price is negotiable. The sellers would start out at $10 for the pants and I would say 'you give me this for free'. They would go down a little and I'd go up a little, they'd go down and I'd go back to 'you give me for free' until we met somewhere around $4. At one point I sat on top of this guys jeans table on top of his huges tack of jeans for about 30 minutes just chatting and negotiating off and on until we agreed. At one point I actually told him 'look, you are a rich man. You have too many pants, maybe 500. Every morning you come here and you take your pick. Me, I am poor. I have only 2 jeans. You give me for a good price and I will tell my friends about you.'
So I'm living up to my word...not only did I bring back some of my friends later in the week but now all of y'all know about the guy with all the jeans.
I guess I've been talking up this market a little much b/c my friends here in the Sandbox are trying to figure out how they can manage to stretch a 2 hour layover to get to the market and back when the market is about an hour from the airport if there's no traffic. What I guess I didn't tell them is that it's pretty much a huge garage sale. Lots of tables and people in the this big field, no order to anything, just a big giant mess where you dig through searching for good finds.
However this garage sale is a little different than the American ones. This one consists of all the brand new clothes that companies like GAP, Old Navy and H&M, donate to all the 'poor people in Africa' for a tax writeoff...Well, either the all poor people decided that they didn't need new clothes or somehow this process has been grossly mismanaged because it all ends up for sale at the Toy Market...sort of like the mosquito nets and food supplies that the UN gives out in war zones...hmm.
Sidenote, I love going up to sellers in the market in the sandbox and joking that they give me, for free, the food supplies that WFP donates to the refugees here for free. I tell them that my country gave the money to buy that food in the first place, I point out where it says 'not for resale' and really make 'em feel bad. Then when they are actually going to give it to me, I tell them I don't want it and they should give it to someone poor, then walk away...I do all of this jokingly but they believe it. I mean, I gotta practice my Arabic somehow!!!
But I was pleasantly surprised by the market last week. They have really stepped it up a little. Each of the little tables has somehow constructed a tarp above it to keep the clothes dry when it rains AND they have managed to put rocks in between the tables so you don't have to trek through the mud, now you just have to twist your ankles a million times b/c the rocks are incredibly uneven.
I actually bought pretty much an entire new wardrobe there last week. Brand new Gap pants for $4, some Old Navy jeans for $7, a lot of cute shirts for no more than $3 each, it was great. I love shopping when things are so cheap that I can just buy everything that I see that I want and not have to worry about how much it will be, etc.
Then it's Africa, so every price is negotiable. The sellers would start out at $10 for the pants and I would say 'you give me this for free'. They would go down a little and I'd go up a little, they'd go down and I'd go back to 'you give me for free' until we met somewhere around $4. At one point I sat on top of this guys jeans table on top of his huges tack of jeans for about 30 minutes just chatting and negotiating off and on until we agreed. At one point I actually told him 'look, you are a rich man. You have too many pants, maybe 500. Every morning you come here and you take your pick. Me, I am poor. I have only 2 jeans. You give me for a good price and I will tell my friends about you.'
So I'm living up to my word...not only did I bring back some of my friends later in the week but now all of y'all know about the guy with all the jeans.
