7/14/10 Typical Day

We went back today to survey the locked up boy’s mother since she had requested a net on Monday. It was a tense interview, but we got to see the inside of her home and we did ask if it was ok if we kept visiting her son. He went outside when we came and liked playing in the backyard. Today was a hot day and we only surveyed 3 households. I remembered that I have these tiny star stickers and they were a total hit with all the local kids. After surveying, we went down to the lake by the pier which is about 7km away. The view from the lake was really nice and I finally got to use my DSLR. We also randomly met volunteers from Spain also in the Shirati area. I also finally got my blackberry to pick up 3G internet on my Vodacom SIM card so I’m pretty excited to have super slow internet. At night, we went back to a local bar where we had a table and cold beers, which is a rarity at bars in this area. I feel like everyday is new and interesting whether I find out that the med students bough a goat, a world cup watching party is happening, or exploring uninhabited islands. Its pretty amazing that we’ve been here for about a week and a half. It feels like so much longer but no in a bad way. I really like being out here and away from life in the U.S. I truly do feel that people in Shirati are much happier as a whole than people in the U.S. despite their lack of money, resources, and technology.