8/3/10 Unexpected twists

Tuesday means it’s the first day going to back to Bwiri to start evaluating houses that we had surveyed about 2 weeks ago. It has start today since Saturday is when Seventh Day Adventists worship, Sunday is when other religions worship, and Monday is the large market day. We took 3 translators and had Pili survey by herself without us since she is super independent. Unfortunately there was a funeral so most of the people that I had to evaluate were not home. Bwiri days are always long days, we leave around 9:30am and get there at 10am to finish around 5:30pm after walking slash hiking in the hot sun the entire day. Its amazing how large Bwiri is and how spread out the houses are. Since the roads are so bad getting to the village as well as within the village, not many people come up here to distribute government programs. You can tell that the health of people here is worse than in the main Shirati area. Lots of kids have some sort of fungal infection on their scalp and there is no nearby means to a hospital if an emergency were to occur.

After surveying in Bwiri, we went to play soccer. Of course we were super late arriving back to the hostel at 6:30pm. All of the secondary school girls that we normally play with left. The most unusual thing happened. Mamajunior, the mother of Junior the boy that is mentally disabled and locked up all day, walked by the field and I passed her the ball. She started to join us as well as another random man. Mamajunior was laughing hysterically and playing soccer barefoot. I realized just then how powerful soccer can be as well as just having some recreational time. Here was a woman that I think I despised at one point before knowing her for how her son Junior lived. Now I was laughing and playing soccer with her knowing that she probably had a million responsibilities for her 3 children after this. I realize now that she is just a person and a mother that had to make hard choices in her life. She is a single mom with a son that has a disability that has no resources to help him develop. I decided a bit ago when I first saw Junior and his terrible life locked up that I wanted to raise awareness and at least try to help establish some sort of special education institution or curriculum for children like Junior. Tanzania does have a place and school for people who are blind or have leprosy, but nothing for mental disabilities. The society leaves little choice but to shun these vulnerable groups away or have them locked up.