We finished up our gender in-depth study last Thursday in a day that was pretty manageable. We talked to a bunch of Congolese refugees about their challenges building a new life. It was pretty sad to hear their stories, but it was also a nice change to see people who really had some hope for their own futures.
Today we did our group presentation, which is about 90 minutes of telling the group what we learned. We had a challenge figuring out how to structure it because all of the other in-depth study groups had much more academic experiences than us (grassroots, entreprenourship, etc) but we settled on each telling the story of the person we met that stood out to us, which turned out to be really effective. I talked about the 19-year-old girl with a 3-year-old baby, not even a mattress in her rented room, and a UTI that her husband had refused to give her the money to get treated for the past 2 weeks.
Friday and Saturday were mostly just relaxing and doing some logistical stuff for my practicum. Then, sunday we left for our Eastern excursion. We stayed sunday and monday night in this gorgeous hotel overlooking one of the Sipi Falls waterfalls. It was possibly the only 5-star hotel in the world that has pit latrines, but by this point that doesn't bother me at all. If you follow the news, you may have heard about the incredibly deadly mudslides recently in that region from the heavy rains. We were assured though that we had nothing to worry about because the land near where we were staying had been better planned for farming that wouldn't make the soil as succeptible to landslides. Sunday night we went on a hike to the bottom of the waterfall and had a great time sliding around in all the mud left over from the rains. Then, monday morning we split up into small groups and I ended up visiting a rural women's merry-go-round/ community aid group. It was a nice change to meet women who really were empowered to support their families and contribute to their community, while keeping the support of their husbands. Later in the day we went on an incredible hike to another one of the Sipi Falls waterfalls, which was HUGE. When we got there, our crazy transportation coordinator (the same one who told us that if we got malaria, we should just shower and we'd be fine) led all brave enough students down the slippery rocks to the bottom of the waterfall, which was tall enough that if you got directly under the fall, the water pressure would probably kill you. It was completely worth it though, because the view from behind the waterfall looking up was one of the most awesome things I've ever seen. Finally, on our way back from the waterfall, we detoured by a coffee farm and got to participate in making coffee. Lots of fun.
Right now, I'm on my way to our rural homestay, where I will be for 3 days. I am bringing a hen as a gift cuz I figure how many times in my life will it be appropriate to give livestock as a present. Some people are really nervous but both my partner and I are ready to dive in head first. So excited!
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always look forward to your posts.
ReplyDeleteuncle allen