What did you do today?

I talked to a bunch of sex workers in the slums who had been abandoned by their babies' fathers and didn't know of any organizations that could help them (and until we got super upset, the organization we were with wasn't planning on leaving them with any information). This included a woman whose husband had died 3 weeks ago and was already doing sex work to feed her 2 teenage children who didn't know how she got the money.

Then, I was given good luck from a spirit speaking through a witch doctor, whose medical herbs I'm pretty sure contained some illegal substances. And finallly, I helped distribute about 150 pounds of condoms. Definitely the most intense/ bizarre day since the prison in Rwanda.

Yesterday I spent all day walking around a different slum talking to victims of domestic abuse, most of whom had been counciled by the Slum Aid Project (the organization we were with) to stay with their husbands because they had no real hope of economic independence.

Side note: also yesterday when I got home my 22-year-old host brother, Jack, was hanging around the house. I then found out that despite having just made a family tree for school (with info from my host parents), he was only actually my half brother. Turns out, of the 8 siblings, 2 are adopted from an uncle who died, and 2 are from 2 separate mothers before my host dad met my host mom. Random...

I also decided for the millionth time in my life that having money sucks. It doesn't suck as much as not having money. However, the responsibility of meeting so many people I could help individually but not being able to help all of them is utterly overwhelming. Also, knowing that the first (and sometimes only) things people see when they look at you are money and visas depressing. It makes it impossible to ever trust that someone is not just talking to you because they expect something from you, which makes it pretty much impossible to really just make a human connection.

And its definitely not something I have blown out of proportion in my mind. This was what my host dad and I discussed at dinner tonight, and not only did he confirm my frustrations, but he added that people in this community keep asking him to let them speak to the muzungu in hopes that I will give them money.

This is the first time in my life where I've ever really felt like a complete outsider because of my race. It's definitely an experience I need to have, but at the moment that isn't much consolation.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry