Down to Business

It's been a busy but productive two days. On Monday morning we had a full tour of St. Theresa's hospital and I am amazed by how much they are able to accomplish with so little (in comparison to our hospitals). The Sisters run a tight ship and it is evident everywhere you look. It is ridiculously clean and well-organized for such a tiny place (120 beds). They are greatly overcrowded though and there are often patients lying outside in the sun.
It was difficult to see some of the babies in the peds ward as a number of them had been left orphaned after their mothers had died during childbirth and they were severely malnourished. They stay at the hospital for two weeks until they get medical clearance and then the Sisters move them to the orphanage that they have a short distance from here. Heartbreaking.
Monday afternoon we had tea and cookies with Sr. Jacinta (the head honcho at the hospital) and the newly hired dietitian. It was such a wonderful experience to sit down with these two women and try to understand some of the culture surrounding food and infant feeding practices here. There are still some fairly unusual beliefs in the rural areas of the country - such as the belief that feeding an infant or small child a raw fertilized chicken egg will aid in respiratory problems... They also noted that more mothers in this area are breastfeeding (not necessarily because they know it's better for the infant but because it shows that they do not have HIV).
Yesterday we went to Ruuju where we met with our new group of "Champs": women from the community who are well respected and are good cooks. We teach them the new messages about healthy eating and cooking (soaking their maize and beans, adding greens to the stews, adding orange sweet potato to increase Vitamin A etc) and then they in turn teach the other women in the community. We have 10 very wonderful, excited women who we will now work with for the remainder of the summer. It was a lesson in patience however as everyone was talking at once and our poor translator seemed to be slightly overwhelmed on a number of occasions! 
We had a farewell dinner for Edward and Jennifer last night and the Sisters came to join us. There is something about these women that I can't quite place my finger on, but I feel very calm in their presence... 
Edward and Jennifer just left for their long trip home and it seems very quiet around here now. We have the day in the compound and tomorrow we are all (the nurses, the business students, and us) going to Machaka (the orphanage run by the Sisters) to feed and hold and play with the babies. I'm going to need to put on my brave face for that one.

Ruuju "Champs"

Me, Novice Jen, Sister Naomi (head honcho), Sister Jacinta (head hospital honcho),  Sister Lucy, Novice Angeline, Novice Esther, Edward