Journal Post 1/8

WELL OKAY. I had an unexpected day. I woke up tired and didn't end up going outside until half an hour later than I usually do. I sat out for a bit then headed off to HM's. I said my usual greetings, stopped by a bitik to inquire what kind of candy and such they had because I wanted to make Valentines for the Motley Crew and I'm still debating if candy's the best thing to give people. They could always use it to small boy little kids. But perhaps drink packages would be more favorable. Anywho, I visited two bitiks before a lady by the last name of Jowara took me to a branch Touray compound where I had an older uncle there. I greeted some, chatted, and that was awfully nice for her to take me and introduce me. I then continued my way to HMs... only to be greeted by a metric boat load of women and babies surrounded his house which only meant... monthly clinic DUN DUN DUN

These monthly clinics occur once every month in every larger town. Women in that town or in surrounding communities will bring their babies who are less than five years old to get weighed and to see if they're on track/in a health weight range, and also get their immunizations - if they're due for any. So imagine me walking into a large room surrounded by sitting women and shrieking babies while a cluster fuck forms in front of the table centered in the center of the room - women standing in no line whatsoever, crowding around the table they're suppose to check in and get their baby weighed and their health cards checked (these are blue cards that have dates written on them to see if their baby is due for an immunization). Each woman is carrying a baby that's just bawling on top of their lungs. There's a hanging scale that the kids are hung onto (they put on pants that get strung up to the scale) in front of the table, someone reads the weight in kilograms/records/tallys the gender and whether or not the baby is a newborn, another person takes the child's health card (that usually has vomit, food, smears, torn to shreds, masking taped up, creases up the wazoo so reading is completely illegible) and checks for immunizations/tracks their health progress/assesses whether the mother still needs to wait for their child to be immunized or not. Some moms are really on time while others skip for months and months at a time. As soon as I sat down they put me to work on the writing/scribing task. This freed up HM to do some crowd control. Some sort of structure began developing and I got the hang of what I was suppose to be doing fast. I liked it when HM was in the room and teaming up with me to record the baby's weight because he would send women out and told people where to go. Wujare was there, the Village Heatlh Worker, and he was good too but he had to duck out for some reason. When he came back, he wouldn't tell women to go to the immunization room so that clogged up the line. I barely had time to take a drink, in fact I didn't for all of five hours, and being clueless about my task was not an option with our crazy it was in that room. Luckily I had a guy who spoke both Serehule and English next to me and he was nice. He was on the computer inputting the data/immunizations required for the children that needed it and I passed on the health cards onto him. I would ask him if there was anything I couldn't read or understand or needed a second opinion - he clearly knew what he was doing. It was so busy that for the entire five hours we were sitting next to each other, we didn't ask for each other's name! Finally when we finished everything I asked - his name is Adama Sankare. He said I was a fast learning and that I picked everything up right away :) I'm glad I could do something right and help this hell of a day along - everyone worked their butts off and I'm sure the women didn't like waiting so absurdly long either when they always have busy days.

I definitely know things I have to look out for next time and a possible organization structure so that things make sense and women aren't waiting for hours. I also know I need to remind women prior to the monthly clinic and show up early myself. I got to small-boy Ceedee, Fatou's son and HM's friend, into getting a sandwich for me. Unfortunately it wasn't a bean one, it was just boiled egg and mayo...which was nasty but I was too hungry to care so I stuffed it down my throat anyways. Right after the kids were all checked, I went straight into HM's house to finish up data inputting from monthly clinics in four other surrounding villages. I was fed more lunch and eight scoops for rice later I was uncomfortably bloated... damn it. I finished everything at 4:30 PM, wrapped up, said my byes, and was off. It was so sweet - Fatou called me when I got home to see how I was. LOVE HER. My mom's even saved my lunch but I couldn't stomach any of it from being so bloated so I brought it right back out to the whiney baby who eats everything. I spent the rest of my day inside, resting, writing in Serehule, drawing potential shirts/dresses to be made, drew my character design at level six if I really was a gnome mage hahaha, and chilled. I decided to practice some self care and not go out to sit tonight. I'll get a full night's sleep and make up for it tomorrow. HM won't be there so maybe I'll compound hop and end up near his place to see the Alkaloo's younger brother since I couldn't go to the English school today. I'll probably scout out for more bitiks/shops and see what they have. Note to bring my glasses.