First of all, sorry about not writing yesterday. We got several notices today that we had forgotten. No worries, today's blog will be extra long :)



Yesterday got off to a pretty slow start. Pauravi and Peter did some more laundry. Turns out Peter is pretty talented when it comes to doing laundry. He got all the stains out of the socks, making them look brand new. We spent a good part of the morning discovering the clinic's small, but awesome book collection. We've all got our noses in some inspiring development books and captivating stories.



In the afternoon, John, Tom, Monica, and Helen went out to do more community surveys. We went to a region of Ddegeya that is farthest from any source of water. Our first stop was at house that was remarkably wealthy for this region. The house was well constructed, being made of brick and actualy concrete instead of cheap sand mixtures. They had enormous concrete rainwater collection tanks that provided adequate year round water for human consumption and even crops. The rest of Ddegeya relies on rainwater for their crops. This was the only household to reply "none" when asked if they had any water concerns. The house had well ventilated latrines and was even connected to the grid (something we're striving to do for the clinic). There was a second, even wealthier looking house right next to this one but we didn't stop.



Immediately following this house, was one of the poorest regions of Ddegeya. Many of these houses were of the shoddy mud and stick construction, their crops were failing, they had difficulty finding water, and they little or no other income. On this trek, we ran into probably the poorest and most hardworking woman we have encountered. The woman was forced to take her children and flee from an abusive relationship. She now lives by herself raising her daughter and twin boys. They have no plot of land and therefore cannot rely on the community's primary source of food, sustinence farming. The woman is left with very few options for an income and had resorted to doing odd digging jobs for others in Ddegeya. Because her children are so small, she is the only one capable of collecting water and many times is forced to buy water and firewood if there is no time. She also has to rent her house (but is hoping to buy it soon). John definitely showed his remarkable commitment to the development of Ddegeya and its people when he offered the woman a plot of land at the Engeye clinic. She came by today to get the land will start working it soon.



We didn't blog last night due to a collective desire to watch a movie. We watched Crash. Vidya-you were right, it was really good. Afterwards, Becca and Helen waged battle with a giant black cricket that had made itself at home in our latrine. Neither of us wanted to share the latrine with the cricket so we made several futile attempts to kill it. We enlisted rocks and Helen's flip flops all to no avail. Monica came by and just used the latrine with no problem. So in the end, we were forced to make peace with the giant black cricket.



This morning started muh earlier than others. Not because we all got out of bed earlier, but because there was a major event that at least some of us noted. Recently, John brought a rooster to the clinic. This morning the rooster started cock-a-doodling around 5 am, continuously for a bit, and then all of a sudden the cock-a-doodle was much longer, and very off key. Pauravi woke up startled and definitely noticed this difference and thought to herself, "It sounds like the chicken just got its head cut off." To her shock and awe, that is exactly what had happened. Pauravi seemed to be the only one unaware that the reason John brought it to the clinic in the first place was to kill it, and eat it eventually. She's had a mixture of emotions all day, since this is the first time she's been so close to such an event, and at the end of the most religious week of the year for her. She felt powerless to do anything about it. She's never been one to impose her beliefs on others, and didn't attempt to this time either. It is an interesting juxtaposition to the email she received the other day about Jiva Daya. How much negative karma has she accumulated by neglecting to stop the act? Everyone else was excited to have chicken for lunch and dinner today. It was a special treat for them.