Village Life

It’s been an interesting past 3 days living in Bware, a village of farms & homes spread out over a 10 square mile area about 30 miles north of Migori.  Arrived Weds PM by taxi with the local Bware Ray of Hope coordinator who came to Migori to fetch us by cab. We’re staying in the home of Benson & Domtila Oker & their 5 kids.  They are very warm & welcoming.  Benson  is the headmaster of Bware Primary School  where our health team conducted a large health screening yesterday for over  500 children.  The screening included vision, anaemia, dental, & ear checks with referrals to local providers for any problems found.  We also screened a smaller school nearby of about 200 children.  As you can imagine, we were Busy!  Following the screening, team members play with the kids, throwing Frisbees & generally having fun.  After that, there was a formal presentation to the school of the supplies we’d brought with us, including pencils, notebooks, toothbrushes, and other items.  We learned Bware Primary is recognized as a premier public school in the South Nyanza Province with high test scores by its pupils. On Oct 13, it hosts a special event attended by local dignitaries & the wife of the Prime Minister of Kenya!  We’ve been invited & plan to attend.  On Weds & Thurs this week, we visited 6 disabled persons in their homes to assess their condition & make suggestions for improvement.  Daphne, a member of BUCHWA, the local group of community health providers, accompanied us, taking us to the homes, introducing us, & interpreting.  To do these home visits, we walked down dirt paths that follow the edges of the many farms in the area. On Saturday AM, we rode on the back of a “piki-piki” (motor-scooter) to join the rest of our team at the Bware Dispensary where Kate lead a presentation & discussion on nutrition for members of BUCHWA.  After that, we returned with the team to Migori for 2 days of R&R.  We’ll do some errands, enjoy access to a shower again & just have a break.  We plan to return to Bware Monday.  We don’t have electricity there, so my blog posts won’t be as frequent.