Friday
We took beans to Pamela and her family today. She is so grateful for what we have been able to do.
We also visited Madina who is an older woman who lives with her granddaughter in a building with 7 rooms of which she rents one room. The room was crammed with 2 beds, a dresser and a chair. She sells charcoal to support herself. Of her 5 children only one is living and the other 4 died of AIDS.
We visited the public water tap where the families get their water. It costs 10 shillings (1 cent) for a bucket of water which they then carry on their heads to return to their homes.
The women do so much of the work here. Their lives have such a routine around cooking, cleaning, washing, getting water, selling their wares and on and on. This is repeated day after day. When we visited Madina, Nie reported that she said she was very happy. I asked what made her happy as I am seeing a life with no joy except what the children may bring and for those children with AIDS it can be short lived. Nie said that when she and/or the volunteers visit it brings a ray of hope to the people. It also provides comradery and a change or distraction from their daily routine. They are happy to know that people care about their plight and provide much needed sustenance even if it is sporadic.
After the home visits we returned to the office and then went to purchase fabric. The tailoring center will be making 30 bags/purses and I am bringing them home to sell. We had talked about the most efficient way to sell the items made by the tailoring center. I had initially thought we could have a “Store” link on their website which could feature material and various items but unfortunately because of the high cost of shipping this is prohibitive.
I am sad to report that there were no recognizable songs at the gym today but I had another good 30 minute workout.
When we went to bed Friday night it started to rain and did not quit until about 5am – highly unusual as it is winter and “too cold” to rain!!
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